Refero

A smarter, lighter scholarly workflow for Zotero — right from your terminal.

Getting Started • Features • Usage • Picker Styles • Keybindings • Contributing • License

Overview

• TUI/CLI client of Zotero.
• Collecting, organizing, annotating, citing, and sharing research for local (desktop) and web Zotero via pyzotero + fzf picker.
• Modes:
  • local: A faster, lag-free viewer/exporter, switch to Web Mode automatically when creating, editing, or deleting items.
  • web: Full features(view/create/edit/delete/export). No installation of Zotero client needed.
• Scope: browse/view/export/edit plus add-by-identifier (DOI/arXiv).

System Support

• MacOS – Supported
• Linux – Supported
• Windows – Supported

Features

• Interactive fuzzy picker (fzf): fast search with presets (compact, aligned, colored, preview, title-preview), configurable preview window, and rich keybindings.
• Local + Web backends: browse offline via Zotero Local API(pyzotero); switch to Zotero Web API for full create/edit/delete.
• Search & filters: query by title/author/year/tags/collections; supports grouping by collection path.
• Smart open: open best attachment (PDF → HTML → URL/DOI), or a specific type; open directly in Zotero.
• Export: generate bibliographies (e.g., BibTeX), including to files named by citekey.
• Add by identifier: create items from DOI/arXiv; apply tags and collections; dry‑run to preview Zotero JSON.
• Edit metadata (web): update fields and content fields (Note, Abstract, Extra); Markdown note editor supported.
• Label editor: manage Tags and Collections together or individually; interactive picker-based flows.
• Attachment management: attach/remove PDFs; bulk remove all PDF attachments from an item.
• Safe deletes: move to Trash with confirmation; optional no‑prompt and permanent variants.
• Configurable: tune fzf header/match formats, preview pane, and extra flags to fit your workflow.

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Getting Started

Prerequisite

## MacOS
brew install fzf # version >=0.55
## Linux
sudo apt install fzf         # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install fzf         # Fedora
sudo pacman -S fzf           # Arch

sudo apt install xclip         # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo dnf install xclip         # Fedora
sudo pacman -S xclip           # Arch

Install

Method 1:

pip install refero

Method 2 (direct from Git):

pip install git+git://github.com/chu-/Refero.git@main

Method 3 (editable):

git clone https://github.com/chu-/Refero
cd ./ref
pip install -e .

Configure

Create ~/.config/ref/config.yaml:

fzf-binary: fzf
fzf-extra-flags: ["--ansi", "--multi", "-i", "--delimiter= :: "]
fzf-extra-bindings: [
  "ctrl-s:jump",
  "ctrl-r:execute(open zotero://select/library/items/{5})",
  "ctrl-o:execute(ref open {5})",
  "ctrl-e:execute(ref edit {5})",
  "ctrl-t:execute(ref label {+5} --pick)",
  "ctrl-l:execute(ref relate {5} --pick)",
  #"ctrl-t:execute(ref tag {+5} --pick)",
  #"ctrl-t:execute(ref collection {+5})",
  "ctrl-k:execute(ref note {5})",
  #"ctrl-k:execute(ref abstract {5})",
  #"ctrl-k:execute(ref extra {5})",
  "ctrl-a:execute(ref export {5} --format bibtex --out {6}.bib)",
  "ctrl-d:execute(ref delete {+5})+abort",
  # "ctrl-d:execute(ref delete -y {+5})",   # skip confirmation
  # macOS defaults to pbcopy; Linux uses xclip -selection clipboard automatically
  "alt-y:execute-silent(echo -n {5} | pbcopy)+abort"
]
fzf-header-format: "{doc[title]:<70.70} :: {doc[author]} :: «{doc[year]}» :: :{doc[tags]} :: {doc[key]} :: {doc[citekey]}"
match-format: "{doc[title]} :: {doc[author]} :: {doc[year]} :: :{doc[tags]}"
# Default note editor mode: text | markdown
note_editor: markdown
# Diff display style for concurrent edits: table | inline | pairwise
diff_style: inline
zotero:
  mode: local            # local | web
  local_api: http://localhost:23119/api  # Zotero desktop local API
  endpoint: null         # optional override; if set, takes precedence over local_api
  library_id: 0          # required when mode: web (your numeric Zotero user id)
  library_type: user
  api_key: null          # required when mode: web (Zotero Web API key)
  storage_dir: ~/Zotero/storage  # local Zotero storage path for attachments

Linux: ref detects Linux at runtime and swaps the default picker bindings to use xdg-open for Zotero links and xclip -selection clipboard for clipboard actions. Install xclip first (for example, sudo apt install xclip) to enable the alt-y clipboard binding.

