BibTeX Export

Export your bibliography entries to standard BibTeX format for use with LaTeX, citation managers, and other academic tools. Extenote converts your markdown frontmatter into properly formatted .bib entries.

Step 1: creates references.bib file

The exporter creates a references.bib file containing all your bibtex_entry objects. Each entry includes standard BibTeX fields like title, author, and year.

Test: creates references.bib file File: packages/core/tests/bibtex.test.ts:70

it("creates references.bib file", async () => {
    const outputDir = path.join(tmpDir, "basic-output");
    const object = buildBibtexObject({
      id: "smith2024",
      frontmatter: {
        entry_type: "article",
        citation_key: "smith2024",
        title: "A Test Article",
        authors: ["John Smith"],
        year: 2024,
      },
    });

    const options: ExportOptions = {
      format: "bibtex",
      outputDir,
      objects: [object],
      config: baseConfig,
      schemas: [baseSchema],
    };

    const result = await exportBibtex(options);

    expect(result.format).toBe("bibtex");
    expect(result.files.length).toBe(1);
    expect(result.files[0]).toContain("references.bib");

    const content = await fs.readFile(result.files[0], "utf8");
    expect(content).toContain("@article{smith2024");
    expect(content).toContain("title = {A Test Article}");
    expect(content).toContain("author = {John Smith}");
    expect(content).toContain("year = {2024}");
  });

  /**
   * @narrative-step 2
   * @explanation Only objects with type "bibtex_entry" are exported. Other content
   * types like notes or blog posts are automatically filtered out.
   */
  it("filters to only bibtex_entry type objects", async () => {
    const outputDir = path.join(tmpDir, "filter-output");
    const bibObject = buildBibtexObject({
      id: "bib-entry",
      frontmatter: { title: "BibTeX Entry" },
    });
    const noteObject: VaultObject = {
      id: "note-entry",
      type: "note",
      sourceId: "local",
      project: "default",

Step 2: filters to only bibtex_entry type objects

Only objects with type “bibtex_entry” are exported. Other content types like notes or blog posts are automatically filtered out.

Test: filters to only bibtex_entry type objects File: packages/core/tests/bibtex.test.ts:109

it("filters to only bibtex_entry type objects", async () => {
    const outputDir = path.join(tmpDir, "filter-output");
    const bibObject = buildBibtexObject({
      id: "bib-entry",
      frontmatter: { title: "BibTeX Entry" },
    });
    const noteObject: VaultObject = {
      id: "note-entry",
      type: "note",
      sourceId: "local",
      project: "default",
      filePath: "/tmp/note.md",
      relativePath: "note.md",
      frontmatter: { type: "note", title: "A Note" },
      body: "",
      mtime: Date.now(),
      visibility: "public",
    };

    const options: ExportOptions = {
      format: "bibtex",
      outputDir,
      objects: [bibObject, noteObject],
      config: baseConfig,
      schemas: [baseSchema],
    };

    const result = await exportBibtex(options);
    const content = await fs.readFile(result.files[0], "utf8");

    expect(content).toContain("bib-entry");
    expect(content).not.toContain("note-entry");
    expect(content).not.toContain("A Note");
  });

Step 3: exports article with journal field

The “venue” field in your frontmatter is mapped to the appropriate BibTeX field: “journal” for articles, “booktitle” for conference papers.

Test: exports article with journal field File: packages/core/tests/bibtex.test.ts:149

it("exports article with journal field", async () => {
    const outputDir = path.join(tmpDir, "article-journal");
    const object = buildBibtexObject({
      id: "article1",
      frontmatter: {
        entry_type: "article",
        title: "Journal Article",
        venue: "Nature",
        year: 2023,
      },
    });

    const result = await exportBibtex({
      format: "bibtex",
      outputDir,
      objects: [object],
      config: baseConfig,
      schemas: [baseSchema],
    });

    const content = await fs.readFile(result.files[0], "utf8");
    expect(content).toContain("@article{");
    expect(content).toContain("journal = {Nature}");
  });

  it("exports inproceedings with booktitle field", async () => {
    const outputDir = path.join(tmpDir, "inproceedings");
    const object = buildBibtexObject({
      id: "conf1",
      frontmatter: {
        entry_type: "inproceedings",
        title: "Conference Paper",
        venue: "ICML 2024",
        year: 2024,
      },
    });

    const result = await exportBibtex({
      format: "bibtex",
      outputDir,
      objects: [object],
      config: baseConfig,
      schemas: [baseSchema],
    });

    const content = await fs.readFile(result.files[0], "utf8");
    expect(content).toContain("@inproceedings{");
    expect(content).toContain("booktitle = {ICML 2024}");
  });

Step 4: formats multiple authors with ‘and’ separator

Author lists are automatically formatted with “and” separators as required by BibTeX. You can list authors as an array in your frontmatter.

Test: formats multiple authors with 'and' separator File: packages/core/tests/bibtex.test.ts:204

it("formats multiple authors with 'and' separator", async () => {
    const outputDir = path.join(tmpDir, "multi-author");
    const object = buildBibtexObject({
      id: "multi",
      frontmatter: {
        entry_type: "article",
        title: "Collaborative Work",
        authors: ["Alice Smith", "Bob Jones", "Carol White"],
      },
    });

    const result = await exportBibtex({
      format: "bibtex",
      outputDir,
      objects: [object],
      config: baseConfig,
      schemas: [baseSchema],
    });

    const content = await fs.readFile(result.files[0], "utf8");
    expect(content).toContain("author = {Alice Smith and Bob Jones and Carol White}");
  });

This documentation is generated from test annotations. Edit the source test file to update.