| name | reference-workflow |
| description | This skill should be used when the user asks about "citing papers", "adding references", "Zotero", "bibliography", "academic citations", "manage references", or when working with citation formats, paper lookups, or reference synchronization. |
Reference Workflow
This skill provides knowledge about managing academic references using Zotero integration.
Citation Format
When citing papers in chapters or documentation, use this format:
Author (Year) [ref:ZOTEROKEY]
Examples:
- Single author:
Harvey (2016) [ref:TVE8UM2C] showed that...
- Multiple authors:
Gu et al. (2020) [ref:ABCD1234] demonstrated...
- Parenthetical:
...requires validation (Harvey, 2016) [ref:TVE8UM2C]
The 8-character Zotero key (uppercase letters + numbers) makes references:
- Grepable:
grep -oE '\[ref:[A-Z0-9]{8}\]'
- Linkable to Zotero library
- Stable across renames
Adding New References
- Add to Zotero: Import paper via DOI, arXiv, or manual entry
- Attach PDF: Ensure PDF is attached to Zotero item
- Run sync:
/ref-sync to parse PDF and generate summary
- Cite: Use
[ref:KEY] format in chapters
Available Commands
/ref-status - Check sync status between Zotero and local files/ref-sync - Parse new PDFs, generate summaries, update database/ref-search <query> - Search references by keyword
Finding a Reference
To find a paper for citation:
- By topic:
/ref-search "asset embeddings"
- By author:
/ref-search "Harvey"
- By key (if known): Read
$REFS_DIR/papers/KEYHERE/summary.json
Reference Directory Structure
$REFS_DIR/
├── papers/
│ ├── KMJZ2VFD/
│ │ ├── paper.pdf # Original PDF
│ │ ├── paper.md # Parsed markdown
│ │ └── summary.json # AI summary
│ └── ...
├── papers_index.json # Zotero sync index
└── ml4t_refs.db # SQLite database
Configuration
Projects using this plugin need .env with:
REFS_DIR=/path/to/references
ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID=3
See citation-format.md for detailed citation guidelines.
