Compile Beamer LaTeX Slides

SkillFiles & storage

Compile a Beamer LaTeX slide deck with XeLaTeX (3 passes + bibtex). Use when user says "compile", "build the slides", "rebuild the PDF", "run latex", "render the tex", or asks why a `.tex` file isn't producing a PDF. Operates on `Slides/*.tex`.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Compile Beamer LaTeX Slides skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by pedrohcgs/claude-code-my-workflow in .claude/skills/compile-latex/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Compile a Beamer slide deck using XeLaTeX with full citation resolution.

Steps

  1. Navigate to Slides/ directory and compile with 3-pass sequence:
cd Slides
TEXINPUTS=../Preambles:$TEXINPUTS xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $ARGUMENTS.tex
BIBINPUTS=..:$BIBINPUTS bibtex $ARGUMENTS
TEXINPUTS=../Preambles:$TEXINPUTS xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $ARGUMENTS.tex
TEXINPUTS=../Preambles:$TEXINPUTS xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $ARGUMENTS.tex

Alternative (latexmk):

cd Slides
TEXINPUTS=../Preambles:$TEXINPUTS BIBINPUTS=..:$BIBINPUTS latexmk -xelatex -interaction=nonstopmode $ARGUMENTS.tex
  1. Check for warnings:

    • Grep output for Overfull \\hbox warnings
    • Grep for undefined citations or Label(s) may have changed
    • Report any issues found
  2. Open the PDF for visual verification:

    open Slides/$ARGUMENTS.pdf          # macOS
    # xdg-open Slides/$ARGUMENTS.pdf    # Linux
    
  3. Report results:

    • Compilation success/failure
    • Number of overfull hbox warnings
    • Any undefined citations
    • PDF page count

Why 3 passes?

  1. First xelatex: Creates .aux file with citation keys
  2. bibtex: Reads .aux, generates .bbl with formatted references
  3. Second xelatex: Incorporates bibliography
  4. Third xelatex: Resolves all cross-references with final page numbers

Important

  • Always use XeLaTeX, never pdflatex
  • TEXINPUTS is required: your Beamer theme lives in Preambles/
  • BIBINPUTS is required: your .bib file lives in the repo root

Signals

GitHub stars
2k
Forks
3k
Last commit
Aug 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
compile-latex
Source
github.com/pedrohcgs/claude-code-my-workflow