Supercharged Citation Picker is an Alfred workflow for macOS that turns any text field into a BibTeX citation entry point. Academics, researchers, and writers who work withDocumentation Index
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.bib files can trigger the picker from any application — a text editor, a browser, a notes app — search their library in milliseconds, and paste a perfectly formatted citation without ever leaving the keyboard. With a measured reload time of roughly 200 milliseconds for a library of 4,000 entries, it is considerably faster than any comparable citation picker.
Feature overview
Smart Search
Search by title, author last name, year, journal, collection, or citekey. Prepend
@ to target a specific citekey or # to filter by keyword/tag. Smart multi-field queries and short prefix queries are supported, and recently used entries bubble to the top automatically.10+ Citation Formats
Insert citations in Pandoc (
[@citekey]), LaTeX (\autocite{citekey}), org mode ([cite:@citekey]), Multi-Markdown, iA Writer, eta templates, [[wikilinks]], #tags, bare citekeys, bracketed citekeys, and formatted single-entry bibliographies.Reference Management
Add new entries directly from a selected DOI, ISBN, or DOI-containing URL via Alfred’s Universal Action or a dedicated hotkey. Delete entries from your library without leaving Alfred. Reveal entries in Zotero, Neovim, VS Code, BibDesk, or Sublime Text.
PDF Management
Automatically rename and file PDFs by citekey. The picker detects PDFs in your configured folder and marks them with a 📕 icon. A single keystroke opens the associated PDF in your default reader.
Literature Notes
Open or create Markdown literature notes linked to any entry. Notes are matched by citekey filename. Filter your library to only entries that already have a note. Add
* to any query to show only entries with an attached literature note.Dual Library Support
Load two
.bib files simultaneously and search across both at once. Entries from the secondary library are marked with a 2️⃣ icon so you always know their source.How it works
When you trigger the citation picker, the workflow reads your.bib file (or files) directly from disk and builds an in-memory buffer of all parsed entries. Alfred’s native filtering then searches that buffer in real time as you type. Because the workflow communicates with Alfred’s UI layer instead of spawning a separate GUI application, search results appear instantly and the entire round-trip — from keypress to pasted citation — happens without switching windows or context. The buffer is refreshed automatically; you can also force a reload at any time via scp → Force Buffer Reload.
Requirements
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| macOS | The workflow uses macOS-native JavaScript for Automation (JXA) and AppleScript |
| Alfred 5 | Earlier versions are not supported |
| Alfred Powerpack license | Required to install and run any Alfred workflow |
A .bib file | Your BibTeX library — local path set during configuration |
Optional dependencies
- Pandoc — required for the Formatted single entry citation format and the Paste full bibliography action. Without Pandoc these two features are unavailable; all other formats work without it.
- Obsidian — when your literature note folder is inside an Obsidian vault, notes are automatically opened in Obsidian instead of the default Markdown editor.
Ready to get started? Head over to the Installation page to download the workflow and point it at your library.