FAQ

Do I need to use an AI agent?

No. Every check works the same from make check. The agent files in the templates do nothing unless an agent reads them, and you can delete them.

Do I need to install TeX Live?

No. Docker is enough: the templates build in the Overfull image. If you already have TeX Live, overfull build uses it.

Can I use Overfull with my own template or class?

Yes. Add an overfull.yml with your main file, job name and bibliography, build as you normally do, and run overfull check. The accessibility check depends on whether your class supports tagging.

Does it work with pdfLaTeX or XeLaTeX?

The checks read logs from LuaLaTeX, pdfLaTeX and XeLaTeX. The templates use LuaLaTeX because LaTeX’s tagging support works best with it. The paper template also builds with pdfLaTeX (make arxiv or latexmk -pdf), because arXiv does not support LuaLaTeX. See Venues.

A real reference is reported as not found. What now?

Add a doi field if the work has one, and check the title for typos or LaTeX markup. Some venues are not indexed. If you are sure the entry is right, opt it out with note = {overfull: skip} or references.ignore. See References.

Does Overfull say a reference is fake?

No. It reports what the indexes returned: verified, mismatch, not found, unverifiable, or lookup failed. You decide what that means.

What data leaves my machine?

Reference checks (and overfull cite) send titles, DOIs and arXiv ids of your cited entries to CrossRef, doi.org, arXiv and DBLP. If you set the OPENALEX_API_KEY environment variable, titles also go to OpenAlex, with the key. If you set a mailto address, it goes to CrossRef and OpenAlex. Nothing else is sent. Use --offline to send nothing. The browser check on the website reads your files in the browser and never uploads them; with online verification on, it sends each reference’s DOI or title to CrossRef and doi.org only.

Does Overfull use AI?

No. All checks are deterministic: log parsing, PDF analysis, index lookups and rules. It is designed to check work that AI agents (or people) produced.

Will a passing check get my paper accepted?

No. It means the document builds cleanly, its references exist, the PDF is tagged, and it meets the rules you configured. Content, originality and fit for the venue are up to you and the reviewers.

Can I make check pass by ignoring a rule?

You can opt individual references out and choose which checks run. Agents are told never to do this on their own. If a rule seems wrong, run overfull explain <rule> and open an issue if you still disagree.

How do I count only the main text toward the page limit?

Put \label{overfull:main-end} where the counted part ends and set venue.pageLimit.endLabel to that label. See Venues.

Which agents are supported?

Any agent that reads AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI (with a one-line setting) and others. See Working with an agent.

What licence do the templates use?

MIT-0. You can use them for your thesis or paper without attribution or licence notices.

I used tex-thesis. Is it gone?

It became Overfull. See Migrate from tex-thesis.