| name | audit-crossrefs |
| description | Phase 7: Convert hardcoded cross-references to auto-updating NOTEREF fields |
| user-invocable | false |
| disable-model-invocation | true |
Phase 7: Cross-References
Convert hardcoded supra/infra note numbers to NOTEREF field codes that auto-update when footnotes are renumbered, then tie each cross-reference to a bibkey from references/sources.bib so the bibliography becomes the semantic identity layer.
Canonical 3-script pipeline
sources.bib โ make_bib_from_docx.py # BOOTSTRAP (once per paper, Gemini)
โ
docx โ create_crossrefs.py # ONE-TIME conversion of hand-typed text
โ
docx โ audit_crossref_targets.py --grep --apply # DRIFT CORRECTION (deterministic)
โ
docx โ bib_integrate.py --bib references/sources.bib # BIBKEY-TAG SYNC (deterministic)
(also pre-computes cached display values)
All four live in ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/.
Maintenance one-liner
After a Word session that added/edited footnotes (including new hand-typed
<X>, supra note N text), run:
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/sync_crossrefs.sh" \
draft.docx references/sources.bib
The shell wrapper runs create_crossrefs โ audit_crossref_targets โ bib_integrate
in sequence. All three are idempotent and fully deterministic โ re-running
on a clean doc does nothing; ~5 seconds total runtime.
| Stage | Script | Gemini? | When |
|---|
| Bootstrap | make_bib_from_docx.py | Yes (one-off batch) | Paper has hand-typed footnotes and no sources.bib yet |
| Initial conversion | create_crossrefs.py | No | Convert hardcoded supra note N text โ NOTEREF fields |
| Drift correction | audit_crossref_targets.py --grep | No | After footnote edits โ fix any supras whose target drifted |
| Drift correction (ambiguous) | audit_crossref_targets.py --batch | Yes | Only for refs grep can't resolve uniquely |
| Bibkey-tag sync | bib_integrate.py | No | After cross-refs settle โ rename bookmarks to _RefBib_<bibkey> and pre-compute cached display |
Initial conversion (one-time)
Convert hardcoded <X>, supra note N text to NOTEREF cross-reference fields.
uv run python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/create_crossrefs.py" --docx <path> --dry-run
uv run python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/create_crossrefs.py" --docx <path>
Workflow
- Bootstrap the bib (only if no
references/sources.bib yet):
uv run --with lxml --with google-genai --with google-cloud-storage python3 \
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/make_bib_from_docx.py" \
--docx <path> --out references/sources.bib
Walks the docx footnotes, skips supra-only / bio fns, sends each first-cite candidate to Gemini Vertex Batch, emits BibTeX with note = {fnN} linking each entry to its source footnote.
- Dry run create_crossrefs โ review the cross-reference map and bookmark plan
- Apply create_crossrefs โ the script backs up the original before writing
- Audit + retarget โ run
audit_crossref_targets.py --grep --apply (see below). Hand-typed supra note N numbers go stale as footnotes are added or reordered; the create_crossrefs script faithfully bookmarks the literal N, which can be silently wrong for every reference. Grep resolves the easy cases deterministically; only ambiguous refs need --batch.
- Bibkey-tag โ run
bib_integrate.py --bib references/sources.bib --apply. Renames bookmarks to _RefBib_<bibkey>, retargets supras by bibkey, and pre-computes cached display values so the doc renders correctly on first read (no F9 needed).
- Verify in Word โ open the DOCX, spot-check 5-10 supras. Cmd+A โ
fn+F9 (Mac) or Ctrl+A โ F9 (Windows) to force-refresh fields if needed.
- Renumber test (optional) โ add a footnote before a referenced target and confirm the supra numbers update.
audit_crossref_targets.py (drift correction, also runnable standalone)
uv run --with lxml python3 \
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/audit_crossref_targets.py" \
--docx <path>
uv run --with lxml python3 \
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/audit_crossref_targets.py" \
--docx <path> --grep --apply
uv run --with lxml --with google-genai --with google-cloud-storage python3 \
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/audit_crossref_targets.py" \
--docx <path> --grep --batch --apply --location global
uv run โฆ --docx <path> --batch --model gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview --apply
uv run โฆ --docx <path> --gemini --apply
bib_integrate.py (bibkey-tag sync, fully deterministic)
uv run --with lxml python3 \
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/bib_integrate.py" \
--docx <path> --bib references/sources.bib --apply
What it does:
- Parses
sources.bib.
- For each bib entry, derives signature tokens (author surnames + distinctive title words + institutional bibkey prefix) and finds the docx footnote whose body text contains all of them. This re-derives the
fn_id โ bibkey map from current docx content โ sidesteps any drift between bib's note={fnN} tag and current numbering.
- For each supra/infra NOTEREF, picks the best matching bibkey (target-fn bonus + global token scoring).
- Creates
_RefBib_<bibkey> bookmarks wrapping body footnoteReferences. Multi-cite footnotes get multiple bookmarks (one per source) โ each pointing at the same body footnoteReference, so the displayed number stays the same; only the bookmark name differs by source.
- Rewrites each NOTEREF instr text to point at its bibkey-named bookmark.
- Pre-computes cached NOTEREF display values (using
--bio-count, default 3 for *, โ , โก author bios that don't consume display numbers when numRestart=eachSect is set).
- Emits
SUPRA_BIB_AUDIT.md listing any supras whose surnames don't match the picked bibkey's haystack (author + title + howpublished + bibkey).
Fully deterministic โ no LLM calls. Idempotent on re-runs.
make_bib_from_docx.py (bootstrap, Gemini)
uv run --with lxml --with google-genai --with google-cloud-storage python3 \
"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/make_bib_from_docx.py" \
--docx <path> --out references/sources.bib
Walks the docx footnotes, splits multi-cite footnotes on ;, sends each first-cite candidate to a Vertex AI Batch job (one independent request per citation; gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview default). Emits BibTeX entries with bibkey conventions firstauthorlastYEAR for academic works and short slugs (gao2017, crs2024, secReg2020) for institutional sources.
