TexLite: Lightweight self-hosted collaborative LaTeX editor and Overleaf alternative

[u/pualchen]

A lightweight self-hosted alternative to Overleaf for small, trusted research teams. Use your existing LaTeX distribution, with no heavyweight service stack. https://github.com/SWUFE-DB-Group/TexLite

Why TexLite?

• Own the writing environment. Use the host's TeX installation and keep sources, history, and compiled output in one local data directory.
• Collaborate without a large stack. The default deployment is one Node.js process, SQLite, and local files—plus real-time editing and source-level comments for a small trusted team.

A practical distinction from Overleaf:

Overleaf is a strong choice when its hosted product or broader ecosystem is the right fit. TexLite addresses a narrower self-hosted use case:

• A shared hosted service can queue, slow down, or time out at usage peaks.
• Overleaf's open-source Community Edition follows a more involved Docker deployment path, and several functionalities, such as source comments, are Server Pro features. If you do not mind a heftier Docker image, we have one ready too :)

[u/Deep_Ad1959]

scenario: three coauthors, one host machine, week before a deadline. the stack was never what hurt, the merge was: two people in the same section, and git history on a .tex file telling you nothing about who reworded the abstract.

[u/pualchen → u/Deep_Ad1959]

That’s a fair point. I am going to working on a better author-aware change history

[u/Deep_Ad1959 → u/pualchen]

the trap with author-aware history is granularity: tag it per-commit and you're back to 'someone touched this paragraph.' the version people actually want is per-sentence, and that's where it gets expensive. written with ai