Chrome Extension That Generates Citations from Webpages
One-click citations for any webpage in APA, MLA, Chicago, and BibTeX formats.
Build a Chrome extension called "Citation Generator" that generates academic citations from any webpage. The extension should: (1) detect metadata on the current page (author, title, publication date, publisher, URL) using meta tags and structured data, (2) when the user clicks the extension icon, show a popup with the citation rendered in four formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, and BibTeX, (3) include a "Copy" button next to each format, (4) handle missing metadata gracefully — let the user manually fill in any fields the extension couldn't auto-detect, (5) save a history of generated citations in chrome.storage so the user can re-access recent ones from the popup. Permissions: storage, activeTab. Manifest V3 with content script and popup.
What this extension does
Generates academic citations for any webpage in APA, MLA, Chicago, and BibTeX formats. Auto-extracts metadata from the page, with a manual fill-in option for missing fields. Keeps a history of recent citations.
How it works
A content script reads page metadata from meta tags, JSON-LD structured data, and OpenGraph tags. The popup formats the citation according to each style guide and provides per-format copy buttons. History is saved in chrome.storage for quick re-access.
Permissions used: storage, activeTab
Who builds this
For students writing essays and dissertations, academics doing research, journalists building source lists, and anyone who needs to cite web sources accurately and quickly.
How to build it in 3 minutes
- Sign in to PlugThis and open the chat input.
- Copy the prompt above and paste it into the chat.
- PlugThis generates the full Manifest V3 extension in 60-90 seconds.
- Download the zip, extract it, and load it via
chrome://extensionsdeveloper mode.
Build it now, free.
Paste the prompt above into PlugThis and ship your extension in 3 minutes.