TikZ Editor – WYSIWYG editor for figures in LaTeX

Hacker News

Hi all! TikZ is a widely-used LaTeX package for drawing figures in papers. It uses commands like \draw[->] (0,0) -- (1,2); to draw lines, shapes, text, etc. Academics usually code up their figures by hand, so there is lots of twiddling around with the coordinates and recompiling until things look nice. I guess it’s a bit like SVG, but it’s more code than markup, for example it has loops with \foreach. I built an open-source WYSIWYG TikZ editor (available for web and desktop) that allows you to edit your TikZ source code visually by dragging and resizing elements. It simultaneously shows the source code and the rendered figure, and lets you edit either one while the two views stay in sync. I’m not aware of any other editors that are simultaneously source editors and WYSIWYG (even for editing SVG or HTML), and I’m quite pleased with how well the combination works. The way the app is implemented is by parsing the TikZ code, and at all times keeping track of the exact source location of each object. Thereby, when a user drags an element to a new position, the app can override just the numbers in the coordinate without changing anything else in the code (such as line breaks or indentation). This approach essentially required reimplementing a large fraction of TikZ, which is the kind of task that no human would ever want to do. I think building software that doesn’t exist yet because it would be impossibly tedious to code up is one of the great new possibilities thanks to coding agents, and it’s worth brainstorming for other examples. (This app was built almost entirely by Codex.) Implementing the app came with lots of fun side quests, including building converters from SVG / pptx / ipe to TikZ, re-implementing the LaTeX hyphenation and line-breaking algorithm to support multi-line nodes, and making a color picker that uses the red!20!black color mixing notation used in LaTeX papers.

Visit product View on Hacker NewsJun 23, 2026

Share card

Actual performance

451points

74comments

Made the leaderboard

Launch Intel predictions

Analyze your own launch →

Indie HackersFits the IH revenue-focused audience · Strong signals: latex, including · Missing: supports, reddit linkedin, podcasting

94%94% predicted probability of success on Indie Hackers, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

best fitHighest predicted score across all platforms for this description.

Product HuntOn track for Day 1 leaderboard · Strong signals: agents, agent, user · Missing: mac, macos, cursor

93%93% predicted probability of success on Product Hunt, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Hacker NewsStrong engagement from HN community · Strong signals: exist, ide, io · Missing: https docs, excited, just released

78%78% predicted probability of success on Hacker News, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

nativeThis product was originally launched on this platform.

TrustMRRFits verified-revenue profile · Strong signals: way · Missing: mobile apps, ios, personal

54%54% predicted probability of success on TrustMRR, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

AppSumoMay struggle as an AppSumo deal · Missing: plus, platform, intuitive

23%23% predicted probability of success on AppSumo, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Acquire.comPre-revenue stage for this audience · Missing: arr, mrr, revenue

15%15% predicted probability of success on Acquire.com, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

BetaListMay not resonate with beta-testers · Missing: web3, chat, crypto

0%0% predicted probability of success on BetaList, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Correct prediction on native model

Similar products

AI Latex editor built with emscripten68%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

AI Latex editor built with emscripten

Hacker News4

TeXbrain, a LaTeX editor that runs pdfTeX in the browser via WASM68%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

TeXbrain, a LaTeX editor that runs pdfTeX in the browser via WASM

Hacker News118

LaTeXWriter45%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Best Collaborative LaTeX Editor

Product Hunt+108Writing

Paperman – LaTeX editor with a Markdown feel74%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Paperman – LaTeX editor with a Markdown feel

Hacker News120

Trello Attachment Editor67%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Trello Attachment Editor

Hacker News2

Sassoon – Sass and Less editor (concept)60%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Sassoon – Sass and Less editor (concept)

Hacker News1

(Vy) the pythonic vim editor63%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

(Vy) the pythonic vim editor

Hacker News1

screencastinator an ANSI/textbased screencast editor69%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

screencastinator an ANSI/textbased screencast editor

Hacker News1

The Discusr Editor69%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

The Discusr Editor

Hacker News7

EDI – An editor in Go69%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

EDI – An editor in Go

Hacker News93

Browse all products Analyze your launch