Windows: bindings fall back to PowerShell (Start-Process) for opening Zotero links and the built-in clip utility for clipboard actions.

---

Usage

Basic help:

ref -h
ref --help
ref list -h
ref pick -h
ref view -h
ref export -h
ref label -h
ref tag -h
ref collection -h
ref coll -h
ref set -h
ref add -h
ref delete -h

Quick search (default subcommand is list, -q implied with positional args):

ref "graph neural"
ref smith
ref keyword1 keyword2 keyword3
ref keyword --author chu
ref --year 2025 keyword1 keyword2

Filters and collections:

ref -q graph --limit 10
ref --tag nlp
ref --author chu
ref -c ABCD1234
ref -c "Reading List"
ref --title transformer
ref --year 2021 --title "transformer"

Picker (interactive with fzf; default subcommand is -q for ref pick):

ref pick "graph neural" --limit 10
ref pick --tag nlp
ref pick -c "NLP"
ref pick --author smith --year 2021

Open best attachment / specific types:

ref open <KEY>           # best: PDF -> HTML -> URL/DOI
ref open --pdf <KEY>
ref open --html <KEY>
ref open --url <KEY>

View metadata:

ref view <KEY>
ref preview <KEY>

Export:

ref export <KEY>... --format bibtex
ref export <KEY>... --format bibtex --out out.bib

Add by identifier (web mode only):

# requires zotero.api_key and zotero.library_id
ref add --doi xx.xxxx/xx -c "Reading List,AI"    # collections by name or key
ref add --arxiv xx.xxxx/xx --tag "ml,arxiv"
ref add --doi xx.xxxx/xx --dry-run               # show Zotero JSON only

Edit metadata (web mode only):

# requires zotero.api_key and zotero.library_id
ref edit <KEY>

Label editor (tags and collections):

# Editor mode: opens a temp file to edit collections and tags
ref label <KEY>

# Interactive mode: pick tags, then collections via fzf
# Use Tab to selected/unselected labels, Type+Enter to add new tags, then Enter/Esc to confirm/cancel selection"),

ref label <KEY> --pick
ref label <KEY> --pick -l 100

Edit tags only:

ref tag <KEY>
ref tag <KEY> --pick
ref tag <KEY> --pick -l 100

Edit collections only:

ref collection <KEY>
ref coll <KEY> --pick
ref coll <KEY> --pick -l 100

Set metadata (web mode only):

# requires zotero.api_key and zotero.library_id
# add tags
ref set <KEY> -g ml -g reading
ref set <KEY> --tag "ml,reading,arxiv"

# add to collections (by key or name; partial names supported)
ref set <KEY> -c ABCD1234 -c "Reading List"
ref set <KEY> --collection "AI,Reading List"

# attach a local PDF as a linked-file attachment
ref set <KEY> --pdf ~/Downloads/paper.pdf

# remove from collections / remove tags
ref set <KEY> --collection-rm "Reading List" --tag-rm ml

# remove all PDF attachments
ref set <KEY> --pdf-rm

# combine
ref set <KEY> -g nlp -c "Reading List" --pdf ./paper.pdf

Delete (web mode only):

ref delete <KEY>...           # confirm once, moves to Trash
ref delete -y <KEY>...        # no prompt
ref delete --permanent <KEY>  # moves to Trash; empty Trash to purge

Content Fields Editing:

Edit text-based fields on an item:

ref note <KEY>       # Edit or create a child Note
# use Markdown editor mode for notes (requires deps: markdown, markdownify)
ref note <KEY> --note-editor markdown
# or set config: note_editor: markdown|text, and markdown is default
ref abstract <KEY>   # Edit the abstractNote field
ref extra <KEY>      # Edit the Extra field

Editing concurrency

• ref edit/extra/abstract/note <KEY>
• When editing, if changed remotely after you opened the editor, ref detects it and shows a three‑way diff of base → remote → yours.
• Actions:
  • [y]ours: overwrite the remote note with your edited text.
  • [r]emote: reload the latest remote content into the editor and let you re‑edit.
  • [m]erge: merge the remote note with your edited text, only in ref edit <KEY>
  • [a]bort: cancel without saving.
• The diff display is controlled by diff_style in config.yaml (table | inline | pairwise).
• Note editor mode is controlled by note_editor in config.yaml (default markdown) or --note-editor per‑command.

