⚠️ This project is purely vibe coded — built entirely through AI-assisted development without traditional planning or architecture review. Expect rough edges.
RelatedWorks is a native macOS and iOS/iPadOS app built for Computer Science researchers. Organize your research literature, take interconnected notes, and generate LaTeX-ready Related Works sections — powered by AI.
- iOS/macOS app: Download on the App Store
- macOS direct download: Download from GitHub Releases
- Beta test: Join TestFlight
v2.1.8 streams Related Works generation results as they arrive and adds a website link in the macOS About window. Recent releases also added citation graph tooling, Hookmark integration, AppleScript read-only automation, bulk Inbox import, and Finder support for opening exported projects. The full version history lives on the website and in version.md.
Full version history:
- Project-based workspaces — one project per paper you're writing
- Import PDFs with AI-powered metadata extraction (macOS only)
- PDF Inbox via Share Extension — send PDFs from Safari or Files into a synced Inbox, then bulk import captured papers on macOS
- Search DBLP and arXiv to fetch bibliographic data automatically (macOS only)
- Semantic IDs — give each paper a short memorable tag like
@Transformeror@BERT - Cross-reference annotations — link papers using
@mentionsin your notes - Citation Graph — compare
@mentions, in-project references, and shared outside references for each project (macOS only) - Generate a streaming LaTeX-ready Related Works draft with one click (macOS only)
- Per-project generation prompts with presets for Survey, Research Paper, Tech Report, or Custom (macOS only)
- Export BibTeX entries fetched from DBLP or auto-generated (macOS only)
- iCloud Drive sync — keep your library in sync across Mac and iPhone/iPad
- Export, import, and open projects from Finder as
.relatedworksfiles (macOS); import projects on iPhone and iPad - Supports Ollama and Google Gemini (macOS only)
- iPhone and iPad companion app — browse papers, review notes, and make lightweight edits on the go
- Terminal UI (TUI) — keyboard-driven and SSH/headless use (macOS only, distributed via GitHub release)
- Automation and linking support —
relatedworks://deep links, read-only AppleScript, and Hookmark integration
- Released binaries require macOS 26+ (built with Xcode 26 / macOS 26 SDK)
- At least one AI backend:
- Ollama running locally, or
- Google Gemini API key
- Source builds require macOS 14+
- Released binaries require iOS 26+ (built with Xcode 26 / iOS 26 SDK)
- No AI backend required — the iPhone and iPad app is focused on viewing and lightweight editing
- Source builds require iOS 17+
- Create a project — each project represents the paper you're writing
- Add papers — import a PDF, search DBLP/arXiv on macOS, or enter metadata manually
- Annotate — write notes using
@mentionsto cross-reference related papers - Generate — click Generate Related Works on macOS for a LaTeX-ready draft
- Take it with you — browse, review, and refine annotations on iPhone or iPad via iCloud sync
On macOS, each project can open a dedicated Citation Graph window from the project toolbar or the Window menu. It helps you inspect:
@mentionsbetween papers in the project- references that stay within the project
- outside references shared by multiple project papers
- a searchable list of external papers linked from the project
Reference metadata is matched with DBLP first and then arXiv. External reference lists are fetched from OpenAlex, so coverage depends on the source metadata available for each paper.
Enable in Settings → General → Sync via iCloud Drive (macOS) or Settings → iCloud (iOS).
- On macOS: existing local data is migrated to iCloud Drive
- On iOS: the app switches to reading from iCloud Drive; local data is not moved
On iPhone and iPad, RelatedWorks is designed primarily as a companion viewer and lightweight editor for your research library. The iOS/iPadOS app does not require or rely on any AI backend; instead, it syncs your library seamlessly from the macOS version via iCloud.
You can comfortably browse papers, review notes, and refine annotations on the go, making it easy to continue working on your literature wherever you are. Any annotations you edit on iPhone or iPad automatically sync back to your Mac, giving you a smooth companion workflow for reading and writing. On iPhone and iPad, RelatedWorks supports project import, but project export remains macOS-only.
The TUI is a macOS-only companion distributed as a GitHub release. It is intended for keyboard-driven and SSH/headless workflows against the same project library.
# Run from source
swift run RelatedWorksTUI
# Or use the bundled binary from the GitHub release
./relatedworks-tuiBy default the TUI reads from local storage. To use iCloud projects, pass the path manually — this is required because Apple restricts iCloud entitlements to sandboxed app bundles, and the TUI is a command-line tool:
./relatedworks-tui --projects-dir ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~me~snowzjx~relatedworks/Documents/projects| Key | Action |
|---|---|
↑ / ↓ |
Navigate |
Enter |
Select |
/ |
Search |
Esc |
Back |
Ctrl+D |
Quit |
# macOS app
xcodebuild -project RelatedWorksApp.xcodeproj -scheme RelatedWorksApp \
-configuration Release build
# iOS app
xcodebuild -project RelatedWorksApp.xcodeproj -scheme RelatedWorksIOS \
-destination 'generic/platform=iOS' -configuration Release build
# TUI
swift build -c release --product RelatedWorksTUI| Backend | Setup |
|---|---|
| Ollama | Install from ollama.com, run locally |
| Gemini | API key from Google AI Studio |
Configure in Settings → AI Backends and Settings → Models.
relatedworks://open?project=<UUID>
relatedworks://open?project=<UUID>&paper=<SemanticID>
relatedworks://settings
Works on both macOS and iOS.
| Mode | Location |
|---|---|
| Local (direct download / source build) | ~/Library/Application Support/RelatedWorks/ |
| Local (Mac App Store) | ~/Library/Containers/me.snowzjx.relatedworks/Data/Library/Application Support/RelatedWorks/ |
| iCloud | ~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~me~snowzjx~relatedworks/Documents/ |