claude-math

August 18, 2026 · View on GitHub

Make math in Claude Code and Codex legible.

Without claude-math, LaTeX prints as raw dollar-sign noise; with it, the same answer renders as clean Unicode math.

Terminal coding agents do not render LaTeX. In both Claude Code and OpenAI Codex CLI, a formula like $f(x) = \sum_{i=1}^n x_i$ appears as raw dollar signs and backslashes, exactly the noise you wanted formatting to remove. This project ships a single skill (math-unicode) that instructs the model to emit math as Unicode glyphs inline. Unicode-capable terminals with a suitable font render these glyphs directly. It installs as a Claude Code plugin and, via the identical SKILL.md, as a Codex skill (claude-math install --codex).

Before / after

Before:  The qualifying cohort is $Q = \{ (s,r) \in T : n_{s,r} \geq 18 \wedge p^0_{s,r} < 0.9 \}$,
         with $|Q| / |T| \approx 17.3\%$.

After:   The qualifying cohort is Q = { (s,r) ∈ T : n_{s,r} ≥ 18 ∧ p⁰_{s,r} < 0.9 },
         with |Q| / |T| ≈ 17.3 %.

Install

The quickest install is through the plugin marketplace (see below). The npm and manual paths also work.

via npm

npm install -g claude-math
claude-math install

Symlinks the package into ~/.claude/plugins/local/claude-math, registers it in installed_plugins.json, and enables it in settings.json (atomically; both files get a .claude-math.bak backup on first touch). Restart Claude Code and the skill loads.

npx claude-math install also works: the CLI auto-detects an npx-cache install path and copies rather than symlinks (since the cache directory is ephemeral). Prefer the global install if you want updates via npm update -g claude-math to propagate automatically.

Other commands:

claude-math status        # report target, validity, settings state, next-install mode
claude-math uninstall     # remove symlink/dir, deregister, disable
claude-math --help        # full flag list, env overrides

Flags: --force overrides safety checks (foreign symlinks, non-plugin directories at the target). --copy forces a real copy instead of symlink.

Manual install

git clone https://github.com/vladimirrott/claude-math \
  ~/.claude/plugins/local/claude-math

Then add "claude-math@local": true under enabledPlugins in ~/.claude/settings.json and a matching entry in ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json. The CLI does both; running it once is the easiest path.

/plugin marketplace add vladimirrott/claude-math
/plugin install claude-math@vladimirrott

The skill normally activates for mathematical output. To load the complete rule set explicitly in Claude Code, run /math-unicode before the request.

Codex CLI

claude-math works in OpenAI Codex CLI too — the skill uses the same name + description SKILL.md frontmatter Codex reads. Two install paths:

Native Codex plugin (recommended — no npm):

codex plugin marketplace add vladimirrott/claude-math
codex plugin add claude-math@vladimirrott

Codex installs the plugin (manifest: .codex-plugin/plugin.json) and loads its math-unicode skill. Restart Codex if it does not appear; invoke with /skills or by mentioning $math-unicode. Remove with codex plugin remove claude-math@vladimirrott.

Via npm (drops just the skill file):

npm install -g claude-math
claude-math install --codex

This copies the skill into ~/.agents/skills/math-unicode/ (the current Codex user-skills dir; the older ~/.codex/skills/ path is deprecated but still read for backward compatibility). Use claude-math status --codex to check and claude-math uninstall --codex to remove. Set CLAUDE_MATH_CODEX_SKILLS_DIR to target a non-default skills directory.

Use one path or the other, not both — installing via the plugin and the CLI would load two copies of the same skill.

Hacking on this repo

Working from a clone (before or after publish):

git clone https://github.com/vladimirrott/claude-math && cd claude-math
node bin/claude-math.js install     # uses the cloned directory directly
node --test test/                   # run the test suite

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=/tmp/somewhere claude-math install lets you test against a sandbox without touching your real ~/.claude state, useful for contributing.

