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Pandoc + xelatex — EU-hosted

.md .tex .pdf

Markdown → LaTeX → PDF
in one click. Online.

No more local Pandoc setup, no TeX Live install, no two-hour tutorial. Drop your .md into Sarmate, click twice: a clean .tex to fine-tune, or the PDF directly. Works with Pandoc-Markdown, R Markdown, Quarto, Obsidian export.

Three ways to compile your Markdown

Pick what fits your workflow: adjustable, fast, or AI-driven.

Markdown → .tex

Generates a clean .tex alongside, magic-comment % !TEX program = xelatex, with a preamble you can trust. Fine-tune it in Sarmate's LaTeX editor (Structures / Math / TikZ toolbar) and compile like a classic project.

Markdown → PDF (one-shot)

Pandoc + xelatex in a single pass. Fast preview to proofread or print a draft. No .tex generated — light for Markdown-first workflows (Quarto preview, notes, reports).

AI-driven (MCP)

Claude / Gemini / Le Chat / Cursor connect to your drive via MCP, compile their own .md and read the resulting PDF with read_pdf. Autonomous Markdown→PDF→analysis loop, no local install.

Compatible with your existing workflows

If your source is Markdown and your output is PDF, you're in the right place — whatever local toolchain you use.

Pandoc CommonMark, GFM, Pandoc Extended
R Markdown .Rmd → .md → PDF
Quarto .qmd, citations, refs
Obsidian Notes export → PDF

Pandoc 3.1 runs on our servers, so all standard features are supported: YAML metadata, footnotes, tables (pipe / grid), code blocks with syntax highlighting, math formulas, raw \command{}, custom filters via header-includes.

How it works

Four steps, under two minutes.

1

Create an account

Free, no credit card. Google login in 10 seconds. All features on this page are included in the free plan.

2

Upload or create your .md

Drag-and-drop directly into your drive, or create a new .md from the file manager. Sarmate has a dedicated Markdown editor (CodeMirror, outline, GitHub-style syntax highlighting).

3

Click "Convert to .tex" or "PDF preview"

A modal offers three actions (rememberable per file). Pandoc + xelatex in a few seconds — if a .tex already exists, a second modal proposes "replace / new copy".

4

Get the PDF, fine-tune, share

PDF opens in a new tab. The .tex stays available for adjustments (fonts, geometry, colours). Share the PDF, annotate it, keep it in your drive — or pass it to an AI via MCP for analysis.

An AI that treats your Markdown like a teammate

Via Sarmate's MCP server, an AI can compile your .md AND read the resulting PDF. Full write/analyse cycle, hands-free.

You ▶ "Compile draft.md, read the PDF, and give me a summary of the key findings."
Claude ▶ compile(path: "draft.md"){ status: 'success', pdf_path: 'draft.pdf', compilation_time_ms: 4231 }
Claude ▶ read_pdf(path: "draft.pdf"){ text: '...', text_bytes: 23874 }
Claude ▶ "Here's the summary: the document has 5 main sections. The central findings are…"

Full MCP documentation: /mcp-docs.php · MCP × Sarmate overview

Sarmate vs alternatives

Three comparisons, three realities.

Sarmate
🇪🇺 EU
Pandoc CLI
local
Overleaf
OpenAI Prism
🇺🇸 US
Markdown → .tex 1 click CLI
Markdown → PDF (one-shot) 1 click CLI GPT only
Local install required ✅ Pandoc + TeX Live
AI can read its own PDF output read_pdf limited
AI choice (Claude/Gemini/Mistral) 6+ clients via MCP any (locally) GPT-5.2 only
Hosting 🇫🇷🇩🇪 EU (o2switch + Ionos) your machine 🇨🇦 Canada 🇺🇸 US (OpenAI)
Free for normal-sized docs strict quota AI quota strict

Detailed comparisons: vs Overleaf · vs OpenAI Prism

Who is this for?

Researchers in social sciences, economics, data science

You write manuscripts in Markdown (Pandoc, RMarkdown, Quarto), but your target journal demands LaTeX/PDF. Sarmate bridges the gap without a local setup, without migrating files.

PhD students and graduates

Quick notes or long report: you write in Markdown on Obsidian, Notion, VS Code. You compile on Sarmate when a PDF deliverable becomes necessary.

Teachers and trainers

Course materials drafted in Markdown, clean PDF for distribution to students. Sarmate adds a professional layer (Latin Modern, clean layout) without a LaTeX tutorial.

AI power users

You have Claude / Le Chat / Gemini draft Markdown reports and you want the AI to verify its own output. compile + read_pdf via MCP give it that exact loop.

FAQ

Which Markdown workflows are supported?
Sarmate accepts any Pandoc-compatible Markdown: standard Markdown, GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), Pandoc Extended (footnotes, citations, raw_tex), YAML metadata, R Markdown source (rename .Rmd to .md, R code blocks render as verbatim) and Quarto documents (rename .qmd to .md, similar behaviour). Server-side conversion with Pandoc 3.1 + xelatex.
Are math formulas rendered correctly?
Yes. Inline ($x^2$) and display ($$E=mc^2$$) are natively supported. Pandoc auto-loads unicode-math via xelatex, so \alpha, \sum, \int, matrices, aligned equations, AMS packages all work directly. Caveat: avoid \usepackage{bm} or \boldsymbol{} in header-includes — conflicts with unicode-math. Use \symbf{x} or \mathbf{x} instead.
Does it work with citations and bibliographies?
Yes, with a few steps: drop your refs.bib in the same folder as your .md, add bibliography: refs.bib to the YAML header, and Pandoc/citeproc resolves [@key] citations automatically at compile time. Alternative: Markdown → .tex, then switch to the classic LaTeX workflow with BibTeX/Biber for more control.
Do I need a paid account?
No. The free plan covers Markdown conversion, .tex generation and PDF preview. The quota applies to cumulative compile time over a 2 h sliding window (1 min on free, 5 min on Perso, unlimited on Pro/Etab). A typical Markdown document compiles in 3-8 seconds, so the free plan is enough for most needs.
Can an AI compile my Markdown to PDF and read the result automatically?
Yes — via Sarmate's MCP server. Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Le Chat (Mistral), Gemini CLI can call compile(.md), then read_pdf(.pdf) on the produced file. Full Markdown → PDF → AI analysis cycle, no local install. Per-client setup at /mcp-docs.php.
Where are my files processed?
Web hosting: o2switch (France). Compilation servers (Pandoc + xelatex): Ionos (Frankfurt, Germany). Fully EU, GDPR-compliant, no transfer to the US. Your .md is temporarily sent to Ionos for compilation, then immediately deleted after PDF generation — no permanent storage outside your drive.

Ready for your Markdown → LaTeX pipeline?

Account in 10 seconds, .md uploaded, compile. Free for most documents.