fix: send rootResourcePath instead of rootDoc_id in compile request

[riccardogibello]

Fixes #355

Fix: Compile failure — rootResourcePath is missing in request body

Problem

Every time a save is performed, it triggers a compile request that fails with a 400 error from Overleaf's API:

Compile failure. 400: {"error":"rootResourcePath is missing in request body"}

This causes a permanent red flag in the VS Code status bar and no PDF output in .output, even though the project compiles successfully on overleaf.com directly.

Root Cause

Overleaf's compile API expects a rootResourcePath field containing the file path of the root document (e.g. "main.tex"). However, the extension was sending rootDoc_id — a MongoDB document ID (e.g. "69c4fd3d5256760243b6e292") — which is a completely different field that the API does not accept as a substitute for rootResourcePath.

The bug has two parts:

1. src/api/base.ts — The compile request body included rootDoc_id but never included rootResourcePath.

2. src/core/remoteFileSystemProvider.ts — The compile() method passed the raw MongoDB ID directly to the API without resolving it to a file path first.

The ID was available and correct (confirmed via debugging) — it just needed to be resolved to a path using the existing _resolveById() method before being sent.

Fix

src/api/base.ts — Add rootResourcePath to the compile request body (the parameter is renamed accordingly):

async compile(identity, projectId, rootResourcePath, draft = false, stopOnFirstError = false) {
    const body = {
        check: 'silent',
        draft,
        incrementalCompilesEnabled: true,
        rootResourcePath,   // file path e.g. "main.tex"
        stopOnFirstError
    };
    ...
}

src/core/remoteFileSystemProvider.ts — Resolve the MongoDB ID to a file path before calling the API:

// compile project
const resolvedRootDocId = rootDocId ?? this.root?.rootDoc_id ?? null;
const rootResourcePath = resolvedRootDocId
    ? (this._resolveById(resolvedRootDocId)?.path ?? '').replace(/^\//, '')
    : null;
const res = await this.api.compile(identity, this.projectId, rootResourcePath, draft, stopOnFirstError);

The .replace(/^\//, '') strips the leading / from the path returned by _resolveById(), giving a clean relative path like main.tex rather than /main.tex.

Testing

Verified locally on:

• Overleaf Workshop: 0.15.7
• VS Code: 1.113.0 (x64, .deb install on Ubuntu Linux)
• Overleaf: www.overleaf.com (official server)

After the fix, saving a .tex file triggers a successful compile, the PDF appears in .output, and the red flag is gone.

Notes

• The rootDoc_id field in the request body has been removed since it was never a valid field for Overleaf's compile API — only rootResourcePath is required.
• This fix does not change any other behaviour; if rootResourcePath resolves to null (no root doc set), the compile request omits it, which matches the previous behaviour.

[NixonZ]

This fix is working for me too.

[himalalps]

This does work for me.

[rikoras]

works for me. tks!

[MaxCrisafulli]

This worked, thank you!

For anyone on MacOS, the relevant files were in:
~/.vscode/extensions/.vscode/extensions/iamhyc.overleaf-workshop-0.15.7/out/api/base.js
and
~/.vscode/extensions/iamhyc.overleaf-workshop-0.15.7/out/core/remoteFileSystemProvider.js

[salehisaeed]

Thanks! Worked for me as well.

[mashdtu]

i love you

[iamhyc]

Thanks for the contribution! I wonder if it works for the older version, will do a quick check.

Updated: Intuitively, you can pass both rootDoc_id and rootResourcePath in the request body.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Fixes Overleaf compile requests by sending the root document path (rootResourcePath) instead of the root document Mongo ID (rootDoc_id), resolving the 400 error on save-triggered compiles.

Changes:

• Update BaseAPI.compile() to accept and send rootResourcePath in the compile request body.
• Resolve the configured root document ID to a workspace path before calling the compile API.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
src/core/remoteFileSystemProvider.ts	Resolves rootDoc_id to a relative rootResourcePath before compiling.
src/api/base.ts	Renames compile parameter and sends rootResourcePath in the POST body.

---

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[edkontar]

Tried the fix, but I have the remote file system read error:

[Window] Failed to resolve files at location: overleaf-workshop://www.overleaf.com/ProjectName

[weiyz23]

This PR is fully functional and resolves my problems : )

[weiyz23]

Tried the fix, but I have the remote file system read error:

[Window] Failed to resolve files at location: overleaf-workshop://www.overleaf.com/ProjectName

Maybe you didn't apply all the two commits?

[CwbyWifsy]

it works

[edkontar]

Tried the fix, but I have the remote file system read error:
[Window] Failed to resolve files at location: overleaf-workshop://www.overleaf.com/ProjectName

Maybe you didn't apply all the two commits?

yes, it works

[zhz-0]

thx，what should this be like for Windows version？

[CwbyWifsy]

thx，what should this be like for Windows version？

C:\Users.vscode\extensions\iamhyc.overleaf-workshop-0.15.7\out，you can see
api\base.js and core\remoteFileSystemProvider.js

[zhz-0]

thx，what should this be like for Windows version？

Resolved，for windows users the files are located at:

base.js
~\ .vscode\extensions\iamhyc.overleaf-workshop-0.15.7\out\api
remoteFileSystemProvider.js
~\ .vscode\extensions\iamhyc.overleaf-workshop-0.15.7\out\core

[zhz-0]

thx，what should this be like for Windows version？

C:\Users.vscode\extensions\iamhyc.overleaf-workshop-0.15.7\out，you can see api\base.js and core\remoteFileSystemProvider.js

thx

[iamhyc]

Sorry for the late, really busy on the works. I have tested the function both working on community & offical server. Just need one more approval to move it forward.