A typesetting solution for all of your Slack chat needs.

Requires Java, Node.JS and NPM.

$ sudo apt-get install nodejs npm default-jre
$ sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk # unless a JDK is already installed

$ cd mathslax
$ make install
$ SERVER=myhostname.com PORT=9999 node server.js

Set up an outgoing web hook in Slack pointing to myhostname.com:9999/typeset (don't forget the /typeset). Use math! as the prefix.

In the Slack channel with the web hook configured, you should be able to typeset equations by starting your message with math!. For example, math! x^2 * sin(x) would cause the mathslax bot to comment with a link to a typeset image of x^2 * sin(x).

The npm install step can produce hard to diagnose errors on Debian derived systems (such as Ubuntu 12.x and later). The binary /usr/bin/node was renamed to /usr/bin/nodejs and many packages in npm do not expect this. You can either create a link yourself from /usr/bin/node -> /usr/bin/nodejs or use one of the other various solutions out there (including attempting to use the package nodejs-legacy). Good luck!