Searching your library¶

A reference library is only useful if you can find things in it. bibtui filters as you type, across a library of thousands, with no indexing step.

Press s to jump to the search box, type your query, and the table narrows live. Press Enter to move into the results, or Esc to clear the search.

Plain text¶

Type any words to search across title, author, keywords and cite key at once. Multiple words are combined with AND — every word must match somewhere:

glacier melt

Field prefixes¶

To search a specific field, prefix a term. Both a short and a long form work. Quote a value that contains a space, e.g. k:"sea ice":

Prefix	Searches	Example
`a:` / `author:`	author	`a:smith`
`t:` / `title:`	title	`t:glacier`
`j:` / `journal:`	journal	`j:nature`
`k:` / `kw:`	keyword	`k:"sea ice"`
`y:` / `year:`	year, range or comparison	`y:2015-2023`
`u:` / `url:`	URL	`u:arxiv`
`c:` / `citekey:`	cite key	`c:smith2020`
`r:` / `state:`	read state	`r:to-read`
`pr:` / `urgency:`	urgency	`pr:high`
`rt:` / `rating:`	rating, range or comparison	`rt:>=3`

Year ranges¶

y: accepts more than a single year:

y:2015-2023      # closed range: 2015 through 2023
y:2015-          # open range: 2015 or later
y:-2015          # open range: up to 2015
y:>2015          # strictly after 2015
y:>=2015         # 2015 or later (same as y:2015-)
y:<2015          # strictly before 2015
y:<=2015         # 2015 or earlier (same as y:-2015)

An entry with no year never matches a range or comparison.

Rating¶

rt: takes the same comparisons and ranges, but a plain number matches exactly. 0 means unrated:

rt:5             # five stars
rt:>=3           # three stars or more
rt:2-4           # two to four stars
rt:0             # not rated yet
NOT rt:0         # rated at all

Boolean search¶

For "either of these" or "but not that", use OR and NOT, and group with parentheses — the same logic as Web of Science's Advanced Search:

a:smith OR a:jones                     # either author
a:(smith OR jones)                     # the same: a prefix applies to a whole group
a:(smith OR jones) k:ice               # either author, tagged ice
k:ice NOT r:read                       # ice papers you haven't read yet
(t:glacier OR t:"ice sheet") y:2015-   # either topic, 2015 or later
j:(nature OR science)                  # either journal

NOT binds tightest, then AND, then OR, so k:snow y:2016 OR a:smith means "(snow and 2016) or Smith". Use parentheses when in doubt.

AND, OR and NOT work in any case (or too), but only as separate words. To search for the word itself, quote or prefix it: t:"or", t:not.
A plain word inside a prefixed group gets that prefix; a term with its own prefix keeps it: a:(smith OR t:snow).
Parentheses inside quotes are literal: t:"(in)stability".
While you type, an unfinished query still filters: a:(smith OR shows Smith. A query that can't be finished by typing more, like OR OR or a stray ), shows a short hint under the search box and keeps the last valid result.

Combine terms¶

Prefixes and plain words can be mixed freely. Terms are combined with AND; the optional AND keyword reads naturally but changes nothing:

a:smith t:glacier            # Smith, with "glacier" in the title
j:nature AND y:2025          # in Nature, published in 2025
k:ice a:jones                # tagged "ice", authored by Jones
y:2010-                      # published 2010 or later
c:smith2020                  # an exact cite-key lookup
r:to-read pr:high            # still to read, high urgency

Find your own papers

a:yourname is a fast way to pull up everything you've authored — handy when assembling a CV or a grant report.

Saved filters¶

A search you retype every session is really a saved view waiting to happen — bibtui calls these filters. Keep one .bib file for everything, and use a filter to work inside a slice of it, e.g. "Project X" = keyword sepp, published 2010 or later.

Press f to open Filters:

0 · All entries
1 · ● Project X        — k:sepp y:2010-
2 ·   To read           — r:to-read

Key	Action
`0`–`9`	Jump straight to that filter (`0` is "All entries")
`Enter`	Select the highlighted row
`w`	Write the current search as a new (or updated) filter
`e`	Edit the highlighted filter's name/query
`d`	Delete the highlighted filter (confirmation required)
`Esc`	Close the menu

To save a filter: type a search (k:sepp y:2010-), press f then w, and give it a name — typing an existing filter's name updates it instead of creating a new one (confirmed first, in case it was a typo). The active filter (marked ●, and already highlighted when you reopen the menu) is shown in a bar above the search box — Filter: Project X k:sepp y:2010- 42 / 1203 — and in the app's title bar.

The search box then refines within the active filter, exactly like adding another ANDed term. Esc clears only that refining search — the filter itself stays on until you pick a different one from the f menu, so you can't drop out of your current project by accident. The last-active filter is remembered across restarts.

Deleting a filter (d) always drops you back to "All entries" — even if the one you deleted wasn't the active one — so you never end up looking at a just-deleted filter's results. "All entries" itself (row 0) isn't a real filter and can't be deleted; trying to shows a notice instead of silently doing nothing.

Filters are saved to ~/.config/bibtui/filters.toml and apply to every .bib file you open — see Saved filters for the file format.

Sorting¶

Click any column header to sort by it; click again to reverse. The active sort column is marked with ▲ (ascending) or ▼ (descending). Sort by Added to see what's new, by ★ to surface your highest-rated reading, or by Year to scan chronologically.

By default the table is sorted by Added, newest first. Your choice is remembered: the sort you left is restored the next time you start bibtui (saved under [ui] sort_column / sort_reverse in config.toml).

Choosing columns¶

You're not limited to the default columns. From the command palette (Ctrl+P → Table: Configure columns) you can pick which columns the table shows and in what order, including the cite key or any BibTeX field present in your library. See Table columns for details.