How to sync your Zotero or Mendeley library into a Luzbase project

Keeping a bibliography up to date by hand is one of the dullest parts of writing in LaTeX: export from your reference manager, upload the .bib file, repeat every time you add a paper. Luzbase can do that for you. Link a Zotero or Mendeley library to your project once, and a single click brings your latest references into a .bib file in the project.

This guide walks through the whole flow, from connecting your account to citing your first paper.

Reference manager sync is part of the Pro plan.

1. Open the References panel

Open your project in the editor and click References (the book icon) in the editor header. The panel lists the libraries linked to this project and the references they contain.

If nothing is linked yet, you will see a short note and a button to link a library.

2. Connect Zotero or Mendeley

The first time, Luzbase asks you to connect a reference manager. Choose Connect Zotero or Connect Mendeley and sign in on the provider's page to give Luzbase access to your library. You only do this once per account; after that, every project can link libraries from it.

3. Choose what to sync

With an account connected, the link dialog asks four things:

• Reference manager: Zotero or Mendeley.
• Library: your personal library, or a shared group library.
• Collection: the whole library, or just one collection (for example, the folder you keep for this thesis chapter). Syncing a single collection keeps the project's bibliography focused.
• File in the project: where the references are written. The default is references.bib; any path in the project ending in .bib works.

Click Link and sync. Luzbase writes the references into that file straight away.

4. Point your document at the file

Add the bibliography to your document as usual. With BibTeX:

\bibliographystyle{plain}

\bibliography{references}

Or with biblatex:

\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{references.bib}

...

\printbibliography

5. Cite without leaving the editor

The References panel lists every synced entry. Search by citation key, title or author, then click an entry to insert \cite{key} at your cursor. No more copying keys out of your reference manager.

6. Sync again when your library changes

Added a paper in Zotero or Mendeley? Open the References panel and press Sync next to the library. Luzbase pulls in the latest changes and rewrites the .bib file.

Two things worth knowing:

• Each sync rewrites the file. Make changes to your references in Zotero or Mendeley, not in the synced .bib file, or the next sync will replace them.
• Sync writes into the branch you are on. If you are working on a branch, the updated bibliography lands there and comes back with the rest of your changes when you merge.

Tips for teams

When several people write together, link a group library: everyone on the team adds papers to the same shared library, and one sync brings them all into the project. Because the .bib file is part of the project, every co-author compiles with the same references.

Managing linked libraries

You can see and manage a project's libraries in the project's Settings → References page as well. Unlinking a library keeps the .bib file in the project as an ordinary file; it simply stops syncing. You can link the library again at any time.

Wrapping up

Link once, sync whenever your library changes, and cite straight from the editor. Your bibliography stays in step with your reference manager, and your co-authors always compile with the same set of sources.

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