formatCitation
Takes a free-text block of identifiers (one per line, mixed types OK) and returns formatted citations in the requested style. Five builtins ship as plain-text formatters; any other style routes through citeproc-js with a CSL stylesheet.
When to use
- The user pastes a list of DOIs/PMIDs/ISBNs and wants Vancouver/APA/IEEE/etc. references.
- An agent needs to render a bibliography for a draft manuscript.
Inputs
text (string, required) — One identifier per line, or free text containing identifiers.style (string, optional) — Builtin: vancouver (default), ama, apa, ieee, cse. Or any CSL style ID (e.g. nature, lancet, chicago-author-date).locale (string, optional) — CSL locale, e.g. en-US, en-GB.output (string, optional) — "text" (default) or "html".footnotes (boolean, optional) — Render HTML output as footnotes.
Outputs
{ ok: true, items: [{ ok, formatted, _source }, ...] }. Mixed success — per-item ok flag lets the agent surface partial failures.
Underlying surfaces
- REST:
POST /api/format (or /api/format/stream for NDJSON streaming).
- MCP tool:
formatCitation.
Example
curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/format" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text":"10.1038/nphys1170\n34812345","style":"apa","output":"text"}'
See also
exportCitation for file-format bibliographies (RIS, BibTeX, etc.)./docs.md for full API reference.
1---2name: format-citation3description: Format one or more scholarly identifiers as citations in a chosen style (Vancouver, AMA, APA, IEEE, CSE, or any CSL style ID).4---56# formatCitation78Takes a free-text block of identifiers (one per line, mixed types OK) and returns formatted citations in the requested style. Five builtins ship as plain-text formatters; any other style routes through citeproc-js with a CSL stylesheet.910## When to use1112- The user pastes a list of DOIs/PMIDs/ISBNs and wants Vancouver/APA/IEEE/etc. references.13- An agent needs to render a bibliography for a draft manuscript.1415## Inputs1617- `text` (string, required) — One identifier per line, or free text containing identifiers.18- `style` (string, optional) — Builtin: `vancouver` (default), `ama`, `apa`, `ieee`, `cse`. Or any CSL style ID (e.g. `nature`, `lancet`, `chicago-author-date`).19- `locale` (string, optional) — CSL locale, e.g. `en-US`, `en-GB`.20- `output` (string, optional) — `"text"` (default) or `"html"`.21- `footnotes` (boolean, optional) — Render HTML output as footnotes.2223## Outputs2425`{ ok: true, items: [{ ok, formatted, _source }, ...] }`. Mixed success — per-item ok flag lets the agent surface partial failures.2627## Underlying surfaces2829- **REST**: `POST /api/format` (or `/api/format/stream` for NDJSON streaming).30- **MCP tool**: `formatCitation`.3132## Example3334```bash35curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/format" \36 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \37 -d '{"text":"10.1038/nphys1170\n34812345","style":"apa","output":"text"}'38```3940## See also4142- `exportCitation` for file-format bibliographies (RIS, BibTeX, etc.).43- [`/docs.md`](https://scholar-sidekick.com/docs.md) for full API reference.
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