Autocomplete, snippets, and formatting

This page explains what Typeward completes as you type, what an optional language server adds on top, and what the format toolbar inserts. For go to definition, hover previews, Rename label, and Find references, which are built in and LaTeX only, see Labels, references, and navigation.

The two sources of completion

Completion comes from a built-in project index that ships with the app, and from a language server you install yourself. What you get depends on the project and on whether a server is installed:

LaTeX project, no server installed: \ref and \cite keys complete from the built-in index, which also warns about undefined and duplicate labels.
LaTeX project with texlab: the same key completion, plus command and environment names, diagnostics, and Outline symbols.
Typst project, no server installed: no completion, because Typeward clears the index in Typst projects.
Typst project with tinymist: Typst syntax completion, diagnostics, and Outline symbols.
Any Markdown file: no language server attaches, so the insert templates and the formatting shortcuts are what you get.

No language server is required, and Typeward downloads none for you. Compiling, the PDF preview, visual editing, Outline, references, and every formatting command on this page work without one. Nothing on this page requires an account.

Reference and citation completion

Typeward keeps an in-memory index of every \label definition and every BibTeX key in the project, and completes keys from it as you type. When you open a LaTeX project, Typeward scans TeX-family files (.tex, .ltx, .cls, .sty, .def, .clo) for \label{...} definitions and .bib files for citation keys.

The index refreshes when the file watcher sees changes on disk. Typeward overlays the labels in the file you are editing on top of it, so a label you typed a second ago already completes.

Start typing a key inside a reference or citation argument and the list appears. Two command families trigger it:

The reference family: \ref, \eqref, \cref, \Cref, \pageref, \autoref, \nameref, \vref, \Vref, \labelcref, their range forms such as \crefrange, and starred variants.
The citation family: \cite plus the usual prefixes and suffixes, so \citep, \citet, \textcite, \footcite, and \parencite all trigger it, including forms with [...] arguments.

Both families take comma-separated key lists, and the source fires on the key segment under the cursor, so the second key in \cite{einstein1905, completes as readily as the first.

Each suggestion carries a detail line. For a label, the detail is the title of the nearest preceding sectioning command. A key such as fig:setup therefore reads as the figure’s section rather than as a bare key. For a citation, the detail is the title field of the BibTeX entry.

The list is never capped. Every label in the project is reachable, however many there are, and lookup is a synchronous in-memory read, so results appear without a round trip.

Completion works the same with or without texlab. When texlab is running, it hands these contexts to the built-in source rather than answering them itself. When texlab is absent, the source mounts on its own.

Reference warnings

Without a language server attached, Typeward checks the references in a LaTeX file against the index. Two warnings can appear in the gutter and under the text, about half a second after you stop typing:

Reference to undefined label "sec:method" when a reference key matches no \label anywhere in the project.
Label "sec:method" is defined more than once when a label repeats within the file or is also defined in another file.

The scope is deliberate. Typeward checks references only and never flags a \cite key, because a citation key can legitimately come from a .bib file the index never saw. Typeward also skips comments, and never warns on a half-typed \ref{eq:mass that has no closing brace.

Both checks stay silent until the first scan finishes, and in a project that defines no labels at all. With texlab attached, Typeward drops both warnings, because texlab ships its own undefined-reference diagnostics.

These are editor warnings rather than compile errors. Compile errors land in the logs panel after you compile. See Compiling LaTeX and reading errors.

Language servers

A language server is a separate program that supplies completion, diagnostics, and document symbols for one language. Typeward starts one when a matching binary is on your PATH as you open a project:

texlab serves LaTeX, and .bib files attach to the same session.
tinymist serves Typst.
Markdown and plain-text files never get a language server.

Typeward resolves the binary against PATH only, never the project folder, so a binary planted inside a project can never run. The server runs with the project root as its working directory.

An attached server adds exactly three things:

Completion for everything outside the reference and citation contexts: command and environment names in LaTeX, Typst syntax in .typ files. Suggestions appear as you type, and Ctrl+Space asks for them explicitly, a literal Ctrl on every platform. On macOS, Alt+` and Alt+I do the same.
Diagnostics as you type, underlined in the source as errors, warnings, or info notes according to the severity the server reports.
Document symbols, which feed Outline in the sidebar. Without a server, Outline falls back to a built-in parser. See Search, replace, and navigation.

