UpMath MCP Server

MCP server that gives Claude Code direct access to LaTeX rendering via the UpMath API. Renders equations, TikZ diagrams, and full documents to SVG/PNG without a local TeX installation.

Tools (16)

Single render / embed

Documents / papers

Batch / iteration

Diagrams / notation

Supported Packages

Everything TeX Live supports, including:

Setup

As a Claude Code plugin (recommended)

The repo is its own plugin marketplace. In Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add danielsimonjr/upmath-mcp
/plugin install upmath-mcp@upmath

This loads the bundled server (no npm install needed) plus the companion upmath skill.

As a plain MCP server

git clone https://github.com/danielsimonjr/upmath-mcp.git
cd upmath-mcp
npm install

Add to ~/.claude/.mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "upmath": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/upmath-mcp/server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Code. The rendering tools will be available.

Configuration

All settings are environment variables (set them in the env block of your MCP config):

Reliability behavior (built in, no flags needed):

• Retry with backoff — 429/5xx responses and network errors are retried automatically.
• Session-wide render cache — identical LaTeX+format pairs are fetched once per server session; re-running render_paper on an edited document only re-renders changed equations.
• Request throttling — API calls are spaced by UPMATH_MIN_INTERVAL_MS to respect the public service's rate limits.
• Size guard — expressions too large for the GET API fail fast with a clear message instead of a cryptic server error.

Tool Parameters

Common conventions: format is "svg" (default) or "png"; saveTo writes the output to a file instead of returning it inline; file paths are resolved relative to the server's working directory (absolute paths are safest).

Single render / embed

• render_equation({ latex, format?, saveTo? }) — latex is the raw (un-encoded) expression.
• render_tikz({ tikz, packages?, format?, saveTo? }) — tikz includes \begin{tikzpicture}...\end{tikzpicture}; packages is an array like ["circuitikz", "pgfplots"] prepended as \usepackage{...}.
• get_render_url({ latex, format? }) — returns the i.upmath.me URL only; no API call, no file.
• check_syntax({ latex }) — renders to SVG and reports valid / empty / error.

Documents / papers

• render_paper({ inputFile, outputFile, title?, author?, useUpmath? }) — full markdown paper → HTML. useUpmath: false (default) embeds KaTeX (fast, client-side); useUpmath: true renders every equation to server-side SVG (supports TikZ). title defaults to the first # heading.
• render_markdown_with_math({ markdown, saveTo? }) — markdown string (not a file) with $$...$$ → HTML with embedded SVGs.
• scan_document_math({ inputFile, outputReport? }) — equation inventory, symbol frequency, numbering checks; outputReport saves the full JSON.
• validate_equations({ inputFile, maxEquations? }) — renders each equation to verify it; maxEquations caps API calls (default 50, -1 = all).

Batch / iteration

• render_batch({ equations, format?, outputDir }) — equations is [{ name, latex }, ...]; each saved as <name>.<format> in outputDir.
• render_batch_cached({ equations, format?, outputDir }) — same, reporting which files came from the session cache.
• render_equation_sheet({ title?, equations, saveTo? }) — equations is [{ name, latex, description? }, ...] → one reference-sheet HTML page.
• render_parameter_grid({ latexTemplate, paramName?, values, saveTo? }) — substitutes each of values for {PARAM} (or {<paramName>}) in the template and renders a comparison grid.
• render_diff({ before, after, label?, saveTo? }) — two LaTeX versions side by side as HTML.

Diagrams / notation

• list_diagram_templates() — no parameters.
• render_diagram_template({ template, params?, format?, saveTo? }) — template is one of control-system, neural-network, state-machine, bayesian-network, signal-flow, data-plot, commutative-diagram; params is an object (or JSON string) of template-specific overrides.
• build_notation_table({ inputFile, format?, saveTo? }) — format is markdown (default), latex, or html.

Examples

Render the quadratic formula:

render_equation({ latex: "\\frac{-b \\pm \\sqrt{b^2-4ac}}{2a}", format: "svg" })

Render a circuit:

render_tikz({
  tikz: "\\begin{circuitikz}\\draw (0,0) to[R, l=$R_1$] (2,0) to[C, l=$C_1$] (4,0);\\end{circuitikz}",
  packages: ["circuitikz"],
  format: "svg",
  saveTo: "circuit.svg"
})

Self-Hosting

You can run your own UpMath renderer:

docker run -t -p 8080:80 ghcr.io/parpalak/i.upmath.me:master

Then set UPMATH_URL=http://localhost:8080 in your environment.

License

MIT

Credits

• UpMath by parpalak — the rendering engine
• i.upmath.me — the LaTeX-to-SVG API