bibim 0.2.0

Minimalistic, markdown-based reference manager for computer science research

bibim

bibim is a command-line tool that simplifies bibliography management for computer science research. It allows you to manage references directly within Markdown files, automatically fetch and update citation data, and generate BibTeX files.

Features

• Markdown-based management: Seamlessly integrate your bibliography within your research notes.
• Automatic BibTeX generation: No need to maintain separate .bib files; ensures consistent formatting across references.
• Up-to-date references: Automatically keep paper attributes current without manual tracking from preprints to published versions.

Installation

Requires Python 3.8 or higher.

$ pip install bibim

Usage

1. Initialize a New Repository

Convert a folder into a bibim repository:

$ bibim init

This creates an index.md file and a .bibim directory for preferences.

Multiple Tables

You can have multiple tables in index.md, each representing a different category (e.g., System, AI). Add a Markdown header above each table:

# System

# AI

Customizing Markdown Formatting

Modify formatting options in .bibim/settings.json. For example, to change the default column order:

{
  "columns": [
    "title",
    "authors_concise",
    "venue",
    "year",
    "num_citations",
    "reference"
  ]
}

2. Add a Reference

Add a reference by providing the paper title or author names:

$ bibim add "attention is all you need vaswani"

This creates a new file in ./references/{author}{year}{firstwordoftitle}.md with full metadata and updates index.md with concise metadata (abbreviated author names, title, venue, year, citation count, and a link to the full reference).

• Automated metadata retrieval: Searches Google Scholar and DBLPto fill in authors, venue, and year.
• Citation counts: Retrieves current citation counts from Google Scholar.
• arXiv links: Includes direct links if available.

Specify a Target Table

Add a reference to a specific table:

$ bibim add "few shot learners" --table "ai"

Table titles are case-insensitive. If not specified, the reference is added to the first table in index.md.

3. Update References

Update all reference metadata, keeping any user-added columns or notes intact:

$ bibim update

You can also update a specific table:

$ bibim update --table "ai"

4. Generate a BibTeX File

Generate a BibTeX file from your bibliography:

$ bibim bibtex

Entry IDs are formatted as [author][year][firstwordoftitle] in lowercase.

5. Formatting Markdown

To beautify the index.md, run:

$ bibim format

Contributing

We welcome pull requests. For major changes, please open an issue to discuss your ideas.

License

MIT License