BibTeX online

Run BibTeX online in your browser: cite entries from a .bib file and the reference list is built for you, every pass included.

First page of the BibTeX example, compiled with BibTeX

Open in LaTeX.to Download the example (zip)

Recommended Frozen, 1985
Magic comment: % !BIB program = bibtex on the first line of main.tex, which is how the example picks it under Auto.
License: Public domain, use freely.

Files:

main.tex

Download main.tex

% !BIB program = bibtex
\documentclass[11pt]{article}

\title{Citations with BibTeX}
\author{The classic bibliography workflow}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\section{The workflow everyone knows}
BibTeX is the original bibliography tool for LaTeX, and after decades it is
still the most widely supported. You keep your references in a \texttt{.bib}
database, cite them by key, and let BibTeX and a style file assemble the list
for you.

\section{How it fits together}
Three commands do the work. \texttt{\string\bibliographystyle} sets the look of
the entries, \texttt{\string\cite} marks each place you refer to a source, and
\texttt{\string\bibliography} pulls in the database and prints the list. A full
build runs latex, then bibtex, then latex twice more so the labels settle.

\section{An example}
The TeX system itself is documented by its creator~\cite{texbook}. The craft of
setting readable text has a long history~\cite{tschichold}, and a living
community keeps the tools growing~\cite{ctan}.

\bibliographystyle{plain}
\bibliography{references}

\end{document}

references.bib

Download references.bib

@book{texbook,
  author    = {Donald E. Knuth},
  title     = {The {\TeX}book},
  publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
  year      = {1984}
}

@article{tschichold,
  author  = {Jan Tschichold},
  title   = {The Form of the Book},
  journal = {Typography Papers},
  volume  = {2},
  pages   = {12--34},
  year    = {1991}
}

@misc{ctan,
  author       = {{The CTAN Team}},
  title        = {The Comprehensive {\TeX} Archive Network},
  howpublished = {Available at ctan.org},
  year         = {2024}
}

How to run BibTeX on LaTeX.to

Everything runs in your browser: nothing to install, no login, no compile timeout.

Click Open in LaTeX.to. The example opens as a project with main.tex in the editor and its finished PDF in the preview.
Edit, then press Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter on a Mac). The first compile downloads what this engine needs; after that a compile takes seconds.

What BibTeX is

BibTeX is a separate program that runs between LaTeX passes. The first pass writes the keys you cited into the .aux file; BibTeX reads it, finds the entries in your .bib database, formats them according to the style you named, and writes a .bbl file; the next passes print the list and fill in the numbers. That is why a bibliography takes four runs by hand. On LaTeX.to it is one Ctrl+Enter: the pipeline sees the .aux asking for a bibliography, runs bibtex, and reruns LaTeX until the citations settle, skipping BibTeX on later compiles unless the .bib or the citations changed.

The example on this page is a normal article with a references.bib beside it. Three commands do the work:

\bibliographystyle{plain} picks the look of the list.
\cite{key} marks a citation.
\bibliography{references} names the database.

When to use it

A journal or conference template. They ship a .bst style and expect BibTeX, and every editor and every reference manager can export for it.
A document with plain numbered or author-year citations (natbib adds the latter) and references in a Latin script.
Not for Unicode names that must sort correctly, for web pages and datasets with proper entry types, or for a style you want to adjust yourself: that is biblatex with Biber.

BibTeX vs biblatex

BibTeX: a small program from 1985 with its own style language, 8-bit, frozen since 2010 and supported everywhere.
biblatex: a LaTeX package that formats entries with LaTeX macros instead of a .bst file.
Biber: the program biblatex runs instead of BibTeX: Unicode, locale-aware sorting, @online with a urldate.

The same .bib file works with both. The full comparison, including how to move a document over, is on BibTeX vs biblatex.

Common errors

I found no \bibdata command: the document has no \bibliography{...} line, or the first pass failed before reaching it.
Warning: Citation 'key' undefined: the key in \cite matches no entry. Keys are case-sensitive.
White space in argument or Repeated entry: a key with a space in it (usually pasted from Google Scholar), or the same key twice in the .bib.

To cite a website, classic BibTeX has no @online type: use @misc with howpublished = {\url{...}} and a note for the access date, with \usepackage{url} loaded.

More engines: biblatex (Biber) and all engines. Compare: BibTeX vs biblatex.