Templating

BibLib uses a template engine with Handlebars/Mustache-style syntax to customize citekeys, filenames, and the content of literature notes.

Template Syntax

• Variables: {{variableName}} (e.g., {{title}}). Use dot notation for nested data: {{issued.date-parts.0.0}} for the year.
• Formatters: {{variableName|formatterName}} or {{variableName|formatter:parameter}} (e.g., {{title|lowercase}}).
• Conditionals: {{#variableName}}...{{/variableName}} (if variable exists) and {{^variableName}}...{{/variableName}} (if variable does not exist).
• Loops: {{#arrayName}}...{{/arrayName}}. Inside a loop, {{.}} refers to the current item.

Available Variables

The following variables are available in the templates:

• CSL Fields: All fields from the CSL-JSON data (e.g., {{title}}, {{DOI}}, {{URL}}, {{container-title}}).
• Citekey: {{citekey}}.
• Date Parts: {{year}}, {{month}}, {{day}}.
• Contributors:
  • {{authors}}: A formatted string of primary authors.
  • {{authors_raw}}: An array of raw author objects.
  • {{authors_family}}: An array of author last names.
  • {{authors_given}}: An array of author first names.
  • Similar variables are available for other roles (e.g., {{editors}}, {{translators}}).
• Attachments:
  • {{pdflink}}: An array of vault paths to attachments.
  • {{attachments}}: An array of formatted Obsidian wikilinks to attachments.
• Related Notes:
  • {{links}}: An array of formatted Obsidian wikilinks to related notes.
  • {{linkPaths}}: An array of the raw file paths for related notes.
• Current Date/Time: {{currentDate}} (YYYY-MM-DD) and {{currentTime}} (HH:MM:SS).

Formatters

A variety of formatters are available for text case, length, manipulation, numbers, dates, and more.

• Text Case: |uppercase, |lowercase, |capitalize, |sentence.
• Length: |truncate:N, |ellipsis:N.
• Manipulation: |trim, |prefix:TEXT, |suffix:TEXT, |replace:find:replace.
• Date: |date:iso, |date:short, |date:long, |date:year.
• Abbreviation: |abbrN (e.g., |abbr3 for the first 3 letters).
• Special: |titleword (extracts the first significant word of a title), |shorttitle (first 3 significant words).

Examples

Header Template: # {{title}} ({{year}})

Custom Frontmatter Field (aliases): ["{{title|sentence}}", "{{citekey}}"]

Citekey Template: {{authors_family.0|lowercase}}{{year}}

Filename Template: {{type}}/{{year}}/{{citekey}} This will create a file structure like article/2023/smith2023.md.