Diff style for concurrent edits

When editing text fields and a newer remote version exists, ref shows a diff before you choose an action. Control the display via diff_style in config.yaml:

• table: concise summary showing values for base, yours, remote
• inline: single-line bracketed inline diff like [base → remote → yours]
• pairwise: compact inline diff using the C++ Diff Match Patch engine via fast-diff-match-patch. Deletions are shown in red; remote insertions(base→remote) in blue; local insertions(base→yours) in green.

Example:

diff_style: inline   # table | inline | pairwise

More examples

# list (explicit)
ref list -q "graph neural"
ref list --tag nlp
ref list -d 7b00316
ref list --doi 7b00316
ref list --author smith
ref list -c ABCD1234
ref list -c "Reading List"
ref list --title transformer
ref list --year 2021
ref list -a smith -y 2021
ref list --author smith --year 2021
ref list --title transformer --tag nlp
ref list --author "smith" --title "transformer"
ref list --year 2021 --title "transformer"

# group by collection path
ref list --group-by-collection                 # groups items under "Parent -> Child"

# pick (explicit)
ref pick -q graph
ref pick -d 7b00316
ref pick --doi 7b00316
ref pick -a smith
ref pick --title transformer

Picker Styles

You can quickly change how items are rendered in the picker using the fzf-style preset. Supported values: compact, aligned, colored, preview, title-preview.

Minimal example:

fzf-style: aligned  # compact | aligned | colored | preview | title-preview

Preset details:

• aligned: padded columns for title/author/year
• compact: shorter columns (good for narrow terminals)
• colored: ANSI-colored title/author/year (requires --ansi), set color_scheme in config:calm|bright|minimal|contrast
• preview: adds a right-side preview pane with colored JSON using jq if available
• title-preview: colored title line + compact metadata preview

Preview preset sets (simplified):

fzf-extra-flags:
  - --ansi
  - --delimiter
  - " :: "
  - --preview
  - "sh -c 'if command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then ref view \"$1\" | jq -C .; else ref view \"$1\" | cat; fi' sh {5}"
  - --preview-window
  - right,60,border

You can override the preview window regardless of preset:

fzf-preview-window: up,60,border
# or:
fzf-preview-window: up,1,wrap
fzf-preview-window: down,1,wrap

---

Keybindings

Press Ctrl-h in any picker to show a dynamic help overlay derived from your fzf-extra-bindings in config.yaml. If no bindings are configured, a concise default help is shown.

In the pick view:

• ctrl-n/p: navigate items
• Tab: toggle select/unselect (multi-select)
• ctrl-r: open in Zotero (zotero://select/library/items/{key})
• ctrl-s: jump to target item
• ctrl-o: open best attachment (such as ref open {key})
• ctrl-e: edit metadata (web mode; such as ref edit {key})
• ctrl-t: edit Label, Tags or Collections (such as ref label {key} --pick)
• ctrl-l: relate items (such as ref relate {key} --pick)
• ctrl-k: edit Content Fields: Note, Extra or Abstract with default Markdown editor
• ctrl-a: export to BibTeX as {citekey}.bib
• ctrl-d: delete selected items (ref delete {+5}; add -y to skip confirmation)
• alt-y: copy field of item (clipboard command defaults to pbcopy on macOS, xclip -selection clipboard on Linux, or clip on Windows). Use {1},{2},{3}... to select different field item.

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Notes

• With zotero.mode: local, ref uses zotero.local_api (default http://localhost:23119/api).
• For the Zotero Web API, set zotero.mode: web and provide zotero.api_key and zotero.library_id. Optionally set zotero.endpoint.
• fzf matches displayed fields; include fields in fzf-header-format to broaden matching.

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Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT License.