OpenCitation

An open source citation manager, generator, and sharing tool. Ad-free, easy to use, with a clean Wikipedia 2005-inspired design.

Features

• Generate Citations - Create properly formatted citations from URLs, DOIs, ISBNs, or manual entry
• Organize - Save citations to Lists, organize Lists into Projects
• Share - Share Lists or Projects via public links
• Export - Copy to clipboard or download as text, BibTeX, or RIS

Supported Citation Styles

• APA 7th Edition
• MLA 9th Edition
• Chicago 17th Edition
• Harvard

Supported Source Types

Books, Academic Journals, Websites, Blogs, Newspapers, Videos, Images, Film, TV Series, TV Episodes, and Miscellaneous.

Platforms

Platform	Status
Web App	Ready
Chrome Extension	Ready
PWA (installable)	Ready
Electron Desktop	Ready

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 16, React 19, Tailwind CSS 4.0
UI	Custom Wikipedia-style design system
Auth	Clerk
Database	DynamoDB (AWS SDK v3, single-table)
Testing	Vitest + Testing Library (225 tests)
Desktop	Electron
Extension	Chrome Manifest v3

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm, yarn, or pnpm

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aicoder2009/opencitation.git
cd opencitation

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local with your API keys

# Start development server
npm run dev

Environment Variables

# Clerk Authentication
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=

# AWS DynamoDB (optional - uses local store if not set)
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=
AWS_REGION=

Commands

npm run dev        # Start dev server
npm run build      # Production build
npm run lint       # ESLint
npm run test       # Run tests (225 tests)

How It Works

Citation Generation

1. Quick Add: Paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN - metadata is extracted automatically
2. Manual Entry: Form-based entry for full control over all fields
3. Style Selection: Choose from APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard

Organization

• Lists: Collections of citations (like a bibliography)
• Projects: Containers for multiple Lists (like a semester or thesis)
• Tags: Color-coded tags for categorization

Sharing & Export

• Generate public links for Lists or Projects
• Export as plain text, BibTeX (.bib), or RIS (.ris)
• Embed badge on external sites

Project Structure

opencitation/
├── src/
│   ├── app/                 # Next.js pages & API routes
│   │   ├── cite/            # Citation generator
│   │   ├── lists/           # Lists management
│   │   ├── projects/        # Projects management
│   │   ├── share/[code]/    # Public share pages
│   │   ├── embed/           # Embed badge page
│   │   └── api/             # REST endpoints
│   ├── components/
│   │   ├── wiki/            # Wikipedia-style UI
│   │   ├── pwa/             # PWA components
│   │   └── retro/           # Retro print animation
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── citation/        # Formatters & exporters
│   │   ├── db/              # DynamoDB client
│   │   └── pwa/             # Service worker utilities
│   └── types/               # TypeScript definitions
├── browser-extension/       # Chrome extension
├── electron/                # Desktop app
└── public/                  # Static assets

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read the development guidelines in CLAUDE.md before submitting PRs.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Design inspired by Wikipedia circa 2005-2010
• Built for students who hate citation generators with ads