reference

name	reference
description	Add a formatted citation reference to the bottom of the current blog page. Use this skill whenever the user says "reference <url>", "add a reference for <url>", "cite <url>", or pastes a URL and asks for it to be added as a reference/citation. The skill fetches the URL, extracts metadata, and inserts a correctly formatted footnote reference into the current .mdx file.

Reference Skill

When the user provides a URL and asks to add it as a reference, follow these steps:

Step 1: Identify the target file

Look at the conversation context to determine which .mdx file is currently being edited. It will usually be obvious from recent Read/Edit tool calls. If it's genuinely unclear, ask the user.

Step 2: Fetch the URL

For HTML pages, use the Chrome browser tools (NOT WebFetch) to navigate and extract content. This avoids bot-blocking that WebFetch often triggers:

1. Call mcp__claude-in-chrome__tabs_context_mcp (with createIfEmpty: true) to get a tab ID.
2. Call mcp__claude-in-chrome__navigate to navigate to the URL.
3. Call mcp__claude-in-chrome__get_page_text to read the page content.

For PDF URLs (URL ends in .pdf, or browser navigation says the page is a PDF/canvas with no extractable text), download and extract instead. The browser's get_page_text returns "No text content found" for PDFs:

1. Download the PDF to a temp file (PowerShell):

   Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "<URL>" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\<filename>.pdf" -UseBasicParsing
   

2. Extract text with pypdf via uv run (handles owner-password-protected PDFs by decrypting with empty password — common for vendor datasheets):

   uv run --with pypdf python -c @"
   from pypdf import PdfReader
   r = PdfReader(r'$env:TEMP\<filename>.pdf')
   if r.is_encrypted:
       r.decrypt('')
   print(r.pages[0].extract_text()[:2000])
   "@
   

3. The first page typically contains the title, part number, revision date, and publisher.

Extract from whichever source you used:

• Title — the page's main title (use the <title> tag, <h1>, or PDF first-page heading)
• Author — the author's name if present (bylines, meta tags, or a clear "by X" attribution)
• Publication date — if present (<time> tags, meta tags, or "REVISED" / "Rev." dates on PDFs)
• Publisher/Site name — the organisation or site name (og:site_name, PDF footer, or domain name)
• Content type — see type guide below

If the page redirects, follow the redirect. The final URL shown after navigation is the canonical URL to use in the reference.

Step 3: Determine the content type tag

Include a [type] tag only for non-article content. Common types:

Content	Tag
Wikipedia article	[wiki]
Datasheet / technical spec	[datasheet]
Forum post / Q&A answer	[forum post]
GitHub issue	[GitHub issue]
GitHub repository	[GitHub repository]
PDF document	[pdf]
Product page	[product page]
Specification document	[specification]
Regular article / blog post	(omit the tag)

Step 4: Generate the reference key

The key should be lowercase, hyphen-separated, and read naturally. Derive it from the publisher/author slug + short title slug. Keep it under ~60 characters. Examples:

• wikipedia-coaxial-power-connector
• silicon-labs-bluetooth-mesh-performance
• novel-bits-coded-phy-bluetooths-long-range-feature
• cypress-cyw20702-bluetooth-transceiver-and-baseband-processor

Step 5: Format the reference line

Use this exact format (from the project's CLAUDE.md):

[^reference-key]: Author (year, Mon day). _Title_ [type]. Publisher. Retrieved YYYY-MM-DD, from https://url.

Rules:

• The title must be wrapped in _underscores_ to italicise it
• Author and date are omitted if unknown — don't guess or fabricate them
• Omit the date from the author field if only the year is known, e.g. Silicon Labs (2015).
• Month abbreviations: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
• The retrieved date is today (see the current date in the conversation context)
• Omit [type] for standard articles/blog posts
• End the line with a period

Examples from the project:

[^wikipedia-bluetooth-sig]: Wikipedia (2023, Apr 27). _Bluetooth Special Interest Group_ [wiki]. Retrieved 2023-05-24, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_Special_Interest_Group.
[^silicon-labs-bluetooth-mesh-performance]: Silicon Labs. _AN1137: Bluetooth Mesh Network Performance_. Retrieved 2023-05-24, from https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/application-notes/an1137-bluetooth-mesh-network-performance.pdf.
[^punch-through-bluetooth-phy-how-it-works]: Henry Anfang (2019, Dec 31). _Bluetooth PHY - How it Works and How to Leverage it_. Punch Through. Retrieved 2025-08-03, from https://punchthrough.com/crash-course-in-2m-bluetooth-low-energy-phy/.
[^tonymacx86-tp-link-ub400-not-recognized]: tonymacx86 (2022, Oct 25). _Tp-Link UB400 not being recognized_ [forum post]. Retrieved 2025-02-05, from https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/tp-link-ub400-not-being-recognized.322815/.

Step 6: Insert the reference into the file

Read the target file. Find the references section at the bottom — it looks like:

{/* ============================================================================================ */}
{/* REFERENCES */}
{/* ============================================================================================ */}

[^existing-ref]: ...

Append the new reference line after the last existing [^...] line. If there is no references section yet, add one at the very end of the file:

{/* ============================================================================================ */}
{/* REFERENCES */}
{/* ============================================================================================ */}

[^reference-key]: ...

Use the Edit tool to make the insertion. After editing, confirm to the user what was added, showing the formatted reference line.

Edge cases

• Can't fetch the URL (paywalled, auth required, Chrome not available, etc.): Tell the user what information you need — title, author, date, publisher — and construct the reference from what they provide.

• PDF with a real user-password (pypdf's decrypt('') returns 0 / fails): Treat as un-fetchable and ask the user for title/date.

• No URL available (e.g. a PDF received via email, a document otherwise shared privately): replace the from https://... portion with on file with author. The full ending becomes Retrieved YYYY-MM-DD, on file with author. Example:

  [^fujifilm-prescale-llw-instruction-manual]: Fujifilm (2017). _Prescale LLW Instruction Manual_ [instruction manual]. Retrieved 2026-04-20, on file with author.
  

• Duplicate key: If the same key already exists in the file, append -2 (or -3, etc.) to make it unique.

• Wikipedia pages: The author is always "Wikipedia", the date is the page's last edited date (shown in the footer), and the type is [wiki].

• GitHub repos: Author is the repo owner username, title is owner/repo-name, type is [GitHub repository], no publication date.