rf-cite-generate

name	rf-cite-generate
description	Generate properly formatted citations from a DOI, URL, paper title, or manual details. Supports APA 7th, IEEE, Chicago, Vancouver, and Harvard. Adds to a running reference list artifact. Trigger phrases: "generate a citation for this", "cite this paper", "add this to my references", "format this reference", "/rf-cite-generate".

Citation Generation

Generate properly formatted references from whatever information the user provides — DOI, URL, paper title, or manual metadata.

Before You Begin

Load _rf/research-context.md to get the project's default citation style.

Check _rf-output/citations/references.md — if it exists, you will append to it, not overwrite it.

Step 1 — Source Input

Ask the user: "What would you like to cite?"

They can provide:

1. DOI — e.g., 10.1145/1234567.1234568 — most reliable, extract full metadata from it
2. URL — web page, preprint, report, blog post
3. Paper title — search for it to find the DOI and full metadata
4. Manual details — authors, title, year, journal/venue, volume, issue, pages
5. Multiple sources at once — a list of DOIs, titles, or URLs

Step 2 — Metadata Extraction

For each source, extract or prompt for:

Field	Required	Notes
Authors	Yes	Last, F. M. format for each
Year	Yes	Publication year
Title	Yes	Full title, sentence case for APA, title case for Chicago
Source type	Yes	journal / conference / book / chapter / thesis / website / report / preprint
Journal/venue name	If journal/conference	Full name, not abbreviation (unless IEEE)
Volume	If journal
Issue	If journal
Pages	If journal/conference
Publisher	If book
DOI	If available	Always include when available
URL	If web source
Access date	If web source	Today's date
Edition	If book

For preprints (ArXiv, SSRN, etc.): note "[Preprint]" and the repository name. For theses: note degree type and institution. For websites: note the organization and access date.

Step 3 — Format the Citation

Format the citation in the project's citation style. Apply these rules precisely:

APA 7th

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

• Sentence case for article/chapter titles
• Title case for journal/book names
• Up to 20 authors before using ellipsis
• DOI as URL format

IEEE

[N] A. Author, B. Author, and C. Author, "Title of article," Journal Name Abbrev., vol. X, no. Y, pp. ZZ–ZZ, Month Year, doi: xxxxx.

• Number citations in order of appearance
• Abbreviate journal names per IEEE standard
• Use "et al." after 6+ authors

Chicago (Author-Date)

Author, First. Year. "Article Title." Journal Name Volume (Issue): pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx.

Vancouver

N. Author A, Author B. Article title. Journal Name. Year;Volume(Issue):pages. DOI.

• Number citations sequentially
• Abbreviate journal names

Harvard

Author, A. and Author, B. (Year) 'Article title', Journal Name, Volume(Issue), pp. pages. doi:xxxxx.

Step 4 — In-Text Citation

Also generate the in-text citation format for the same citation:

• APA: (Author, Year) or Author (Year)
• IEEE: [N]
• Chicago: (Author Year, page)
• Vancouver: [N]
• Harvard: (Author, Year)

Step 5 — Append to Reference List

Add the citation to _rf-output/citations/references.md in alphabetical order (for author-date styles) or numbered sequence (for numbered styles).

Also maintain a raw metadata record for each source so citations can be re-formatted to a different style later.

Output Format

_rf-output/citations/references.md:

# Reference List
**Citation style:** [APA / IEEE / etc.]
**Last updated:** [date]
**Count:** [N]

---

## Formatted References

[1] or [Author, Year] — [full formatted citation]
...

---

## Raw Metadata (for reformatting)

### [Title]
- authors: [list]
- year: [year]
- title: [title]
- source_type: [journal/etc.]
- journal: [name]
- volume: [v]
- issue: [i]
- pages: [pp]
- doi: [doi]
- url: [url]

After generating, say: "Added to your reference list. Total references: [N]. Run /rf-cite-check to validate citations in your document draft."