Each entry includes note = {fnN} linking back to the source footnote.
Once sources.bib exists, maintain it directly โ do not regenerate. Edits to the bib (typos, missing fields, new sources) should be in-place.
Vertex AI batch requires:
gcloud auth application-default login for ADC
--project (default $GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT or activist-defense-nal)
--gcs-bucket (default $GEMINI_BATCH_BUCKET or nal-batch-extraction)
- Location:
us-central1 (default)
For gemini-3.x models, thinkingLevel: MINIMAL is set automatically โ without it, batch responses silently return empty content (see /gemini-batch SKILL gotcha 12).
Output written to <docx-dir>/scratch/:
crossref_audit.json โ every cross-reference with current target + match status
crossref_remap.json โ Gemini's proposed corrections (with confidence)
CROSSREF_AUDIT.md โ human-readable diff report
The audit is safe to run standalone without re-running the rest of the bluebook-audit workflow. Use it any time create_crossrefs has been run and you want to validate that hand-typed supra/infra numbers were correct.
Recommended pipeline order
--grep first. Cheapest, deterministic, ~98% precision on unique
matches. Resolves ~half the refs at $0 cost.
--batch (Vertex AI, per-ref independence) on the deferred set.
- Manual first-cite verification on remaining mechanical flags (Step 4 below).
How --grep works
A cross-reference reads <short-form identifier>, supra/infra note N. The
identifier can be any Bluebook short form, not just author surnames:
- author group:
Hu, Malenko & Zytnick
- hereinafter tag:
GAO Report, CRS Report, Rosenberg, 2020 SEC Regulation
- institutional doc:
Best Practice Principles, Policies and Procedures, Senate Banking Committee Letter
- case name:
ISS v. SEC
- title fragment:
Choi, Fisch & Kahan, Power of Proxy Advisors
For each reference the script:
- Tokenizes the identifier (filters Bluebook signals like
See, But see, E.g.).
- Strips every
<X>, supra/infra note <N> phrase from each candidate footnote, so a footnote that merely cites the same identifier via supra doesn't count as the first cite.
- Searches every footnote โ except the source โ for one whose post-supra-strip text contains all the identifier tokens with word-boundary matches.
- If exactly one footnote matches โ
unique, apply deterministically.
- If multiple match โ
ambiguous, defer to LLM (picking the earliest is wrong ~17% of the time โ typically when the identifier appears in passing in one footnote and as a first cite in another).
- If none match โ
no_match, defer to LLM (which has the catalog and can guess, or correctly say "not in document").
Step 4 (mandatory): Manual first-cite verification on residuals
Iron Law: Neither Gemini pass is fully trustworthy on its own. A two-batch consensus is high-confidence, but the residual disagreements ALWAYS require human first-cite verification. Do not stop after --apply.
The failure modes we observed on a real 248-footnote draft:
- Single-batched call: model returns uniform "medium" confidence โ a smoking-gun signal it didn't reason per-reference.
- Per-reference Vertex Batch: model returns uniform "high" with detailed reasoning, but still confidently picks wrong targets when:
- the cited work isn't in the doc (model hallucinates a plausible-sounding nearby match)
- the first cite is buried mid-footnote in a
See also or multi-cite list (model misses it and picks a different paper by the same author)
- the reference is to a self-referencing pattern (model returns the source footnote itself)
- Mechanical surname check: only inspects the leading 250 chars of the target footnote, so first cites buried after
See/hereinafter/inline-discussion lead-ins are flagged as mismatches even when correct.
Recipe
- Compare both Gemini passes, taking the intersection where they agree as the high-confidence consensus. Apply that subset first.
- For each disagreement, search the doc for the first non-supra cite of the disputed surname / title fragment. The script's regex below catches mid-footnote occurrences:
for fn in fns.findall('.//w:footnote'):
txt = ''.join(t.text or '' for t in fn.iter('w:t'))
if re.search(r'<surname-pattern>', txt) and 'supra' not in txt[:300].lower():
print(fn.get('w:id'), txt[:200])
- Build a manual remap of
(source_fn, surnames, current_bookmark) โ correct_fn_id, save as crossref_remap_manual.json, and apply with --remap PATH --apply.
- For the "no first cite in document" residue (works the author cites without ever having introduced):
- Search broadly first โ the first cite is often mid-footnote in a
See also/multi-cite list.
- Only if truly absent: flag for an author edit. Write
SUPRA_UNRESOLVED.md listing the source FN, surnames, and the search patterns tried.
- Final re-audit will still show "mechanical mismatches" for the false-positive cases โ verify each by spot-checking the target footnote content. Do not retarget these.
Gate
What Gets Converted
| Pattern | Example | Result |
|---|
| Single supra | supra note 42 | NOTEREF to FN42 bookmark |
| Single infra | infra note 188 | NOTEREF to FN188 bookmark |
| Range | infra notes 209-210 | Two NOTEREFs with separator |
| With pincite | supra note 42, at 15 | NOTEREF + roman , at 15 |
| Existing NOTEREF | (already converted) | Skipped |
What Is NOT Converted (Phase 2 โ Future)
- Part/Section references (
supra Section I.A., infra Part III)
- These require a heading-to-bookmark mapping strategy since heading numbering is partially auto-generated
Gate: Exit Cross-References
Workflow Complete
Present final summary to user:
- Total formatting corrections applied (from Phase 4)
- Total URLs archived (from Phase 6)
- Total NOTEREF fields created (from Phase 7)
- Final DOCX file path