Get BibTeX from a DOI — fast.

QuickBib is a cross-platform utility that uses doi2bib3 to fetch BibTeX for DOIs, arXiv identifiers as well as article titles. Works as a GUI app and also as a CLI. Perfect for research workflows, manuscripts and automation.

Install on GNU/Linux Download for Windows Run on macOS (from source) Open Web App

Why QuickBib?

Designed for researchers, writers and automation — QuickBib makes fetching and normalizing BibTeX simple.

Quickly obtain BibTeX

Uses doi2bib3 strategies (content negotiation, Crossref, arXiv resolution) to return high-quality BibTeX entries.

arXiv and Journal aware

Paste arXiv IDs, arXiv URLs, Journal links or titles — QuickBib detects them and resolves the DOI automatically. See examples.

GUI + CLI

Use the GUI app for quick lookups or integrate into scripts via the CLI and programmatic API.

Free software + Cross platform

QuickBib is free and open source software (FOSS) licensed under GPLv3. It runs on GNU/Linux, Windows and macOS — install from packages or download prebuilt releases (see below).

How to install

Choose the option that fits your platform.

GNU/Linux

You can install QuickBib from Flathub or the Snap Store on any distro:

You can also install QuickBib using your distro's package manager:

Ubuntu 24.04+/Mint 22+ (Official PPA)

Run these commands one by one in a terminal to install QuickBib.

First, add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/quickbib

Then, update package lists:

sudo apt update

Finally, install QuickBib:

sudo apt install quickbib

Arch Linux/Manjaro/EndeavourOS (AUR)

Requires an AUR helper such as yay:

yay -S quickbib

Run from source (any distro)

Follow the instructions in the "Run from source" section below to clone the repository and run QuickBib from source. You can also use meson to install it.

Windows

Prebuilt installers for Windows are available on the Releases page. Download the Windows installer here: GitHub Releases

macOS

It is recommended to use the Web App on macOS. Continue reading to learn why.

No prebuilt macOS installers: Distributing an app that users can graphically install and run seems to require paying Apple perpetually (US$99/year) to sign and notarize the app even if the app is free — that’s plain extortion — so we ship the source instead. You can run QuickBib from source or build a macOS app using the packaging scripts on GitHub. Pull requests and heroic ideas for a user friendly installer are very welcome.

Also, you can use our CLI backend doi2bib3. Install it with pip3 install --user doi2bib3.

Here is how to run from source (on macOS as well as GNU/Linux)

Run the following commands in a terminal: First, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/archisman-panigrahi/quickbib.git

Change to the source directory:

cd quickbib

Create a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv .venv

Activate the virtual environment:

source .venv/bin/activate

Install the dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Run QuickBib:

python3 -m quickbib

Quick examples

QuickBib accepts common identifiers and links — DOIs, DOI URLs, arXiv IDs/URLs, journal article URLs as well as their titles. Below are examples of supported inputs and how you might use them programmatically.

Input examples

It can work with all the following:

DOI, e.g. 10.1038/nphys1170
DOI link, e.g. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1170
arXiv link, e.g. https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.08091
arXiv ID, e.g. arxiv:2411.08091 or arXiv:2411.08091 or 2411.08091
Old arXiv ID format, e.g. hep-th/9901001
Journal link (works with APS journals, Nature journals, and PNAS, and more), e.g. https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/v6r7-4ph9
Title of article, e.g. Projected Topological Branes (supports fuzzy search!)

Programmatic (python)

from doi2bib3 import fetch_bibtex

bib = fetch_bibtex('https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2305943120')

print(bib)

For details on the programmatic API and options, see the doi2bib3 README.

The command-line backend doi2bib3 supports the same input types and is useful for scripting and automation.

FAQ

Is QuickBib free to use? Can I share it with a friend?

Yes! QuickBib is a free software (free as in freedom, as well as gratis) according to the Free Software Foundation's definition: What is free software? (FSF). It is free to download, use, redistribute, and modify under the terms of the GPLv3.

What license is QuickBib distributed under?

QuickBib and doi2bib3 are distributed under the GNU General Public License v3 (GPL-3.0-only).

Where do I report bugs or request features?

Feature requests, bug reports, and pull requests are welcome — please open an issue or submit a PR on the QuickBib GitHub repository. Contributions help improve QuickBib for everyone.

Is there a CLI backend?

Yes! You can use doi2bib3. Install it with pip3 install --user doi2bib3. It supports the same input arguments as QuickBib, but also provides python API and it can also export BibTeX entries to a .bib file.