Citestrike

The Raycast of reference management — cite papers in any app with one keystroke.

Download Latest Release | Report Bug | Request Feature

The Problem

Citation managers like Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote are bloated, slow, and break your flow. Every citation requires switching windows, navigating a clunky GUI, copying text, switching back, and pasting. For a thesis with 200+ references, you lose hours to this friction.

The Solution

CiteStrike sits silently in the background using < 15 MB RAM. Press one hotkey from anywhere:

Ctrl + Shift + C

Your library appears instantly. Search, cite, paste. The formatted citation lands in your clipboard — or directly into Word. No window switching. No friction. No cloud. No subscriptions.

Screenshots

Library & One-Click Cite

Your entire reference library with instant search, one-click cite, and quick-copy buttons for APA, MLA, and BibTeX.

Add by DOI Paste any DOI and press Enter. CiteStrike fetches complete metadata from Crossref automatically.

Add Manually No DOI? Enter paper details directly — title, authors, year, journal, volume, issue, pages, and type.

Auto Bibliography

Cite papers from your library and they automatically appear here. Switch between 7 citation styles, preview the formatted output, and copy or insert into Word with one click.

Built-in Help Guide

Everything you need to know about CiteStrike — quick start, keyboard shortcuts, data & privacy, and more.

Features

How It Works

   ┌─────────────────┐        ┌──────────────────┐
   │  Drop PDF  /    │        │  Paste DOI  /    │
   │  Search Online   │        │  Add Manually    │
   └────────┬────────┘        └────────┬─────────┘
            │                          │
            ▼                          ▼
   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │            Crossref Metadata Fetch            │
   └────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
                        ▼
   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │          Local SQLite Library                 │
   │   (search, organize, edit, delete)            │
   └────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
                        ▼
   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │         Click "Cite" on a Paper               │
   │   • In-text citation → clipboard              │
   │   • Paper marked as cited with badge          │
   │   • Toast: "Copied: (Smith et al., 2024)"    │
   └────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┘
                        ▼
   ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
   │       "Build Bibliography" View               │
   │   • All cited papers listed automatically     │
   │   • Formatted preview (APA/IEEE/etc.)         │
   │   • Copy or Insert into Word                  │
   └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Download

Head to the Releases page and grab the latest installer:

Requirements: Windows 10/11 (x64). No other dependencies needed.

Quick Start

1. Install — Download and run the installer
2. Add papers — Click the + button, drag PDFs, paste a DOI, or search Crossref
3. Cite — Click Cite on any reference. The in-text citation is copied to your clipboard
4. Paste — Switch to your document and press Ctrl+V
5. Bibliography — Click Build Bibliography in the sidebar. All cited papers appear automatically. Copy the formatted bibliography and paste it at the end of your document.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Office Add-in

CiteStrike includes a built-in Office Web Add-in for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint — no separate install needed.

1. CiteStrike runs a local API server on localhost:27182 automatically
2. Download the manifest from http://localhost:27182/manifest.xml
3. In Word/PowerPoint: Insert > Get Add-ins > Upload My Add-in > select the manifest
4. The CiteStrike panel appears in the Home ribbon — search and insert citations at your cursor

Tech Stack

Architecture

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   CiteStrike App                      │
│               (runs in background)                    │
└──────────┬────────────────────────┬──────────────────┘
           │  Ctrl+Shift+C         │  localhost:27182
           ▼                       ▼
┌─────────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────────────┐
│  Svelte UI          │  │  Office Web Add-in          │
│  (Tailwind + Runes) │  │  (Word & PowerPoint panel)  │
└──────────┬──────────┘  └──────────┬──────────────────┘
           │  IPC (Tauri)           │  REST API (axum)
           └──────────┬─────────────┘
                      ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              Rust Core Engine                         │
│                                                      │
│  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌───────────────────┐  │
│  │  SQLite  │  │  PDF     │  │  Crossref          │  │
│  │  Store   │  │  Parser  │  │  API Client        │  │
│  └──────────┘  └──────────┘  └───────────────────┘  │
│  ┌────────────────────┐  ┌────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  Citation Engine   │  │  RTF Clipboard         │  │
│  │  (7 styles)        │  │  (rich text copy)      │  │
│  └────────────────────┘  └────────────────────────┘  │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust (via rustup)
• Node.js v18+
• Tauri v2 Prerequisites

Run Locally

git clone https://github.com/hasnain7abbas/citestrike.git
cd citestrike
npm install
npx tauri dev

Build for Production

npx tauri build

Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/

CI/CD

Every push to main automatically creates a new release with installers attached.

Roadmap

• Tauri v2 project with SQLite CRUD
• PDF drag-and-drop import with DOI extraction
• Crossref API integration (DOI lookup + search)
• Global hotkey (Ctrl+Shift+C)
• 7 citation styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, IEEE, Harvard, Vancouver, BibTeX)
• Rich text clipboard (RTF with preserved italics)
• One-click cite with citation tracking & badges
• Auto-generated bibliography from cited papers
• Manual reference entry & inline editing
• Library export to .bib
• Office Web Add-in for Word & PowerPoint
• Collection/folder management with colors
• Dark mode (follows system preference)
• Delete references with confirmation dialog
• CI/CD pipeline with auto-releases
• CSL (Citation Style Language) file support
• System tray with background mode
• Google Docs integration
• Duplicate detection
• BibTeX file import

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you'd like to help kill bloated reference managers:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your 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

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.