diff --git a/export_tex.sh b/export_tex.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..13a2d4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/export_tex.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# export_tex.sh — collect all files needed to compile a .tex file
+# Usage: ./export_tex.sh [manuscript.tex] [output_dir]
+#   Defaults: first .tex in current dir; output_dir → ./export
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# ── arguments ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+TEX_FILE="${1:-}"
+if [[ -z "$TEX_FILE" ]]; then
+    TEX_FILE=$(ls *.tex 2>/dev/null | head -1)
+    [[ -z "$TEX_FILE" ]] && { echo "No .tex file found."; exit 1; }
+fi
+[[ -f "$TEX_FILE" ]] || { echo "File not found: $TEX_FILE"; exit 1; }
+
+EXPORT_DIR="${2:-export}"
+SRC_DIR="$(dirname "$(realpath "$TEX_FILE")")"
+TEX_BASE="$(basename "$TEX_FILE")"
+
+mkdir -p "$EXPORT_DIR"
+
+IMAGE_EXTS=(".pdf" ".png" ".jpg" ".jpeg" ".eps" ".svg" ".PNG" ".JPG" ".JPEG")
+
+# Track already-processed tex files to avoid infinite loops
+declare -A VISITED_TEX
+
+# ── helpers ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+copy_rel() {
+    # Copy a file to EXPORT_DIR preserving its path relative to SRC_DIR.
+    local src="$1"
+    [[ -f "$src" ]] || { echo "  [missing] $src"; return; }
+    local rel="${src#$SRC_DIR/}"
+    local dest="$EXPORT_DIR/$rel"
+    mkdir -p "$(dirname "$dest")"
+    cp -v "$src" "$dest"
+}
+
+find_recursive() {
+    # Find file by basename+ext under SRC_DIR; prefer shallower paths.
+    local base="$1"; shift
+    local found=""
+    for ext in "$@"; do
+        # Sort by path depth (fewer slashes = shallower) then alphabetically
+        found=$(find "$SRC_DIR" -name "${base}${ext}" \
+                | awk '{ print gsub(/\//,"/")" "$0 }' | sort -n | head -1 \
+                | cut -d' ' -f2-)
+        [[ -n "$found" ]] && break
+    done
+    echo "$found"
+}
+
+copy_image() {
+    local img="$1"
+    # Normalise: strip leading ./ if present
+    img="${img#./}"
+
+    # 1. Try path as written in .tex (relative to SRC_DIR), with/without ext
+    if [[ "$img" == *.* ]]; then
+        local f="$SRC_DIR/$img"
+        if [[ -f "$f" ]]; then copy_rel "$f"; return; fi
+    else
+        for ext in "${IMAGE_EXTS[@]}"; do
+            local f="$SRC_DIR/${img}${ext}"
+            if [[ -f "$f" ]]; then copy_rel "$f"; return; fi
+        done
+    fi
+
+    # 2. Fallback: recursive search by basename only
+    local base="${img##*/}"
+    local f
+    f=$(find_recursive "$base" "${IMAGE_EXTS[@]}")
+    if [[ -n "$f" ]]; then
+        copy_rel "$f"
+    else
+        echo "  [missing] $img"
+    fi
+}
+
+# ── recursive tex processor ───────────────────────────────────────────────────
+process_tex() {
+    local tex_path
+    tex_path="$(realpath "$1")"
+    [[ -n "${VISITED_TEX[$tex_path]:-}" ]] && return
+    VISITED_TEX["$tex_path"]=1
+
+    [[ -f "$tex_path" ]] || { echo "  [missing tex] $tex_path"; return; }
+    copy_rel "$tex_path"
+
+    # \input{file} or \include{file}
+    while IFS= read -r inc; do
+        # Try with and without .tex extension
+        local candidate=""
