Very cool tools/perspective, but I think we have pretty different workflows/setups. I love not struggling to install TeX or its packages, and for me Overleaf has taken care of so many things that to reproduce it on my own seems much more effort than I'm willing to do.
Although things like [Skim][1] exist, Basictex does most of what I need, so I've never really tried wiring it into my existing install.
Pipe dream - If the people who work on macOS's Preview application were smart, they would steal it (or [Marked's][2]) ability to have a custom processor for displaying output. In that case, I could point it at my TeX install and just run my Makefile from there.
[1]: https://skim-app.sourceforge.io
[2]: http://marked2app.com/help/Custom_Processor.html