Citations allow you to reference sources in your document and automatically generate a formatted bibliography. Autype uses the CSL-JSON standard for citation data.
Defining citations The top-level citations array contains citation entries in CSL-JSON format. Each entry represents a single source (book, article, webpage, etc.).
{ "citations" : [ { "id" : "smith2023" , "type" : "book" , "title" : "Modern Document Automation" , "author" : [ { "family" : "Smith" , "given" : "John" } ], "issued" : { "date-parts" : [[ 2023 ]] }, "publisher" : "Tech Press" , "publisher-place" : "New York" }, { "id" : "doe2024" , "type" : "article-journal" , "title" : "Advances in PDF Generation" , "author" : [ { "family" : "Doe" , "given" : "Jane" }, { "family" : "Miller" , "given" : "Bob" } ], "issued" : { "date-parts" : [[ 2024 , 3 ]] }, "container-title" : "Journal of Document Engineering" , "volume" : "12" , "issue" : "3" , "page" : "45-67" , "DOI" : "10.1234/jde.2024.001" } ] }
The citations array supports up to 1000 entries.
CSL-JSON item properties Every citation entry requires id and type. All other fields are optional.
Required fields Property Type Description idstring Unique identifier for the citation (e.g., "smith2023"). Used to reference the citation in text. Max: 100 chars. typestring Item type. See supported types below.
Names (authors, editors, etc.) Name fields accept an array of name objects:
{ "author" : [ { "family" : "Smith" , "given" : "John" }, { "family" : "van Beethoven" , "given" : "Ludwig" , "non-dropping-particle" : "van" }, { "literal" : "World Health Organization" } ] }
Property Type Description familystring Family name / surname. Max: 200 chars. givenstring Given name / first name. Max: 200 chars. dropping-particlestring Particle dropped when sorting (e.g., “de” in some styles). Max: 50 chars. non-dropping-particlestring Particle kept when sorting (e.g., “van”). Max: 50 chars. suffixstring Name suffix (e.g., “Jr.”, “III”). Max: 50 chars. literalstring Literal name string for institutional authors. Max: 500 chars.
Available name fields: author, editor, translator, collection-editor, composer, container-author, director, editorial-director, illustrator, interviewer, original-author, recipient, reviewed-authorDates Date fields use the CSL-JSON date format:
{ "issued" : { "date-parts" : [[ 2024 , 3 , 15 ]] }, "accessed" : { "date-parts" : [[ 2024 , 6 , 1 ]] } }
Property Type Description date-partsarray Array of date arrays: [[year, month, day]]. Month and day are optional. literalstring Literal date string (e.g., "Spring 2024"). Max: 200 chars. rawstring Raw date string for parsing. Max: 200 chars. seasonstring | number Season identifier. circaboolean | string Approximate date flag.
Available date fields: issued, accessed, event-date, original-date, submittedTitles Property Type Description titlestring Title of the work. Max: 1000 chars. title-shortstring Short title. Max: 500 chars. container-titlestring Title of the container (journal, book, etc.). Max: 500 chars. container-title-shortstring Short container title. Max: 200 chars. collection-titlestring Title of the collection/series. Max: 500 chars. original-titlestring Original title (for translations). Max: 500 chars. reviewed-titlestring Title of the reviewed work. Max: 500 chars.
Numbers Property Type Description volumestring | number Volume number. issuestring | number Issue number. pagestring Page range (e.g., "45-67"). Max: 100 chars. page-firststring | number First page. number-of-pagesstring | number Total pages. editionstring | number Edition number. versionstring | number Version number. chapter-numberstring | number Chapter number.
Identifiers Property Type Description DOIstring Digital Object Identifier. Max: 200 chars. ISBNstring International Standard Book Number. Max: 50 chars. ISSNstring International Standard Serial Number. Max: 50 chars. PMIDstring PubMed ID. Max: 50 chars. PMCIDstring PubMed Central ID. Max: 50 chars. URLstring Web URL. Max: 2000 chars.
Publisher Property Type Description publisherstring Publisher name. Max: 500 chars. publisher-placestring Place of publication. Max: 200 chars.
Other fields Property Type Description abstractstring Abstract text. Max: 5000 chars. languagestring Language of the work. Max: 50 chars. genrestring Genre or type description. Max: 200 chars. keywordstring Keywords. Max: 500 chars. notestring Additional notes. Max: 2000 chars. eventstring Event name (for conference papers). Max: 500 chars. event-placestring Event location. Max: 200 chars.
Supported item types
All supported CSL-JSON item types
article, article-journal, article-magazine, article-newspaper, bill, book, broadcast, chapter, classic, collection, dataset, document, entry, entry-dictionary, entry-encyclopedia, event, figure, graphic, hearing, interview, legal_case, legislation, manuscript, map, motion_picture, musical_score, pamphlet, paper-conference, patent, performance, periodical, personal_communication, post, post-weblog, regulation, report, review, review-book, software, song, speech, standard, thesis, treaty, webpage
Using citations in sections To cite a source in your text content, use the @[citeKey] syntax where citeKey matches the id of a citation entry.
Basic citation { "type" : "text" , "text" : "Document automation is evolving rapidly @[smith2023]." }
The @[citeKey] reference is replaced with the formatted in-text citation according to the configured citationStyle (e.g., (Smith, 2023) for APA7, [1] for IEEE).