The math-unicode skill triggers on its own when the model writes math for a surface that cannot render LaTeX. No configuration required. See Where the skill should not fire for the cases where you want it quiet.

Which glyphs actually render

Unicode having a code point does not mean your terminal draws it. The skill ships a measured answer rather than a guess: scripts/measure-font-coverage.mjs reads the cmap table of twelve monospace fonts, six of the most widely installed programming fonts (JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Cascadia Code, Hack, Source Code Pro, IBM Plex Mono) and six system fonts (DejaVu Sans Mono, Liberation Mono, Ubuntu Mono, Ubuntu Sans Mono, Noto Mono, Cousine). The counts live in the skill's Font coverage table and the test suite asserts every published number against the measurement.

The short version:

  • Operators, Greek letters and digit sub/superscripts render in every font measured. Most output is these.
  • Letter sub/superscripts (xᵢ, xᵀ, aₙ) are DejaVu-class. JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, Hack and IBM Plex Mono carry none of them, so they arrive through fontconfig fallback there, which draws them at another font's width. That is why the rules keep x_i and x^T as equal alternatives.
  • A short list of glyphs renders in at most one of the twelve. The skill names them under Glyphs to avoid with what to write instead.

Wider coverage, if your font has it

If you run a font with broader Unicode coverage, the portable default leaves glyphs on the table: Greek indices in particular, where ᵨ and ᵦ exist and Liberation Mono and Cousine ship them. Ask for them once per session:

Use extended glyph coverage from math-unicode.

Or put that line in your CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md to make it permanent. The full opt-in set, with measured coverage per glyph, is in skills/math-unicode/references/extended-glyphs.md. Big-operator bounds stay bracketed either way, so ∑[i=1..n] never becomes the mixed ∑ᵢ₌₀ⁿ form.

Where the skill should not fire

The skill targets surfaces that cannot render LaTeX. Its description says so, so a host that renders math natively (ChatGPT or Codex on desktop and web) should not pick it up. That is the model reading its own context, not an enforced predicate: no host exposes a per-surface switch to a skill today.

To turn it off yourself, Codex takes either of these. In ~/.codex/config.toml:

[[skills.config]]
name = "math-unicode"
enabled = false

Or, for explicit-only invocation while keeping $math-unicode available, add skills/math-unicode/agents/openai.yaml to your installed copy:

policy:
  allow_implicit_invocation: false

In Claude Code, /plugin disables the plugin, and disable-model-invocation: true in the installed SKILL.md leaves /math-unicode working while stopping automatic activation.

Graphical rendering (sixel / kitty): not inside the chat

Rendering math as an actual image (sixel or kitty graphics) is not possible inside the Claude Code chat. The TUI repaints its own screen buffer on every update and overwrites any graphics escape sequences a plugin emits, and its line accounting does not know an image's height. So in-chat output stays Unicode, which is the point of this skill.

Graphics belongs in the host, not in a plugin, and that work is now underway upstream: openai/codex#18906 has two working fork branches rendering LaTeX through the Kitty graphics protocol (one via typst + mitex, one via latex + dvipng), and the emerging consensus there is Unicode-first as the first milestone with a graphics backend second. A renderer inside the host can do something this skill structurally cannot: convert only at display time and keep the exact LaTeX in the transcript, so nothing is lost on resume, export or copy.

This skill is therefore the stopgap for terminals and hosts that do not render math yet. When native rendering lands where you work, prefer it.

Why Unicode by default?

PathWorks in plain terminalSSH / tmuxCI logsCopy-pasteInstall cost
Unicode (this skill)✓✓✓✓1 file
Sixel / kitty graphics✗ (not in chat)partial✗✗ imagesnative host support
Pipe through external viewer✗ TUI breaksn/a✓ if --print✓shell wrapper

Unicode is the only approach that preserves text across the distribution channels a Claude Code session commonly uses, and the only one whose output stays selectable and greppable: a graphics placement is an image, so you cannot search or copy the equation out of it. That is why a Unicode path stays useful even after hosts gain a graphics backend.

License

MIT.