Ref-Lex Web Extension

Browser extension for Ref-Lex - quickly add academic papers from any website to your Ref-Lex projects.

Features

• Quick Paper Capture: Detect and extract academic paper metadata from supported sites
• Project Integration: Add references directly to your Ref-Lex projects
• Category Assignment: Organize references with categories
• Notes & Comments: Add custom comments when saving papers
• Multi-Site Support: Works with ArXiv, Google Scholar, PubMed, IEEE, ACM, and more

Supported Academic Sites

• ArXiv.org
• Google Scholar
• PubMed
• IEEE Xplore
• ACM Digital Library
• SpringerLink
• ScienceDirect
• JSTOR
• Generic sites with DOI/metadata

Installation

Chrome/Edge:

1. Download the latest release from Releases
2. Unzip the file
3. Open chrome://extensions
4. Enable "Developer mode"
5. Click "Load unpacked" and select the unzipped folder

Firefox:

1. Download the latest .xpi file from Releases
2. Open about:addons
3. Click the gear icon → "Install Add-on From File"
4. Select the downloaded .xpi file

Usage

1. Login: Click the extension icon and login with your Ref-Lex credentials
2. Browse: Navigate to any academic paper page
3. Capture: Click the extension icon - paper metadata will be detected automatically
4. Select Project: Choose which Ref-Lex project to add the paper to
5. Add Category (optional): Assign a category
6. Add Notes (optional): Write custom comments or annotations
7. Save: Click "Add to Ref-Lex" to save the reference

Privacy & Permissions

This extension requires the following permissions:

• activeTab: To detect paper metadata on the current page
• storage: To cache your login session and preferences
• cookies: To maintain authentication with the Ref-Lex backend
• host_permissions: To fetch BibTeX from external sources (CrossRef, ArXiv API, etc.)

We respect your privacy:

• ✅ No tracking or analytics
• ✅ No data collection beyond what's necessary for functionality
• ✅ No ads or third-party data sharing
• ✅ Open source code for full transparency

Read our full Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Browser Compatibility

• Chrome/Chromium 109+
• Firefox 109+
• Edge (Chromium-based) 109+
• Safari (requires conversion with Xcode)

Support

For issues and feature requests, please visit the issue tracker.