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bibtui

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A quiet, powerful home for your references.

PyPI Python 3.12+ License: MIT Docs Publish CI

bibtui is a fast, keyboard-driven terminal app for researchers who work with BibTeX. Open your .bib file, search thousands of references instantly, fetch open-access PDFs with a single keystroke, and track what you've read — without leaving the terminal. No database, no sync daemon, no account.

📖 Read the full documentation →

bibtui library view

Quick start

# Run without installing — opens the built-in file browser
uvx bibtui

# Or open a specific library directly
uvx bibtui myrefs.bib

# Or install permanently
uv tool install bibtui

What you can do

  • Find anything, instantly — search title, author, journal, keywords and cite key as you type, with field prefixes like a:, t:, k:, y:.
  • Download PDFs automatically — one keystroke fetches the open-access PDF from arXiv, Copernicus, OpenAlex or Unpaywall and links it to the entry.
  • Import by DOI, PDF, or .bib file — paste a DOI, point at a folder of PDFs, or pick a downloaded .bib file, and the metadata is fetched or parsed for you.
  • Organise — keywords, read states, priorities and star ratings, all stored in your .bib file.
  • Collaborate with Git — your library is plain text, so a research group can share and review it like code. Learn how →
  • Run anywhere — laptop, SSH, or an HPC cluster. Full Textual theming, keyboard and mouse.

Documentation

Guide
Installation Get bibtui running
Getting started The everyday workflow
Searching your library Field prefixes and sorting
Fetching PDFs Automatic open-access downloads
Working as a team Share a library with Git
Configuration Settings, themes, CSL styles

Contributing

Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome — see the development guide and open an issue.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Metadata

Release files for bibtui 1.1.1

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Source distribution (sdist)

Source distribution for bibtui 1.1.1
File Size Uploaded
bibtui-1.1.1.tar.gz 135.4 kB Details

Built distribution (wheel)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for bibtui 1.1.1
File Interpreter ABI Platform
bibtui-1.1.1-py3-none-any.whl Python 3 none any Details

Total release size: 288.1 kB

Release files / bibtui-1.1.1.tar.gz

Download URL bibtui-1.1.1.tar.gz
Size 135.4 kB
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Uploaded via uv/0.12.17 {"installer":{"name":"uv","version":"0.12.17","subcommand":["publish"]},"python":null,"implementation":{"name":null,"version":null},"distro":{"name":"Ubuntu","version":"24.04","id":"noble","libc":null},"system":{"name":null,"release":null},"cpu":null,"openssl_version":null,"setuptools_version":null,"rustc_version":null,"ci":true}

Release files / bibtui-1.1.1-py3-none-any.whl

Download URL bibtui-1.1.1-py3-none-any.whl
Size 152.8 kB
Tags Python 3
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Uploaded via uv/0.12.17 {"installer":{"name":"uv","version":"0.12.17","subcommand":["publish"]},"python":null,"implementation":{"name":null,"version":null},"distro":{"name":"Ubuntu","version":"24.04","id":"noble","libc":null},"system":{"name":null,"release":null},"cpu":null,"openssl_version":null,"setuptools_version":null,"rustc_version":null,"ci":true}

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1.1.1 This release

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1.1.0

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1.0.1

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1.0.0

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0.18.0

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0.17.0

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0.15.2

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0.15.0

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0.14.0

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0.13.0

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0.11.1

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0.10.0

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0.9.9

2 release files

0.9.8

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0.9.7

2 release files

0.9.6

2 release files

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