mathshow

Show LaTeX math from any CLI agent.

Agents already write $...$. Cursor, Claude Code, Codex — none of those TUIs typeset it. mathshow renders with KaTeX and opens a browser preview. No agent wrapper.

npx skills add iCodeCraft/mathshow

Cursor · Claude Code · Codex · 70+ agents · Agent Skills · MIT

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Same ask. Actually readable math.

Same prompt. One session without the skill, one with:

Show me the Gaussian integral. Render it so I can see the formula.

 

Unicode in the TUI  →  KaTeX preview

Agents already “write” the math. Without mathshow you still squint at ∫_(-∞)^(∞). With it, the formula opens rendered.

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Install

Two pieces: the skill (when/how the agent should show math) and the CLI (KaTeX preview).

# 1. Skill — works with Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, and many more
npx skills add iCodeCraft/mathshow

# 2. CLI — agents call it via npx (no global install required)
npx --yes mathshow -- 'E = mc^2'

# pin an agent
npx skills add iCodeCraft/mathshow -a cursor -y
npx skills add iCodeCraft/mathshow -a claude-code -y

# every project on this machine
npx skills add iCodeCraft/mathshow -g -y

# optional: put mathshow on PATH
npm i -g mathshow

Where skills land

Tool	Project	Global
Cursor	.agents/skills/	~/.cursor/skills/
Claude Code	.claude/skills/	~/.claude/skills/
Codex / others	.agents/skills/	under ~/

Portable via the skills CLI — no Cursor-only lock-in. Source of truth in this repo is skills/.

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Use

npx --yes mathshow -- 'E = mc^2'
npx --yes mathshow notes.md
echo '$$\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} e^{-x^2}\,dx$$' | npx --yes mathshow

Flag / env
--no-open	write preview HTML, don't open a browser
--out <dir>	preview directory (default: $TMPDIR/mathshow-preview)
MATHSHOW_NO_OPEN=1 / CI=true	same as --no-open

Raw TeX with no $ is one display formula. Markdown is scanned for $$...$$, $...$, \[...\], \(...\).

Skill: show-math

	Skill	Does
/show-math	show-math	When the user should see a formula, run mathshow — real TeX in, KaTeX preview out.

New session → skill loads when the task involves formulas, or type the command.

What the skill requires

• MUST run mathshow when the reply contains math the user needs to see
• MUST pass real TeX (\int, \frac, \sum), not Unicode approximations as the source
• NEVER skip the preview because the transcript already shows $...$
• NEVER use image-generation tools to draw equations

Full playbook: skills/show-math/SKILL.md.

Agents without skills — one line in AGENTS.md:

When the user should see a formula, run: npx --yes mathshow -- '<latex>'

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Why it exists

CLI agents write LaTeX. Users still see raw $...$. Wrapping the agent in a PTY cannot reliably pull math out of a full-screen TUI.

mathshow is the portable contract: if the agent can run a shell command, it can show math. Preview opens in the browser (KaTeX) — that path works for every agent and IDE.

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Develop

git clone https://github.com/iCodeCraft/mathshow.git
cd mathshow
npm install
npm test
npm run validate:skills

# local skill install for Cursor
npx skills add . -a cursor -y

Contributing · keep the skill focused · MUST/NEVER over essays · CONTRIBUTING.md