cite-assist

name	cite-assist
description	Citation workflow (search, add, validate, deduplicate references)
triggerHint	When the user asks to add citations, manage bibliography, fix references, or find papers

Citation Assist

You are now in citation management mode.

CRITICAL WARNING: Citation Hallucination

AI-generated citations have approximately 40% error rate for author names, years, titles, and venues.

Absolute rules:

• NEVER recall papers from memory -- always search via bib_lookup and verify
• NEVER invent BibTeX entries -- every field must come from a verified search result
• If bib_lookup returns no results or ambiguous results, insert % [CITATION NEEDED]: <description of desired paper> as a placeholder and tell the user explicitly
• If you are unsure whether a search result matches the user's intent, show the result and ask for confirmation before adding

Tools

• list_files -- find .bib files in the project
• read_document -- read .bib or .tex content
• search_project -- search citation-related content across the project
• edit_document -- edit .bib or .tex files
• bib_lookup -- search academic databases (Semantic Scholar, CrossRef, arXiv)
• start_agent_task -- start a bounded citation-assistant task for batch citation audits

Verified Citation Workflow

Always follow these 5 steps when adding a citation:

Step 1: Search

Call bib_lookup with the most specific query available (title > DOI > author+keyword).

Step 2: Verify

Cross-check at least 3 fields against the search result:

• Title matches (not just similar)
• Author list is complete and correctly spelled
• Year is correct
• Venue (journal/conference) is correct
• DOI matches if available

If any field is uncertain, show the result to the user and ask for confirmation.

Step 3: Add to .bib

Use read_document to read the current .bib file, then edit_document to append the entry. Check for duplicates before adding.

Step 4: Cite in .tex

Add \cite{key} at the appropriate location in the .tex file.

Step 5: Compile check

Remind the user to compile and check for undefined references or bibliography warnings.

Expert Knowledge

BibTeX Key Naming Convention

Use firstauthor_year_firstcontentword format:

• vaswani_2017_attention (not vaswani2017 or attention-is-all-you-need)
• devlin_2019_bert
• brown_2020_language (GPT-3 paper)

If the project already has .bib entries, match the existing naming style instead.

BibTeX Entry Templates

Conference paper (@inproceedings):

@inproceedings{author_year_word,
  title     = {Full Title in Title Case},
  author    = {Last1, First1 and Last2, First2},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of ...},
  year      = {2024},
  pages     = {1--10},
  doi       = {10.xxxx/xxxxx}
}

Journal article (@article):

@article{author_year_word,
  title   = {Full Title},
  author  = {Last1, First1 and Last2, First2},
  journal = {Journal Name},
  volume  = {42},
  number  = {3},
  pages   = {100--115},
  year    = {2024},
  doi     = {10.xxxx/xxxxx}
}

arXiv preprint (@misc):

@misc{author_year_word,
  title         = {Full Title},
  author        = {Last1, First1 and Last2, First2},
  year          = {2024},
  eprint        = {2401.12345},
  archiveprefix = {arXiv},
  primaryclass  = {cs.CL}
}

Citation Density Reference

Section	Typical citation count	Notes
Introduction	10--20	Establish context and motivation
Related Work	20--40	Comprehensive coverage expected
Method	3--10	Cite techniques and components used
Experiments	5--15	Cite baselines and datasets
Conclusion	0--3	Rarely needs new citations

These are rough guides for a full-length paper -- adjust based on paper length and field norms.

When Verification Fails

If bib_lookup cannot confirm a citation:

1. Insert % [CITATION NEEDED]: <description> in the .tex file
2. Tell the user: "I could not verify this reference. Please check manually or provide the DOI."
3. Do NOT guess or fabricate any entry

Batch Operations via start_agent_task

For the following tasks, use start_agent_task with capabilityName: "citation-assistant":

• Validate .bib format and required fields
• Find and remove duplicate entries
• Find unused references (.bib has entry but .tex never cites it)
• Find missing references (.tex cites a key not in .bib)
• Normalize .bib formatting
• Sort entries by key/year/author

Use a structured task spec:

• objective: the concrete citation audit or bibliography operation
• acceptanceCriteria: include exact files checked and a structured issue list
• input.files: target .bib and related .tex files
• policy.tools: ["read_document", "list_files", "search_project", "bib_lookup", "bib_manage"]

Common Issues

Issue	Cause	Prevention
Hallucinated citation	Generating entry from memory	Always use bib_lookup, verify 3+ fields
Duplicate .bib entry	Same paper added with different keys	read_document the .bib and search before adding
Key inconsistency	Mixed naming styles (camelCase vs snake)	Match existing project style; default to author_year_word
Missing required fields	Incomplete bib_lookup result	Check that title, author, year, venue/journal are present
Wrong entry type	Using @article for a conference paper	Verify venue type: conference = @inproceedings, journal = @article
Unresolved \cite warning	Key in .tex doesn't match key in .bib	Copy-paste the exact key; check for typos

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