This is funny, because I just wrote a (fish) shell script that does this as well because all of the tex IDEs are so painful. Mostly because the entire efficienc

This is funny, because I just wrote a (fish) shell script that does this as well because all of the tex IDEs are so painful. Mostly because the entire efficiency of latex is that you're editing text and can do it in a text editor like emacs and move things around very quickly. I don't want a new interface! But. I'm kind of proud. My shell script monitors the tex files for character changes and then once a (configurable) threshold of changes is met, it kicks off the compilation process. But the real game changer is that every time it compiles, if the compile is successful it commits the recent edits to a git branch. Then if I want, I can go through the git branch and see the entire history of edits for only versions of the document that compiled. It's a game changer in a big way. When I finish a section, I squash the minor edits into one commit and give it a good message and then commit the full thing to the main branch. Then there is where I can make sure my manuscripts look the way they should and do major revisions or collaborative edits. The icing on the cake is that the fish script monitors for a special keypress and will take actions. So I hit "c" to compile the tex, "b" to rerun the massive bibliography compilations, "s" to squash the commits into the main branch, and "l" to display log errors. It's a dream! Now I don't think about compilation at all, or when I should commit something minor to git (and fiddle with the commands). I just type away and watch/request the pdf refresh when I need it... and _actually_ get work done. My god. So happy. I just finished this today.