You can change it to export in the background:

  (setq org-export-in-background 't)

https://orgmode.org/manual/The-Export-Dispatcher.html

Thanks for the tip, I'll try it out!

I've had that fixed in the past by simply adding an ampersand to org's compile command. This does make it run in the background but makes it ring the bell a number of times. Now when I'm editing and want to see the compiled pdf side by side I just start a bash while loop that recompiles continually with latexmk.

> I just start a bash while loop that recompiles continually with latexmk.

There's the -pvc option in latexmk that[1], "continuously check all input files for changes and re-compile the whole thing if needed and always display the result," depending on if your PDF viewer will refresh.

That may obviate the need for a bash while loop.

[1] https://mg.readthedocs.io/latexmk.html

Neat, thanks!

That makes sense, I don't need to recompile that often but when recompiling relatively large notes (~50 pages) with lots of minted code blocks and the like, it's annoying.