Bibliography Builder
Sources
stored in this browserBluebook is not offered here: it has no bibliography as such, only a table of authorities, so legal sources belong in the citation formatter’s Bluebook style.
Your sources stay in this browser and are never uploaded. There is no account, no lookup service and no storage outside your device.
Bibliography
(n.d.). .
1 source has no title, which every style requires. The entry is printed with an empty title so the gap is visible rather than hidden.
Export and import
local export onlyThe export is plain JSON of the fields you entered, so the list moves between browsers without any service.
[
{
"sourceType": "book",
"authors": [],
"title": "",
"year": ""
}
]The bibliography builder keeps an editable source list in your browser and formats the whole list as one bibliography in APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago 17 — alphabetised or numbered, exported as JSON and imported back.
What is Bibliography Builder?
The bibliography builder is for the case where the sources are already gathered and the work is to hold the list together and print it. You add a source, fill in its fields, and the bibliography at the bottom of the page rebuilds as you type. The source list is kept in your browser, so a refresh does not lose it, and it can be exported as JSON and imported back on another machine. There is no account, no lookup service and no storage anywhere but your device.
Every source in the list is edited in the same form, so a book, a chapter, a journal article and a web page each ask for the fields their type needs and no others. Authors go in one per line as Family, Given; an organisation written without a comma is kept exactly as written, which is how a corporate author survives every style. Entries can be reordered with the arrows, duplicated when one source is cited twice under different details, and removed when they do not belong in this list.
The bibliography is produced by the same citation engine that powers the citation formatter, which means the styles are the editions actually implemented: APA 7th edition, MLA 9th edition and Chicago 17th edition notes-bibliography. Bluebook is deliberately not offered, because Bluebook has no bibliography — legal material lives in a table of authorities, and the page says so rather than printing a list the manual does not define.
Order is your choice. Alphabetical by author is the default and matches an APA reference list or a Chicago bibliography; numbered in the order entered suits a works cited that follows the prose. Neither order is stored, so switching between them never leaves a stale number behind. Missing titles are counted and called out, because every style requires a title and a silently empty slot is worse than a visible gap.
The export is plain JSON of the fields you typed, so the list moves between browsers without a server. The import validates every entry — source type, title string, author shape — and reports the first problem it finds rather than dropping an entry on the floor. A reference manager that loses data is worse than no reference manager, so the importer refuses malformed input instead of guessing at it.
What the tool does not do matters as much as what it does. It does not search for a DOI, resolve an ISBN, fetch a web page's title or check that a page range exists. It formats the values you supply in the order and punctuation the selected edition requires. Whether a source belongs in the bibliography at all, how a translator or an editor is credited, and how a work with no author is alphabetised are editorial decisions the style manual explains in prose; the page points at the manual rather than inventing a rule.
Because the output is a pure function of the fields, the same source list always prints the same bibliography, which is what makes it possible to check an entry against the manual's own worked example. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is looked up and nothing is stored beyond your browser. If you need the entry rather than the list, the citation formatter shows the bibliography, in-text and note forms of a single source side by side.
How to use Bibliography Builder
- Add a source and pick its type; the form asks only for the fields that type needs.
- Enter authors one per line as Family, Given; write an organisation without a comma to keep it as-is.
- Fill the fields you have and watch the bibliography rebuild; reorder or duplicate entries as needed.
- Choose alphabetical or numbered order and pick APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago 17.
- Copy or download the bibliography, or export the list as JSON to move it to another browser.
When to use Bibliography Builder vs related tools
Use the bibliography builder when several sources have to come out as one formatted list and you want the list to survive a refresh. When you need matching in-text markers as well, the Reference List Generator prints the list beside each marker, and for a single entry the Citation Formatter shows every form of one source at once.
It is also the right place to assemble a works cited before you start citing. Export the JSON once the list is right, import it into any browser, and the same sources are ready whenever you write; there is no cross-device sync and the page states that rather than implying a service behind it.
Privacy & Security
This tool runs entirely in your browser — no data ever leaves your device. There is no server round-trip, no upload, no logging, and no account required. Your input is processed locally using client-side JavaScript and is never stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone else. When you close the tab, everything disappears.