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Getting started

This page walks you from launching bibtui to the things you'll do every day: search, read, tag, and fetch PDFs.

Launch

bibtui MyCollection.bib

If you omit the file, bibtui opens a built-in file browser so you can pick one — or browse to a new location. Recently opened files are listed for quick access.

First run

The first time you start bibtui, a short onboarding wizard pre-fills sensible defaults for:

  • your PDF directory (where fetched PDFs are saved),
  • your Downloads folder (used when attaching an existing PDF), and
  • an email for Unpaywall (used only for rate-limiting — no registration).

You can change any of these later from the settings screen.

The layout

The bibtui library view

  • Left — a sortable table of your entries. The first columns are compact status icons: read state (◉), priority (!), a local-PDF indicator (◫), and a link (🔗) when the entry has a URL.
  • Right — the detail pane for the selected entry: its fields, keywords, a formatted citation preview, and PDF actions.
  • Bottom — the footer shows the most common key bindings.

Move through the list with the arrow keys (or the mouse). The detail pane updates as you go.

Everyday actions

You want to… Press
Search s
Edit the selected entry e
Edit keywords k
Import a new entry by DOI d
Fetch the PDF for an entry f
Open the PDF Space
Cycle read state (to-read → read) r
Set a star rating 1–5 (or 0)
Save your changes w
Show all key bindings ?
Command palette Ctrl+P

See the full keybindings reference for everything else.

Saving and backups

bibtui writes changes back to the same .bib file when you press w. Before overwriting, it writes a backup copy, and it applies minimal diffs so untouched entries stay byte-for-byte identical — keeping your Git history clean.

Where to next