+        for try in "$SRC_DIR/${inc}.tex" "$SRC_DIR/${inc}"; do
+            [[ -f "$try" ]] && { candidate="$try"; break; }
+        done
+        if [[ -n "$candidate" ]]; then
+            process_tex "$candidate"
+        else
+            echo "  [missing tex] $inc"
+        fi
+    done < <(grep -oP '\\(input|include)\{[^}]+\}' "$tex_path" \
+             | grep -oP '(?<=\{)[^}]+' | tr -d '\r')
+
+    # \includegraphics
+    while IFS= read -r img; do
+        copy_image "$img"
+    done < <(grep -oP '\\includegraphics(\[[^\]]*\])?\{[^}]+\}' "$tex_path" \
+             | grep -oP '(?<=\{)[^}]+' | tr -d '\r')
+}
+
+# ── 1. recurse through all .tex files ────────────────────────────────────────
+process_tex "$TEX_FILE"
+
+# ── 2. document class (.cls) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+CLS=$(grep -oP '\\documentclass\[?[^\]]*\]?\{[^}]+\}' "$TEX_FILE" \
+      | grep -oP '(?<=\{)[^}]+' | tr -d '\r' | head -1)
+if [[ -n "$CLS" ]]; then
+    f=$(find_recursive "$CLS" ".cls")
+    if [[ -n "$f" ]]; then
+        copy_rel "$f"
+    else
+        echo "  [system]  ${CLS}.cls (not local, assumed installed)"
+    fi
+fi
+
+# Collect all files to search for bibliography settings: .tex + any local .cls/.sty
+mapfile -t SEARCH_FILES < <(
+    printf '%s\n' "${!VISITED_TEX[@]}"
+    find "$SRC_DIR" -maxdepth 1 \( -name "*.cls" -o -name "*.sty" \) 2>/dev/null
+)
+
+# ── 3. bibliography style (.bst / .bbx) ──────────────────────────────────────
+BST=$(grep -rhP '\\bibliographystyle\{[^}]+\}' "${SEARCH_FILES[@]}" 2>/dev/null \
+      | grep -oP '(?<=\{)[^}]+' | tr -d '\r' | head -1 || true)
+if [[ -n "$BST" ]]; then
+    f=$(find_recursive "$BST" ".bst" ".bbx")
+    if [[ -n "$f" ]]; then
+        copy_rel "$f"
+    else
+        echo "  [system]  ${BST}.bst (not local, assumed installed)"
+    fi
+fi
+
+# also copy any local .bbx / .cbx referenced by biblatex style option
+# matches both style= and bibstyle=
+grep -rhP '\\usepackage.*biblatex' "${SEARCH_FILES[@]}" 2>/dev/null \
+    | grep -oP '(?:bib)?style\s*=\s*\{?[^},\]]+' | grep -oP '[^={} \r]+$' \
+    | tr -d '\r' | sort -u \
+    | while IFS= read -r sty; do
+        for ext in ".bbx" ".cbx"; do
+            f=$(find_recursive "$sty" "$ext")
+            [[ -n "$f" ]] && copy_rel "$f"
+        done
+    done || true
+
+# ── 4. bibliography database (.bib) ──────────────────────────────────────────
+# handles both \bibliography{} (BibTeX) and \addbibresource{} (biblatex)
+while IFS= read -r bib; do
+    bib="${bib%.bib}"   # strip .bib suffix if already present
+    f=$(find_recursive "$bib" ".bib")
+    [[ -n "$f" ]] && copy_rel "$f" || echo "  [missing] ${bib}.bib"
+done < <({ grep -rhP '\\bibliography\{[^}]+\}' "${SEARCH_FILES[@]}" 2>/dev/null \
+               | grep -oP '(?<=\{)[^}]+' | tr ',' '\n' | tr -d ' \r'
+           grep -rhP '\\addbibresource\{[^}]+\}' "${SEARCH_FILES[@]}" 2>/dev/null \
+               | grep -oP '(?<=\{)[^}]+' | tr -d '\r'; } \
+         | sort -u || true)
+
+# ── 5. .bbl (pre-built bibliography, if present) ─────────────────────────────
+BBL="$SRC_DIR/${TEX_BASE%.tex}.bbl"
+[[ -f "$BBL" ]] && copy_rel "$BBL"
+
+echo ""
+echo "Done. Files exported to: $EXPORT_DIR/"