Cross-Project Linking

Extenote supports linking content across projects using reference keys. This enables a “single source of truth” pattern where canonical data lives in one location and other projects reference it.

Key Concepts

Reference Keys

Reference keys are frontmatter fields that point to content in another project:

Single Source of Truth

Instead of duplicating data:

# Bad: Duplicate data that can get out of sync
scholarly-publication/paper.md:
  title: "My Paper Title"
  authors: ["Alice", "Bob"]
  venue: "Conference 2025"

shared-references/bibtex-entries/mypaper2025.md:
  title: "My Paper Title"  # duplicated!
  authors: ["Alice", "Bob"]  # duplicated!
  venue: "Conference 2025"  # duplicated!

Use reference keys:

# Good: Single source of truth
scholarly-publication/paper.md:
  citation_key: mypaper2025
  url: https://mysite.com/paper  # local override

shared-references/bibtex-entries/mypaper2025.md:
  title: "My Paper Title"  # canonical
  authors: ["Alice", "Bob"]  # canonical
  venue: "Conference 2025"  # canonical

citation_key: Linking Papers to Bibtex Entries

The citation_key field links a scholarly publication to its canonical bibliographic entry.

Setup

1. Create a bibtex entry in shared-references/bibtex-entries/:

# shared-references/bibtex-entries/vincent2025bargaining.md
---
title: "Collective Bargaining in the Information Economy"
authors:
  - Nicholas Vincent
  - Matthew Prewitt
  - Hanlin Li
year: 2025
venue: NeurIPS Position Papers
doi: "10.xxxx/xxxxx"
url: "https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10272"
abstract: "We argue that..."
---

2. Reference it from your publication:

# personal-website/scholarly-publication/2025-12-06_cbi.md
---
citation_key: vincent2025bargaining
publication_type: Publication
visibility: public
---

How It Works

When building the personal website, contentLoader.ts:

1. Detects citation_key in scholarly publication frontmatter
2. Loads the corresponding bibtex entry from shared-references/bibtex-entries/{citation_key}.md
3. Merges metadata (bibtex is source of truth for title, authors, year, venue, doi, abstract)
4. Local fields like url take precedence if specified

Fields Merged from Bibtex

archive_ref: Linking Blogs to Archives

The archive_ref field links a blog stub to the full post content in an archive.

Setup

1. Ensure full blog post exists in data-leverage-blogs/:

# data-leverage-blogs/2023-03-02-measuring-relative-ai-alignment.md
---
title: Measuring Relative AI Alignment
subtitle: In Terms of Data Pipelines
date: 2023-03-02
---

Full blog post content here...

This is the canonical version of the post with all the details.

2. Create a stub in your editorial collection:

# personal-website/editorial-blog/2023-03-01_plural-ai-data-alignment.md
---
title: Plural AI Data Alignment
type: blog_post
date: '2023-03-01'
venue: Data Leverage Newsletter
url: https://dataleverage.substack.com/p/measuring-relative-ai-alignment
archive_ref: 2023-03-02-measuring-relative-ai-alignment
visibility: public
---

How It Works

When building the personal website, contentLoader.ts:

1. Detects archive_ref in editorial blog frontmatter
2. Loads the full content from data-leverage-blogs/{archive_ref}.md
3. Uses the archive body as the entry body
4. Merges select metadata (like subtitle)

Environment Variables

Path resolution uses environment variables with sensible defaults:

# Bibtex entries location
SHARED_REFS_PATH=../../content/shared-references/bibtex-entries

# Blog archive location
DATA_LEVERAGE_BLOGS_PATH=../../content/data-leverage-blogs

Benefits

1. No stale data: Update the source, all references get the update
2. Cleaner stubs: Publication files just need the key, not all metadata
3. Flexible overrides: Local values can override when needed
4. Cross-project reuse: Same bibtex entry powers multiple sites

Creating New Links

For a new publication:

# 1. Import or create bibtex entry
bun run cli -- import-bib path/to/paper.bib

# 2. Add citation_key to publication
# Edit: personal-website/scholarly-publication/my-paper.md
# Add: citation_key: authorYYYYkeyword

For a new blog:

# 1. Ensure blog exists in data-leverage-blogs/
# 2. Add archive_ref to editorial stub
# Edit: personal-website/editorial-blog/my-post.md
# Add: archive_ref: YYYY-MM-DD-slug-name

Troubleshooting

”Bibtex entry not found for citation_key: X”

The referenced bibtex entry doesn’t exist. Check:

• File exists at shared-references/bibtex-entries/{citation_key}.md
• Citation key matches exactly (case-sensitive)

“Data leverage blog not found for archive_ref: X”

The referenced blog post doesn’t exist. Check:

• File exists at data-leverage-blogs/{archive_ref}.md
• Slug matches exactly (case-sensitive)

Data not updating

The personal website caches data in production. Force rebuild:

cd websites/personal-website-astro
bun run build