OSINT Citation Generator v3.2.1

Theme

Pick a source type and fill the eight slots. The footnote assembles in house order with its punctuation, and slots that do not apply drop out along with theirs. A ? beside each part explains it, and F1 in any field shows the same tip.

Author, "Title," Location [Description] (Publisher: Date) URL/DOI: Locator.

This reads the address itself and sends nothing. It can set the source type, platform, account, and date. For posts on X, TikTok, Bluesky and Discord the date comes from the post's ID. A link does not carry the title, so that part stays with you.

Source type

Sets the title style, the usual description, and which rules get checked.

1 Author

Fill any or all three. They follow the authors after a semicolon, each name tagged with its role: (ed.), (trans.), or (contr.).

2 Title

Language of the source

3 Location

The publication, platform, site, series, or archive that holds the source. Ten words or fewer. Always italic.

4 Description the bracket, never dropped

Volume and issue, report number, episode, edition, resolution and coordinates. Separate items with semicolons.

Qualifiers

A qualifier describes this copy of the source, not its kind: [Field Manual; leaked; scan]. It follows the details in the bracket. Language and access have their own controls.

Access

Tick whatever stands between the reader and the source. Nothing ticked means free to read, which adds nothing. It goes in the bracket after the details and before the rating.

Source rating optional; click again to clear

Letters rate the source. Numbers rate the information.

5 Publisher

Who issued it. Leave blank for journals, newspapers, magazines, and wires. A publisher that repeats the location is dropped for you.

6 Date

Any common format becomes DD Month YYYY. Slashes are read as month/day/year. A year alone stays a year. Blank becomes n.d.

7 URL or DOI

Full link, never shortened. A bare DOI is rewritten as https://doi.org/….

Each opens the archive's site in a new tab and hands it the link above. When the copy is made, paste its address into Archive link and the capture date fills in.

8 Locator

Numbers get p. or pp. and an en dash. Where there are no pages, name the section (Article 4(2)) or give the timestamp (See 30:15–32:40 for …). Never count paragraphs.

After the citation

A caveat, how a date or location was established, or what could not be confirmed.

Surname for later citations. Filled in for you; correct it for names like Xi Jinping.

Version 3.2.1. Built to version 1.5 of the OSINT Style Guide, including its Source Description Library (771 descriptions) and qualifier vocabulary. The full guide governs wherever this tool is silent. Grade each source on its record, and check every quotation against the original before it goes out.

This page runs entirely in your browser. What you type is stored on this device and is not sent anywhere, with one exception: the archive buttons open the archive site you choose and hand it the link you entered. Examples that use Jane Doe, John Doe, or an address containing "example" are placeholders, not real sources.

To have an AI assistant cite in this form, give it osint-citation-spec.md. Changes from version to version are listed in the changelog.

© 2026 G. Michael Rapp. The software is under the MIT License. The guide content it carries (citation rules, description library, qualifier and access lists) is under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.