Loading pattern preview
BlocksChat UIs
Inline Citations Demo
Inline Citations Demo
Generate content with embedded citations and clickable references. Includes source verification and formatting for research writing.
Use this when citations must sit inline in the generated content itself, like footnotes in a draft, rather than as a list of links after the answer.
Loading pattern preview
Problems solved
Technical challenges this implementation handles out of the box.
- Render research answers with inline citation components
- Map cited sources to clickable references in the UI
- Support fact-checked writing workflows in chat
Use cases
Products and workflows this pattern is designed to support.
- Academic writing assistants
- Research content creation tools
- Policy briefs with source footnotes
- Journalism drafts that keep citations inline
Compare with
Similar patterns, and when each one is the better fit.
Sources & CitationsUse this when building a research or tutoring chat where Perplexity Sonar responses must show the sources behind each answer as links.
Web Search ToolUse this when you want OpenAI's built-in web_search_preview tool forced on every query so answers are grounded in live web results.
Jev AEO AuditUse this when auditing a page for AEO and you want title, canonical, and noindex checks in code while Jev judges the citation-worthiness.
SEO AuditUse this when a marketing team needs exportable SEO scorecards that check title, meta description, and Open Graph tags and list top fixes for a page.
Setup
Requirements, wiring steps, and what this pattern adds to your project.
Getting started
Pick how you want to pull this pattern in. Then wire env vars and routes the same way.
- 1
Download → Next.js app
Use Download → Next.js app in the preview toolbar. You get a zip scaffold (Pro downloads rewrite preview `/view/.../api/*` paths to `/api/*` automatically).
- 2
Extract the zip and install dependencies
Unzip the archive, then run `pnpm install` (or npm / yarn) in the project folder.
- 3
Fill .env.local
The download includes .env.local placeholders when needed. Add real values for: OPENAI_API_KEY.
- 4
Customize the agent and tool files
Adapt prompts, tools, and stop conditions in the generated project for your product.
- 5
Run the app and open the pattern route
Run `pnpm dev`, open the setup/checklist page if present, then navigate to the generated pattern route and verify responses.
Environment variables
OPENAI_API_KEYGet key
Capabilities
AI SDK APIs
streamObjectProviders
OpenAI
Files added
7 files
app/page.tsxapp/layout.tsxlib/request-utils.tslib/schema.tscomponents/inline-citation-demo.tsxapp/api/citation/route.tsREADME.md
Dependencies
8 total
npm packages
5AISDKlucide-reactNext.jsReactZod
Registry components
buttonemptytooltip
Critical files
2 files
citation/route.tsAPI route implementing AI citation generation: uses streamObject with a citationSchema to generate content with inline numbered citations and real source URLs.
lib/schema.tsDefines the citationSchema used by streamObject: structured output with content string and citations array (number, title, url, description, quote).
Requirements
- Complexity
- Beginner
- Setup time
- ~15 minutes
- Node
- 24+
- Memory
- 512MB
Upstash Redis
