LYXCLIENT(1)

💅 LYXCLIENT 💅

okay so bestie, this is lyxclient from the lyxclient 2.5 era — it's the little tool that lets you slide into a running LyX editor's DMs and send commands. No cap, it's giving "middleman but make it iconic" 💌

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✨ NAME ✨

lyxclient — send commands to a running LyX editor 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

lyxclient [ options ]

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so picture this: when LyX starts up, it makes a unique, per-process local socket in the temporary directory — like its own little private chatroom where commands can be dropped off 💬. That means LyX is literally acting like a server, accepting connections from clients, and lyxclient is that client, bestie.

lyxclient handles all the connection and communication protocol details for you, so you (or your app) can just focus on what you actually want to say to LyX. it's giving "let me handle the awkward small talk so you can get to the real conversation" ✨

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🎀 SERVER IDENTIFICATION OPTIONS 🎀

okay so first things first: lyxclient has to figure out which server (i.e. which running LyX) it's supposed to send commands to. these options are how you tell it, no cap.

• -p pid — specify the pid of the running LyX process that lyxclient should send commands to. like, "hey, this specific LyX, not the other one" 💅
• -a socket_address — specify explicitly which socket special file should be used. these special files live inside lyx_tmpdir<lyx_pid><hash>, in the temporary directory. there's one per running LyX process. it's giving "I know exactly which door I'm knocking on" 🚪
• -t tmp_dir — if LyX is configured to use a temporary directory other than /tmp, you gotta inform lyxclient about it. don't leave it guessing, bestie 😭

okay so if neither -a nor -p is invoked, lyxclient will search for sockets in /tmp (or tmp_dir if the -t option is used) and use the first socket it can actually connect to. this is safe if you're running only one LyX process at any one time — but if you've got multiple LyXes running, it's giving "eeny meeny miny moe" and you might not get the one you wanted 🙈

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🔥 COMMAND MODE OPTIONS 🔥

lyxclient can send commands to LyX from both the command-line and from standard input. LyX commands documentation can be found in LyX Help menu — go look, it's there, iykyk 📚

• -c command — send a single command, print LyX information to standard output, and exit. the LYXCMD prefix is needed in the given command. one and done, slay 💅
• -g file line — this is simply a wrapper for the command 'command-sequence server-goto-file-row file line; lyx-activate'. it's used by the PDF and DVI previewer to elicit inverse search and focus the LyX window. it's giving "take me to the exact spot and make it main character energy" 🔍✨

if neither -c nor -g are used, lyxclient will regard any standard input as commands to be sent to LyX, printing LyX's responses to standard output. commands are separated by newlines (the '\n' character). to finish communication and terminate the lyxclient process, send the command 'BYE:' — yes, literally say bye, it's iconic 👋

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🦋 MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS 🦋

• -n name — when starting communication, lyxclient sends an identifier string to LyX. by default, this string is "PPID>PID", where PPID is lyxclient's parent pid and PID is lyxclient's pid. use this option to override this default. it's giving "I'm not just anybody, I'm me" 💁‍♀️
• -h — print the lyxclient version and summarize its usage. the classic "who am I and what do I do" moment 🫶

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• LYXSOCKET — can be used to specify the socket special file that must be used. LyX sets this variable. it is overridden by the -a option. so like, LYXSOCKET is the vibe, but -a walks in and says "actually, no" 😤

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

lyx(1), xdvi(1), LFUNs.lyx.

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

João Luis M. Assirati <assirati@fma.if.usp.br> is the principal author of lyxclient. give them their flowers, periodt 💐

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and that's the whole vibe, bestie — lyxclient version 2.5, dated 2026-09-07. go send some commands, you got this 💜✨