MiKTeX¶

ID: miktex
Links: Home page · Documentation · Repository · Wikipedia
Upstream stars: ⭐ 979
Last commit: 2026-08-02
Version requirement: >= 22.3
Platforms: 🐧 Linux · 🪟 Windows
Operations: installed · install · upgrade · upgrade_all · remove · sync
purl types: pkg:miktex/
CLI name: miktex
Issues and PRs: 📦 manager: miktex
Source: miktex.py

TeX package manager of the MiKTeX distribution.

Reaches MiKTeX’s own package repositories, which are distinct from the catalog tlmgr reaches for TeX Live: two distributions, two managers, rather than one wrapped twice.

Note

Linux and Windows only, and that follows the tool rather than a choice. The packages command arrived in MiKTeX 22.3, while the newest macOS build MiKTeX publishes is 22.1, which predates it. The only package surface on macOS is the standalone binary that happens to share this project’s name, which is reason enough never to reach for it.

Important

Queries pass --disable-installer. MiKTeX installs packages on the fly by default, so without it reading the inventory is not guaranteed to leave the system as it found it.

What `mpm` adds to `miktex`¶

mpm reaches across every manager at once, not miktex alone: mpm installed and mpm outdated cover miktex alongside every other manager you run in one table, mpm upgrade --all updates them together, and mpm sbom exports the whole machine as one bill of materials.

Every mpm command also gains --dry-run and --plan previews, cross-scheme version comparison and purl identifiers. See manager augmentations for how each one is built.

Your `miktex` commands, in `mpm`¶

You already know miktex: each operation maps one-to-one onto mpm, in an interface shared by every manager.

To…	With `miktex`	With `mpm`
Install a package	`miktex packages install fancyhdr`	`mpm install pkg:miktex/fancyhdr`
Upgrade one package	`miktex packages update fancyhdr`	`mpm --miktex upgrade fancyhdr`
Upgrade everything	`miktex packages update`	`mpm --miktex upgrade --all`
Remove a package	`miktex packages remove fancyhdr`	`mpm remove pkg:miktex/fancyhdr`

Prefix any command above with --dry-run to simulate the underlying manager calls without touching the system: the safe way to watch what mpm would do before trusting it.

Operations¶

Operation	Supported	Notes
`installed`	✅
`outdated`	❌	The tool’s check prints bare package names with no version to report against; `upgrade --all` is unaffected.
`orphans`
`search`	❌	MiKTeX has no such command.
`install`	✅
`upgrade`	✅
`upgrade_all`	✅
`remove`	✅	Removing a system-wide package needs the `--admin` flag and administrator rights, which `mpm` never passes.
`sync`	✅
`cleanup`	❌	Nothing in the package surface purges a cache or sweeps orphans.
`doctor`

Configuration¶

Ignore miktex on the mpm CLI by passing the --no-miktex option.
Ignore it for every run in your configuration:
```
[mpm]
miktex = false
```
Raise the timeout of all miktex calls:
```
[mpm.overrides.miktex]
timeout = 900
```

Run mpm config-template miktex to print all overridable settings for your configuration file:

[mpm.overrides.miktex]
cli_names = [
    "miktex",
]
cli_search_path = []
dry_run = false
ignore_auto_updates = true
plan = false
post_args = []
pre_args = []
pre_cmds = []
requirement = ">=22.3"
stop_on_error = false
unmaintained = false
version_cli_options = [
    "--version",
]
version_regexes = [
    "\\(MiKTeX (?P<version>\\d+(?:\\.\\d+)*)",
]

Recipes¶

A few jobs you would otherwise script around miktex, one mpm command each:

Snapshot and clone a machine: mpm --miktex dump miktex.toml, then mpm restore miktex.toml on the next one.
Export a compliance SBOM: mpm --miktex sbom (CycloneDX by default, --spdx for SPDX).

Privilege escalation¶

mpm runs this manager as the current user and never prepends sudo by default. Flip the policy for its privileged operations with --sudo or the per-manager sudo override.

None of its operations is privileged.

See privilege escalation for the full policy.

Cooldown¶

State of MiKTeX’s release-age gating, from the cooldown support table:

Status: ❌ None

A cooldown only pays off where a compromised release can be withdrawn while the clock runs, and can only be emulated where the registry dates its releases. From the retraction table:

Registry: Curated app stores and archives

With --cooldown set, mpm skips this manager’s install and upgrade operations rather than run them unguarded (fail-closed); --cooldown best-effort opts back in.

Version check¶

The version is extracted from the output of miktex --version with:

r"\(MiKTeX (?P<version>\d+(?:\.\d+)*)"

Upstream project¶

Metrics	`MiKTeX/miktex`
Activity
Popularity
Metadata

Changelog¶

8.0.0 (2026-09-20)
- Declare support for the Linux compatibility layers, WSL included, in place of the Linux distributions alone, so the readme’s operation matrix reports their platforms.
- Add the MiKTeX TeX package manager with installed, install, upgrade, remove and sync support, queries disabling its on-the-fly installer. It declares no outdated.