Quick start guide

bibo is a command line application, so some familiarity with the command line is assumed. Make sure you followed the installation first. Now, let’s dive in!

Setting up the database

When running bibo you should tell it where your .bib file is. It is commonly done by setting the BIBO_DATABASE environment variable. On unix, run the following (google for other OSs).

export BIBO_DATABASE=bibo_test.bib

Bibo will create the file when we start to add entries to it.

Adding entries

Now, copy the bibtex entry below to the clipboard:

@article{einstein1935can,
  title={Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete?},
  author={Einstein, Albert and Podolsky, Boris and Rosen, Nathan},
  journal={Physical review},
  volume={47},
  number={10},
  pages={777},
  year={1935},
  publisher={APS}
}

Let’s add this entry to bibo’s database.

bibo add

bibo will open your editor and paste the clipboard content to it. You are free to manually edit the raw entry. When ready, save and exit the editor.

We can also add entries by their digital object identifier (DOI).

bibo add --doi 10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814

Again, save and exit.

Searching

bibo list Albert Einstein

will list all entries with the values ‘Albert’ and ‘Einstein’ in any field (or type / key). Try to search for the other entry we added by DOI, the one from Haidt.

Opening entries

Try running

bibo open haidt

It should open the browser and take you to the page where the DOI is pointing. Opening entries with a PDF file in their file field opens the PDF in your reader.

Where to go from here

We have only scratched the surface with the 3 most important commands of bibo: add, list, and open. You can discover the rest of the commands with

bibo --help

Each command also has a --help option. Don’t be scared to use it.