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wtf is autobib?

yoavgur/autobib — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

1TypeScriptAudience · researcherComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TL;DR

A Chrome extension that finds the published version of an arXiv preprint and copies a clean BibTeX citation to your clipboard.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((autobib))
    What it does
      Resolves arXiv to venue
      Copies BibTeX
      Warns if unpublished
    Tech stack
      TypeScript
      Chrome Extension
      Node.js
    Use cases
      Citation export
      CLI lookup
      Scholar pages
    Audience
      Researchers
      Academics

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Export a clean BibTeX citation for the published version of an arXiv preprint

REASON 2

Automatically resolve an arXiv paper to its DBLP, Crossref, OpenReview, or ACL Anthology entry

REASON 3

Copy citations directly from Semantic Scholar or Google Scholar results pages

REASON 4

Look up a BibTeX citation from the command line by arXiv ID, DOI, or title

What's in the stack?

TypeScriptChrome ExtensionNode.js

How it stacks up

yoavgur/autobib0xkinno/neuralvault0xmayurrr/ai-contractauditor
Stars111
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyeasyhardeasy
Complexity2/54/52/5
Audienceresearcherdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

npm install and build, then load dist/ as an unpacked Chrome extension.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

Wtf does this do

AutoBib is a Chrome extension, built with TypeScript, that adds an Export Published BibTeX button to academic paper pages. Its main job is to solve a specific annoyance for researchers: when you find a paper on arXiv, it is often a preprint of something that was later formally published elsewhere, like a conference or journal, and that published version usually has better citation information. AutoBib finds that published version and copies a clean BibTeX citation entry straight to your clipboard. If no published version can be found, the extension tells you clearly instead of quietly giving you the arXiv preprint citation as a fallback, so you always know what you are actually copying. It works on arXiv abstract and PDF pages, Semantic Scholar paper and search pages, and Google Scholar results pages. To find the published version, it checks several sources in order: first DBLP, then Crossref by DOI and then by title, then OpenReview, and finally the ACL Anthology using a venue hint pulled from the arXiv comment field. The resolver that does this lookup can also run on its own from the command line, without the browser extension, letting you look up a citation by arXiv ID, by DOI, or by searching a paper's title directly. To install it, you clone the repository, install dependencies with npm, build it, then load the resulting dist folder into Chrome as an unpacked extension through developer mode. The project includes its own test suite and a typecheck command. It is licensed under MIT.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Help me build and load the AutoBib Chrome extension from source
Prompt 2
Show me how to use AutoBib's resolver CLI to look up a citation by DOI
Prompt 3
Explain the order AutoBib checks DBLP, Crossref, OpenReview, and ACL Anthology in
Prompt 4
Walk me through running AutoBib's tests and typecheck before submitting a change

Frequently asked questions

wtf is autobib?

A Chrome extension that finds the published version of an arXiv preprint and copies a clean BibTeX citation to your clipboard.

What language is autobib written in?

Mainly TypeScript. The stack also includes TypeScript, Chrome Extension, Node.js.

What license does autobib use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is autobib to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is autobib for?

Mainly researcher.

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