QuickCite

QuickCite is an Obsidian plugin that turns a pasted webpage URL into a standard MLA citation.

How it works

1. Paste a webpage URL into an Obsidian note.
2. Select the URL, or place your cursor on the same line as the URL.
3. Run QuickCite: Convert URL to MLA citation from the command palette.
4. Bind the command to a hotkey such as Cmd + Shift + C in Obsidian's hotkey settings.

QuickCite checks Crossref, fetches the page, extracts metadata, and replaces the URL with an MLA-style citation:

Smith, Jane. "How Research Tools Changed Writing." Example Review, 12 Mar. 2025, https://example.com/research-tools. Accessed 28 Apr. 2026.

If a required field is missing, QuickCite leaves a visible placeholder:

[MISSING AUTHOR]. "Page Title." Website Name, [MISSING DATE], https://example.com/page. Accessed 28 Apr. 2026.

Local-first metadata

QuickCite uses Crossref for DOI and scholarly-work metadata, then uses local webpage parsing as a fallback:

• Crossref DOI lookup through https://api.crossref.org/works/{doi}

• Crossref bibliographic lookup through https://api.crossref.org/works?query.bibliographic=...

• Optional Crossref polite pool email setting

• OpenGraph and Twitter metadata

• Standard HTML meta tags

• JSON-LD article metadata

• The page <title>

• The URL hostname as a website-name fallback

Optional AI refinement

QuickCite includes an optional Enable AI refinement setting. When enabled, QuickCite calls an OpenAI-compatible chat completions endpoint only after local parsing leaves missing fields.

Settings:

• Enable AI refinement
• AI API key
• AI endpoint
• AI model

AI refinement is optional. Without it, QuickCite runs with local webpage parsing only.

Install for local development

Copy or symlink this folder into your vault:

mkdir -p "YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/quickcite"
cp manifest.json main.js styles.css "YourVault/.obsidian/plugins/quickcite/"

Then enable QuickCite in Obsidian's community plugin settings.

Required repository files

This repository includes the files expected before submitting an Obsidian community plugin:

• README.md
• LICENSE
• manifest.json

Before submitting, also review Obsidian's current developer policies and plugin submission requirements.

Test

npm test