Citation with locators Add a locator after the cite key, separated by a comma:
{ "type" : "text" , "text" : "See @[smith2023, p. 42] for details." } { "type" : "text" , "text" : "Discussed in @[doe2024, pp. 10-15]." } { "type" : "text" , "text" : "See @[smith2023, ch. 3] and @[doe2024, sec. 2.1]." } { "type" : "text" , "text" : "In @[smith2023, vol. 2, p. 42, note= \" emphasis added \" ]." }
Locator Syntax Example Page p. 42 or page 42@[smith2023, p. 42]Pages pp. 42-45 or pages 42-45@[smith2023, pp. 42-45]Chapter ch. 3 or chapter 3@[smith2023, ch. 3]Section sec. 2.1 or section 2.1@[smith2023, sec. 2.1]Volume vol. 2 or volume 2@[smith2023, vol. 2]Note note="text"@[smith2023, note="emphasis added"]
Multiple locators can be combined: @[smith2023, vol. 2, p. 42]
Suppress author / author only Syntax Description Rendered (APA7) @[smith2023]Normal citation (Smith, 2023) @[-smith2023]Suppress author (prefix -) (2023) @[smith2023!]Author only (suffix !) Smith
{ "type" : "text" , "text" : "@[smith2023!] argues that automation is key @[-smith2023, p. 42]." }
This renders as: “Smith argues that automation is key (2023, p. 42).”
Multiple citations Place multiple @[...] references next to each other:
{ "type" : "text" , "text" : "Multiple sources support this claim @[smith2023] @[doe2024]." }
The @[citeKey] syntax works in all text content: headings, paragraphs (text, text2), list items, and table cells. It also works inside formatted text like **bold @[smith2023] text**.
When using ?strict=true on the render endpoint, any @[citeKey] reference to a citation that is not defined in the citations array will cause a validation error. Without strict mode, undefined citations produce warnings but do not block rendering.
Citation styles The citation formatting style is configured via defaults.citationStyle:
{ "defaults" : { "citationStyle" : "apa7" } }
Style In-text format Description apa7(Smith, 2023) APA 7th Edition harvard(Smith 2023) Harvard style ieee[1] IEEE numbered style chicago(Smith 2023, 42) Chicago author-date mla(Smith 42) MLA style vancouver(1) Vancouver numbered style
Bibliography element To render the formatted bibliography, add a bibliography element to a section:
{ "type" : "bibliography" , "title" : "References" , "fontFamily" : "Times New Roman" , "fontSize" : 18 }
Properties Property Type Required Default Description typestring Yes — Must be "bibliography" idstring No — Optional unique identifier. Max: 100 chars. titlestring No — Title displayed above the bibliography (e.g., "References", "Bibliography"). Max: 200 chars. fontFamilystring No — Font family for the title. Max: 100 chars. fontSizenumber No — Font size for the title in pt (6–72). spacingobject No — Spacing override with before and after in pt (0–100).
Defaults for citations Bibliography style Customize the bibliography appearance via defaults.styles.bibliography:
{ "defaults" : { "citationStyle" : "apa7" , "styles" : { "bibliography" : { "fontFamily" : "Times New Roman" , "fontSize" : 11 , "fontWeight" : "normal" , "color" : "#000000" , "hangingIndent" : 1.27 , "lineSpacing" : 1.5 , "entrySpacing" : 6 } } } }
Property Type Default Description fontFamilystring — Font family for bibliography entries. Max: 100 chars. fontSizenumber — Font size in pt (6–72). fontWeightstring — Font weight: "normal" or "bold" colorstring — Text color in hex format (#RGB or #RRGGBB). hangingIndentnumber — Hanging indent for entries in cm (0–5). lineSpacingnumber — Line spacing within entries (1–3). entrySpacingnumber — Space between entries in pt (0–50).
Complete example { "document" : { "type" : "pdf" , "size" : "A4" }, "citations" : [ { "id" : "smith2023" , "type" : "book" , "title" : "Modern Document Automation" , "author" : [{ "family" : "Smith" , "given" : "John" }], "issued" : { "date-parts" : [[ 2023 ]] }, "publisher" : "Tech Press" }, { "id" : "doe2024" , "type" : "article-journal" , "title" : "Advances in PDF Generation" , "author" : [{ "family" : "Doe" , "given" : "Jane" }], "issued" : { "date-parts" : [[ 2024 , 3 ]] }, "container-title" : "Journal of Document Engineering" , "volume" : "12" , "page" : "45-67" } ], "defaults" : { "citationStyle" : "apa7" , "styles" : { "bibliography" : { "fontSize" : 10 , "hangingIndent" : 1.27 } } }, "sections" : [ { "type" : "flow" , "content" : [ { "type" : "h1" , "text" : "Introduction" }, { "type" : "text" , "text" : "@[smith2023!] describes how document automation is evolving rapidly @[-smith2023]. Recent advances in PDF generation @[doe2024, pp. 50-67] have made it possible to produce high-quality documents at scale." }, { "type" : "text" , "text" : "Both approaches @[smith2023] @[doe2024] demonstrate significant improvements over traditional methods." }, { "type" : "pageBreak" }, { "type" : "bibliography" , "title" : "References" } ] } ] }
