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Modify references

How to change an entry that is already in the library, and what happens to its verification result.

The output shown was recorded with cdlbib 2.0.0 on October 5, 2026, in a temporary copy of the library chosen with --library. ~/demo stands for that temporary folder.

Terminal interface

  1. Start the terminal interface with cdlbib tui. In the Library view, press /, type a search, press enter, and move to the entry.
  2. Press e and change the text.
  3. Press ctrl+p. The preview shows the diff, the house-format findings, a key change, and the status the entry has now and will have after saving.
  4. Press ctrl+s to save. esc closes the editor; when the text was changed, it asks first.

Command line

  1. Find the library's folder:

    cdlbib where
    ~/demo/library
chosen by: cdl.bib found in or above the current folder

    The first line is the folder. The second says how the library was chosen.

  2. Open cdl.bib in that folder with a text editor, change the entry, and save.

  3. Check the change:

    cdlbib verify

    verify first offers completion for new or changed entries, with the same accept, edit and skip choices as cdlbib add, then runs the format check and the citation check. Check the library shows the output.

Editing an entry in any way invalidates its saved verification result and any human approval of it; the entry is checked again the next time. Renaming its key does not.

Web interface

Start the web interface with cdlbib web.

  1. In the Library view, find the entry (Search the library) and select its row. The entry opens beside the list.

  2. Press "Edit". The view shows a box with the entry's BibTeX text.

  3. Change the text and press "Preview". The preview shows the key, the status now, the status after saving, the changed lines, and the house-format findings.

  4. Press "Save". The page says under the "Save" button:

    Save writes exactly the text that was previewed. Editing the text again needs a new preview.

For MannEtal11, with the last page changed from 12897 to 12899, the preview read:

Key
MannEtal11
Status now
pending
Status after saving
pending
Changes
--- MannEtal11
+++ MannEtal11
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 	Doi = {10.1073/pnas.1015174108},
 	Journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, {USA}},
 	Number = {31},
-	Pages = {12893--12897},
+	Pages = {12893--12899},
 	Title = {Oscillatory patterns in temporal lobe reveal context reinstatement during memory search},
 	Volume = {108},
 	Year = {2011}}
House format findings (0)

After "Save", the page reported the save and where the file as it was before the save is kept:

Saved MannEtal11.
The file as it was: ~/demo/library/.bibcheck/edits/20261005T094425.387353Z-cdl.bib

The screenshot shows a preview in which the entry Game62 has the status "needs review" now and "pending" after saving, and in which the format checker has one finding:

The edit view of the web interface for Game62: the entry's BibTeX text in a box on the left with the buttons Preview, Save and Cancel; on the right the preview with "Status now: needs review", "Status after saving: pending", a diff in which "Pages = {1--11}" is replaced by "Pages = {1-11}", and one house-format finding that the format checker would write the pages as 1--11

The preview says of such findings:

Format findings do not stop a save; they are checked again before a send.

"New entry", beside the search box of the Library view, opens the same view with an empty box for one new entry with its key.

This recording shows a search, an entry and its issues, an edit and its preview:

Recording of the web interface: typing "games factorial" in the search box leaves one entry, Game62; selecting it opens the entry, and the Issues tab shows "volume: missing evidence or mismatch" with a table comparing the entry with the Crossref record; "Edit" opens the entry's text, and "Preview" shows the changed pages line and one house-format finding

To make the recording again from a development checkout, run .venv/bin/python scripts/capture_web.py --gif. It needs the development dependencies playwright (with Chromium) and pytest, and ffmpeg.