PaperDebugger is an AI-driven academic writing assistant designed to help researchers debug and improve research papers directly in the Overleaf editor without leaving the editor. It is powered by a custom MCP-based orchestration engine that simulates the complete academic workflow: research → critique → revision, enabling multi-step reasoning, reviewer-style criticism, and structured revision, going beyond standard chat-based assistance.
Main capabilities:
- AI-driven chat: intelligent conversation for Overleaf projects.
- Instant insertion: one-click insertion of AI replies into the project.
- Comment system: automatically generate and insert comments into the project.
- Prompt library: custom prompt templates for different use cases.
- Privacy-first: content is secure, read-only, never modifies.
- Multi-agent orchestration: XtraMCP supports literature-grounded research, AI conference review, citation verification, and domain-specific revision.
How to use:
- Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store.
- Open any Overleaf project.
- Click the PaperDebugger icon in the upper left corner.
- Start chatting with the LaTeX document.
To use a self-hosted backend, configure a custom endpoint: open the extension, go to settings, click the version number 5 times in succession to enable "Developer Tools," enter the backend URL in the "Backend Endpoint" field, and refresh the page. Note: "Log in with Overleaf" can only be used with a self-hosted backend. If you encounter an endpoint error after refreshing, use "Advanced Options" at the bottom of the login page to reconfigure.
Architecture overview: The PaperDebugger backend is built with modern technologies: language is Go 1.24+, framework is Gin (HTTP) + gRPC (API), database is MongoDB, AI integration is OpenAI API, architecture is microservices based on Protocol Buffers, and authentication is based on JWT with OAuth support.
Use cases: Suitable for scenarios where researchers need intelligent suggestions and structured revision assistance while writing, reviewing, and editing academically in Overleaf.
Limitations: PaperDebugger never modifies the project; it only reads and provides suggestions. The team is actively improving long-term reliability and hopes to resolve the issue this month. Other specific limitations have not been provided yet.
