Installation

bibtui is a single Python package. It runs anywhere Python 3.12+ does — your laptop, a remote server over SSH, or an HPC login node.

Why the --prerelease=allow / --pre flag?

bibtui depends on bibtexparser v2, which is still published as a beta on PyPI. The flag tells your installer to allow it. Once bibtexparser ships a stable v2 release, the flag will no longer be needed.

Recommended — uv

uv is the fastest way to install and run bibtui. It installs the app into an isolated environment in under a second.

uv tool install --prerelease=allow bibtui

Update an existing installation:

uv tool upgrade bibtui

Try it without installing

uvx runs bibtui in a throwaway environment — nothing is installed permanently:

uvx --prerelease=allow bibtui              # opens the file browser
uvx --prerelease=allow bibtui references.bib

pip

pip install --pre bibtui

Verify

bibtui --version

Then open a library:

bibtui references.bib

…or just run bibtui and pick a file from the built-in browser.

Staying up to date

bibtui checks PyPI once a day and tells you when a newer version is available. You can also trigger a check on demand from the command palette (Ctrl+P → Check for updates).