[vitalnodo]

Previously, this existed as crixet.com [0]. At some point it used WASM for client-side compilation, and later transitioned to server-side rendering [1][2]. It now appears that there will be no option to disable AI [3]. I hope the core features remain available and won’t be artificially restricted. Compared to Overleaf, there were fewer service limitations: it was possible to compile more complex documents, share projects more freely, and even do so without registration.

On the other hand, Overleaf appears to be open source and at least partially self-hostable, so it’s possible some of these ideas or features will be adopted there over time. Alternatively, someone might eventually manage to move a more complete LaTeX toolchain into WASM.

[0] https://crixet.com

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Crixet/comments/1ptj9k9/comment/nvh...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42009254

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46394937

[crazygringo]

I'm curious how it compares to Overleaf in terms of features? Putting aside the AI aspect entirely, I'm simply curious if this is a viable Overleaf competitor -- especially since it's free.

I do self-host Overleaf which is annoying but ultimately doable if you don't want to pay the $21/mo (!).

I do have to wonder for how long it will be free or even supported, though. On the one hand, remote LaTeX compiling gets expensive at scale. On the other hand, it's only a fraction of a drop in the bucket compared to OpenAI's total compute needs. But I'm hesitant to use it because I'm not convinced it'll still be around in a couple of years.

[efficax]

Overleaf is a little curious to me. What's the point? Just install LaTeX. Claude is very good at manipulating LaTeX documents and I've found it effective at fixing up layouts for me.

[vicapow]

The deeper I got, the more I realized really supporting the entire LaTeX toolchain in WASM would mean simulating an entire linux distribution :( We wanted to support Beamer, LuaLaTeX, mobile (wasn't working with WASM because of resource limits), etc.

[seazoning]

We had been building literally the same thing for the last 8 months along with a great browsing environment over arxiv -- might just have to sunset it

Any plans of having typst integrated anytime soon?

[storystarling]

The WASM constraints make sense given the resource limits, especially for mobile. If you are moving that compute server-side though I am curious about the unit economics. LaTeX pipelines are surprisingly heavy and I wonder how you manage the margins on that infrastructure at scale.

[BlueTemplar]

But what's the point ?

To end up with yet another shitty (because running inside a browser, in particular its interface) web app ?

Why not focus efforts into making a proper program (you know, with IBM menu bars and keyboard shortcuts), but with collaborative tools too ?

[swyx]

we did a podcast with the Crixet founder and Kevin Weil of OAI on the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2cBTVr8nxU&pp=2Aa0Bg%3D%3D

[vicapow]

thanks for hosting us on the pod!

[regenschutz]

I was using Crixet before I switched over to Typst[0] for all of my writing. However, back when I did use Crixet, I never used its AI features. It was just a much better alternative to Overleaf for me. Sad to see that AI will be forced on all Crixet users now.

[0]: https://typst.app

[songodongo]

So this is the product of an acquisition?

[vitalnodo]

> Prism builds on the foundation of Crixet, a cloud-based LaTeX platform that OpenAI acquired and has since evolved into Prism as a unified product. This allowed us to start with a strong base of a mature writing and collaboration environment, and integrate AI in a way that fits naturally into scientific workflows.

They’re quite open about Prism being built on top of Crixet.

[doctorpangloss]

It seems bad for OpenAI to make this about latex documents, which will be now associated, visually, with AI slop. The opposite of what anyone wants really. Nobody wants you to know they used a chatbot!

[eloisant]

This is just because LaTeX is widely used by researchers.

Also yes, LaTeX being source code it's much easier to get an AI to genere LaTeX than integrate into MS Word.

[y1n0]

Please refrain from incorporating em dashes into your LaTeX document. In summary, the absence of em dashes in LaTeX.

[amitav1]

Am I missing something? LaTeX is associated with slop now?

[realaaa]

great context - thanks ! so yeah maybe Overleaf is the way to go now :)