ptui.

Overview

ptui is an open-source terminal user interface for papis, the command-line reference manager that keeps a library as plain folders with one info.yaml per paper.

It is built for working in that library by hand: find a paper in a few keystrokes, read the abstract, open the PDF, tag it, and copy its BibTeX. The keys are vim-like, but you can start without learning them: a prefix key shows a menu of what can follow, ? lists every key of the current pane, and : finds any command by name.

Motivation

papis keeps a library as plain folders and is great for scripting, but the everyday work of finding a paper, skimming its abstract, tagging it, and grabbing its BibTeX wants something interactive. ptui adds that without a separate database or format, so the papis command keeps working on the same library.

Features

ptui currently supports:

• Search through papis queries and as-you-type filters, with sorting and saved searches
• Marks that survive sorting and filtering, so any command can act on a batch of papers
• Editing tags, reading status, ratings, and any other field, inline, in your editor, or in a form
• Updating a paper from its DOI, arXiv id, or a Crossref search, with a review of each field where the source disagrees
• Adding papers from a file, your inbox, an arXiv id, a DOI, an ISBN, a URL, a .bib, a Crossref search, and more, with duplicate detection
• Merging duplicates and deleting papers, with undo and a 30-day trash
• Opening and attaching files, with placement rules that move them where they belong
• papis’s doctor running in the background, flagging papers with problems and fixing them on request
• Copying \cite{key} or BibTeX and exporting to any format papis supports, also over SSH
• Safe writes that never overwrite changes made by papis, a sync, or a script
• Themes, Nerd Font icons, and a layout that adapts to narrow terminals