RefKit for JavaScript

refkit-js parses bibliography data, renders citations, and edits BibTeX in Node.js and browsers. It runs RefKit's Rust core through WebAssembly, a portable compiled module loaded by JavaScript.

Construct libraries from structured records and convert BibLaTeX, Hayagriva YAML, and CSL-JSON with field-level loss reports. The conversion guide covers both Python and TypeScript.

BibDocument.applyPatch applies atomic entry and field edits and returns a new snapshot with byte changes and occurrence mappings. Existing handles retain their original values and spans. See the raw editing guide.

Install for Node.js 22.19 or newer:

npm install refkit-js

import { Citation, Document, Library, Style } from "refkit-js";

const library = Library.parseBibtex(
  "@article{doe2024, author={Doe, Jane}, title={Fast Citations}, year={2024}}",
);
const style = Style.load("apa");
const document = new Document(library, style, { locale: "en-US" });
const result = document.render([new Citation("intro", "doe2024")]);
console.log(result.get("intro").text);
console.log(result.bibliography.text);

The citation is (Doe, 2024). Each render call processes the complete ordered citation list and returns plain text, HTML, and a structured tree.

Browser initialization

Import the browser entry at startup and call init() when a bibliography is needed:

import { init, Library, cite } from "refkit-js/browser";

export async function renderCitation(source, key) {
  await init();
  return cite(Library.parseBibtex(source), key).text;
}

Call renderCitation(source, key) from the action that needs a citation. Importing the browser entry loads the JavaScript API. The first init() dynamically loads the generated bindings and WebAssembly. Concurrent calls share that operation, and subsequent calls reuse it. Parsing and rendering then run synchronously.

Serve the JavaScript modules and bundled .wasm asset over HTTP or HTTPS. Your bundler must emit the .wasm asset at its module-relative URL, or pass its deployed URL to init().

A Content Security Policy that restricts scripts must permit WebAssembly compilation with 'wasm-unsafe-eval' in script-src. Allow the asset origin in connect-src and serve .wasm as application/wasm for streaming compilation.

Read files in Node.js

import { fullBibliography } from "refkit-js";
import { readLibrary } from "refkit-js/node";

const library = await readLibrary("references.bib");
console.log(fullBibliography(library).text);

The Node helpers also expose readBibDocument, readStyle, and tidyFile. File operations return promises. Parsing, rendering, and raw edits run synchronously after initialization.

Read the JavaScript guide for browser deployment and editing, or the JavaScript reference for the public API and Python name mapping. TypeScript declarations ship with the package.