Install ltex-ls with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• ltex-cli
• ltex-ls

Project history

The official LTeX site describes LTeX as offline grammar checking for markup languages using LanguageTool, usable as a standalone command-line tool, an LSP language server, or through editor extensions. The repository README adds that LTeX LS implements the Language Server Protocol and can also check files or directories directly from the command line.

The project grew out of Adam Voss's abandoned LanguageTool for Visual Studio Code extension. Over time it became a broader markup-aware checker for LaTeX, Markdown, Org, reStructuredText, R Sweave, XHTML, and later formats such as Git commit messages, Quarto, and R Markdown.

Adoption history

The original LTeX LS has strong adoption signals: GitHub shows about 930 stars, 33 forks, 1,224 commits, and a substantial issues and pull request history. The supplied package-manager facts show Homebrew, MacPorts, and Nix packaging, making it a cross-platform package for editor and CLI grammar workflows.

The repository was archived by its owner on Apr 12, 2026. Before that, GitHub releases show 16.0.0 as the latest release, with release notes updating LanguageTool to 6.0 and adding support for Git commit messages, Quarto, R Markdown, and other parser improvements. Its maintained successor is LTeX+ LS.

How it is used

The normal usage path is to run LTeX LS behind an editor language client, with the VS Code LTeX extension named as the reference client. The README also supports a package-manager-friendly CLI mode in which paths to files or directories are supplied and diagnostics are printed to standard output.

Why package nerds care

LTeX LS matters because it brought LanguageTool into the package-manager and editor-LSP ecosystem as a self-contained binary distribution. It turned grammar checking for TeX and Markdown from an editor-specific extension concern into a reusable language-server package that could be installed by Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, and editor integrations.

Its archival and replacement by LTeX+ LS are also package-history relevant: users, formulae, and distributions had to distinguish the stable but archived original from the active maintained fork.

Timeline

• Pre-LTeX: Adam Voss's LanguageTool VS Code extension is abandoned and later becomes the predecessor named by LTeX docs.
• 2020s: LTeX LS develops as an LSP server and CLI around LanguageTool for markup documents.
• 2023: Release 16.0.0 updates LanguageTool to 6.0 and adds Git commit message, Quarto, and R Markdown support.
• 2026: GitHub marks valentjn/ltex-ls archived on Apr 12, 2026.

Related projects

• LanguageTool is the grammar and spelling engine.
• vscode-ltex is the reference Visual Studio Code language client.
• LTeX+ LS is the maintained successor/fork.
• languagetool-languageserver and Adam Voss's LanguageTool VS Code extension are earlier lineage projects named by official docs.

Sources

• https://github.com/valentjn/ltex-ls
• https://github.com/valentjn/ltex-ls/releases
• https://valentjn.github.io/ltex/
• source_facts.package-manager