Typeward never takes hover, go to definition, find references, or rename from the language server. It implements them itself from the project index, for LaTeX, whether or not a server is running.

There is no settings page for language servers, no enable switch, and no configuration Typeward pushes to them. Presence on PATH is the whole switch, and the servers run on their own defaults.

One session runs per language per project. Sessions stop when the project closes, and a server that crashes is replaced the next time you open a matching file. When a session finishes starting after a file is already open, the editor reattaches without losing your undo history, cursor, or scroll position.

A missing server is never an error, and Typeward continues without it and says nothing. If completion beyond \ref and \cite never appears, the server is missing from your PATH. Install it, confirm that it runs in a terminal, then restart Typeward. See Troubleshooting.

Snippets and insert templates

Typeward has no user-defined snippet system and no expansion triggers, so nothing expands when you type a keyword and press Tab. What it has instead are fixed, dialect-aware insert templates behind the format toolbar and the command palette’s Format group. The dialect follows the active file, not the project, so a README.md inside a LaTeX project gets Markdown syntax.

Each command inserts the construct its dialect uses:

Command	LaTeX	Typst	Markdown
Inline code	`\texttt{...}`	`...`	`...`
Heading	`\section{...}`	`= ...`	`# ...`
Bulleted list	`itemize` environment	`-` lines	`-` lines
Numbered list	`enumerate` environment	`+` lines	`1.` lines
Block quote	`quote` environment	`#quote(block: true)[...]`	`> ...`
Inline math	$...$	$...$	$...$
Equation	`equation` environment	$ ... $ block	`$$ ... $$`
Figure	`figure` environment with `\includegraphics`, `\caption{}`, `\label{fig:}`	`#figure` block with `image("")` and `caption: []`	`![]()`
Table	`table` environment with a `tabular` skeleton	`#table` block with `columns: 2`	pipe-table skeleton
Link	`\href{...}{text}`	`#link("...")[text]`	`[text](...)`
Citation	`\cite{...}`	`@...`	`[@...]`

Insert a citation in a LaTeX file and the cursor lands inside the braces, where the built-in index completes the key. That works with no language server installed.

Bold, italic, and underline

The three text styles are the only formatting commands with keyboard shortcuts, and they follow the active file’s dialect as well:

Style and shortcut	LaTeX	Typst	Markdown
Bold, `Ctrl+B` (`Cmd+B` on macOS)	`\textbf{...}`	`...`	`...`
Italic, `Ctrl+I` (`Cmd+I` on macOS)	`\textit{...}`	`_..._`	`...`
Underline, `Ctrl+U` (`Cmd+U` on macOS)	`\underline{...}`	`#underline[...]`	none

Markdown has no underline construct, so Ctrl+U does nothing in .md files and the toolbar hides the button. The behavior matches a word processor:

With a selection, the style wraps it and keeps it selected, so styles compound: bold, then italic.
With a bare caret, Typeward inserts the empty construct and leaves the cursor inside.
With several lines selected, the two list commands convert each line into an item.

The toolbar sits under the file tabs whenever the active file takes prose formatting: .tex, .sty, .cls, .typ, .md, .markdown. For .bib files and images the whole bar and the formatting shortcuts disappear, since a bold wrap inside a BibTeX entry would corrupt it. Its buttons come in three groups:

Text style: Bold, Italic, Underline, Inline code.
Structure: Heading, Bulleted list, Numbered list, Block quote.
Insert: Insert Inline math, Insert Equation, Insert Figure, Insert Table, Insert Link, Insert Citation.

Typeward hides the buttons a dialect lacks rather than graying them out. For .tex files the toolbar also carries the Source and Visual switch. See Visual editing for LaTeX.

Every toolbar action is also a command in the command palette, under the Format group. The palette titles them Inline Code, Heading, Bulleted List, Numbered List, Block Quote, Insert Inline Math, Insert Equation, Insert Figure, Insert Table, Insert Link, and Insert Citation. None of them carry a keyboard shortcut, because bold, italic, and underline are the only formatting commands that have one. Open the palette with Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on macOS).

Focus mode hides the toolbar with the rest of the editor chrome, and Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, and Ctrl+U keep working. See Focus mode and keybindings.

Known limitations

Reference and citation completion is LaTeX only. Typeward clears the index in Typst projects, where tinymist is the sole completion source.
Only .tex and .bib files open with the LaTeX editor language. A .sty or .cls file contributes its labels to the index but gets no suggestions of its own.