CiteKit – Citation and Reference Manager

Description

CiteKit makes it easy to add professional in-text footnotes & citations to your WordPress content using simple shortcodes or Gutenberg blocks. Automatically generate a bibliography at the end of any post with [bibliography] or the Bibliography block, styled in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and more.

Use a custom ID like [cite id=”who-2024″] to keep references memorable and reusable across your site, or let CiteKit auto-assign a unique ID. Use the Reference Library to track, audit, and manage every citation across your entire site – and check whether your source URLs are still live.

Features

Inline Citation & Tooltip Formats in Block Editor: Use the CiteKit Citation and CiteKit Tooltip buttons on the block toolbar to insert and manage inline citations and hover tooltips directly within any paragraph, heading, list, or quote block. Click an existing inline citation or tooltip badge to open that reference for editing, or place your cursor and click the toolbar button to insert a new one — no separate block needed.

Inline [cite] Shortcode with Auto-ID
Insert citations directly into post content using [cite]. Unique IDs are automatically assigned on first save, or set a custom human-readable ID with [cite id=”who-2024″].

CiteBox — Post-Level Citation Editor
A dedicated metabox in the post and page editor shows every citation in the current post. Fill in author, title, year, and URL without leaving the editor. Fields save instantly via AJAX and metadata is shared across all posts that reference the same ID.

Bibliography Block & Shortcode
Insert a formatted, backlinked bibliography anywhere in your content using the native CiteKit Bibliography block or the [bibliography] shortcode. Entries are ordered by appearance in the post, each with a back-reference to its inline citation, and style and heading are configurable per block or per shortcode.

Manual Bibliography Composition
Create a standalone bibliography with [bibliography title=”References”] Source 1 ; Source 2 [/bibliography] — ideal for static lists or non-[cite] workflows.

Reference Library
A central admin page listing every citation used across your site. Citations appear in the library the moment they are inserted into any post or page. See which posts use each reference, sort and filter by status, and manage everything from one place.

Link Health Checker
Check whether your source URLs are still reachable. Each reference is marked Live, Broken, or Unchecked. Results are saved per citation so you can spot dead links before your readers do.

Multiple Citation Style Support
Output in APA, MLA, Chicago (Author-Date and Notes-Bibliography), Harvard, or IEEE using [bibliography style=”apa|mla|chicago-ad|chicago-nb|harvard|ieee”].

Default Style Setting
Set your preferred citation style and bibliography heading once in Settings → CiteKit. All [bibliography] shortcodes and Bibliography blocks site-wide use this default unless overridden per post.

Tooltip-Style Inline Notes
Add lightweight footnotes, definitions, or asides with [tooltip]…[/tooltip] or the Tooltip block. Renders as a clean superscript that reveals a hover popup — no visual clutter until the reader needs it. Use the optional style attribute to set a custom superscript symbol: [tooltip style=”*”]…[/tooltip]. Defaults to † if omitted. Supported markers include †, *, ‡, §, ¶, or any short string such as “note”.

CiteKit Blocks & Formats

Bibliography Block — available in the CiteKit category in the block inserter. Renders a formatted, backlinked bibliography for the current post. Configure citation style and heading in the block sidebar.

Citation Format — the CiteKit Citation button on the block toolbar. Click an existing citation badge to open its reference details for editing, or place your cursor and click the button to insert a new one. Enter the citation ID and reference details in the block options panel.

Tooltip Format — the CiteKit Tooltip button on the block toolbar. Click an existing tooltip badge to edit its text and marker symbol, or place your cursor and click the button to insert a new one. Enter your note text and choose a marker symbol.

CiteKit Shortcodes

Inline Citations

• [cite] — Inline citation with auto-generated UUID
• [cite id=”custom-id”] — Inline citation with a user-defined ID

Bibliography

• [bibliography] — Auto-generated bibliography for the current post
• [bibliography style=”mla” title=”Article Sources”] — Override style and heading per post
• [bibliography style=”chicago-ad”] — Override style only; heading uses your site default
• [bibliography] Smith, 2026; John Jacobs, The Red Roof, 2021 [/bibliography] — Manual entry list

Tooltips

• [tooltip]Note text here[/tooltip] — Inline hover tooltip with default † superscript
• [tooltip style=”*”]Note text here[/tooltip] — Tooltip with custom superscript symbol

Supported bibliography styles: apa, mla, chicago-ad, chicago-nb, harvard, ieee