LaWrite

LaWrite is a template-first academic paper editor built on Next.js and Lexical. You pick a preset template (APA 7th, IEEE, etc.), focus on writing content, and export a .zip whose LaTeX source matches the template’s layout exactly.

Core idea: you only write the content. The template guarantees the typesetting. Export and submit.

User flow

Landing → Templates → Editor → Export .zip (ready to submit)
              ↑                     |
              └── Dashboard ←───────┘
                 (manage existing docs, create new)

1. Pick a template (/{locale}/templates) — load the preset from public/templates/{id}/starter.zip, auto-create a project, land in the editor.

2. Edit (/app/editor/[projectId]) — visual structure + content editing (headings, paragraphs, tables, images, math). The editor doesn’t try to preview exact print layout; it guarantees structural completeness. 2-second debounced autosave to IndexedDB.

3. Export — produce a .zip containing .tex + images. The exported LaTeX follows the chosen template’s preamble, document class, and hooks exactly. 100% semantic integrity.

4. Dashboard (/app/dashboard) — grid/list of projects, continue editing, create new from template, search, delete.

Preset templates

Template	Document class	Font	Margins	Status
APA 7th Edition	apa7	12pt	1in	Enabled
General Article	article	11pt	1in	In progress
CTex 中文排版	ctexart	12pt	25mm	In progress

Each template ships with its own preamble, metadata field definitions (which drive the title-page form), export hooks, a LaTeX↔Lexical conversion rule set, and a starter .zip.

Extensibility: register a new template without writing components

TitlePage and Abstract are generic components driven by metadata definitions. Adding a new template is three steps, zero React work:

1. Create a TemplateDefinition object under src/templates/definitions/ (preamble, metadata fields, export hooks).
2. Register it in src/lib/registerTemplates.ts.
3. Drop a starter.zip in public/templates/{id}/.

That’s it. The fields you declare on metadata.fields appear in the title-page form automatically (inputType: 'textarea' renders a multi-line field). The preamble, packages, and \maketitle / \printbibliography hooks drive the exported LaTeX.

Stack

• Framework: Next.js 16.1.6 with Turbopack
• Editor core: Lexical 0.39.0
• UI: React 19, Tailwind v4, Radix UI
• Math: KaTeX 0.16.28
• Motion: Framer Motion 12
• File: JSZip 3.10.1
• i18n: next-intl 4.8.1
• E2E tests: Playwright 1.58.1

Notable bits

• Schema-driven title page — no per-template React components. The metadata.fields array describes the form, and one generic component renders it. Adding IEEE, NeurIPS, ACM SIG is a config-only change.
• Semantic-first editing, not visual-first — the editor focuses on correct document structure. Layout is deferred to the template’s LaTeX preamble at export time. This is the opposite of Overleaf’s live-preview approach, and it’s the right tradeoff: you can’t accidentally break a publisher’s mandated spacing rules.
• Offline-first — IndexedDB autosave every 2 seconds means you can write on a plane and the export still works when you land.