⭐ refhub.io

a modern reference management platform for organizing academic publications, building citation networks, and sharing research collections.

refhub lets you organize papers into vaults, tag them hierarchically, map citation relationships, and share collections with the research community. supports bibtex import/export and collaborative workflows.

tech stack

frontend:     react 18 + typescript + vite
ui/styling:   tailwind css + shadcn/ui
backend:      supabase (postgresql + row level security + auth)
state:        tanstack query (react query)
routing:      react router v6
forms:        react hook form + zod
graphs:       react flow
charts:       recharts

getting started

prerequisites

• node.js 18+ or bun
• a supabase account for backend services

installation

1. clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/refhub.io.git
   cd refhub.io

2. install dependencies

   # using npm
   npm install
   
   # or using bun
   bun install

3. set up supabase

   • create a new project at supabase.com
   • run the schema from supabase/schema_consolidated.sql in your supabase sql editor
   • copy your project url and anon key

4. configure environment variables create a .env file in the root directory:

   VITE_SUPABASE_URL=your_supabase_project_url
   VITE_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=your_supabase_anon_key

5. start the development server

   # using npm
   npm run dev
   
   # or using bun
   bun run dev

6. open your browser navigate to http://localhost:5173

build & deploy

build for production

# using npm
npm run build

# or using bun
bun run build

deploy to github pages

npm run deploy

the built files will be in the dist directory and can be deployed to any static hosting service.

project structure

refhub.io/
├── src/
│   ├── components/        # reusable ui components
│   │   ├── layout/       # layout components (sidebar, etc.)
│   │   ├── publications/ # publication-related components
│   │   ├── tags/         # tag management components
│   │   ├── vaults/       # vault management components
│   │   └── ui/           # shadcn/ui base components
│   ├── hooks/            # custom react hooks
│   ├── integrations/     # external service integrations
│   │   └── supabase/     # supabase client and queries
│   ├── lib/              # utility functions
│   ├── pages/            # page components
│   └── types/            # typescript type definitions
├── supabase/             # database schema and migrations
└── public/               # static assets

contributing

contributions are welcome! please feel free to submit a pull request.

1. fork the repository
2. create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. open a pull request

license

this project is open source and available under the GPLv3.

acknowledgments

built with shadcn/ui, powered by supabase, icons from lucide.

contact

for questions or feedback, please open an issue on github.

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© 2026 refhub.io