# Citations

A React component in [Beamline](https://beamline.io/)'s [AI & agents](https://beamline.io/components/ai) category. Live demo: https://beamline.io/components/citations

Inline numbered citations that preview their source on hover or focus, plus a numbered source list; streamed answers flow in at an even pace with the list waiting for the end.

## Use it for

- Agent answers grounded in documents, tickets or web pages.

## Not for

- Showing retrieved chunks in full ([context-cards](https://beamline.io/components/context-cards)).
- Long markdown answers ([response](https://beamline.io/components/response)).

## Anatomy

- text
- citation marker (link; keeps trailing punctuation on its line)
- source preview (domain, kind, title, snippet)
- source list

## Variants

- **list**: on, off

## States

- streaming (words ease in once; list waits)
- settled
- marker without a source (plain text)
- hover/focus preview

## Keyboard

- Markers are links; focus opens the preview, Escape closes it.

## Motion

Preview uses hover-card timing; streamed words fade in from a slight blur over --duration-considered, never again once shown; streamed text wraps greedily and the newest word's trailing space waits for the next word, so no line re-breaks; none under reduced motion.

## Props

| Prop | Type | Default | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `text` (required) | `string with [n] markers` | — |  |
| `sources` (required) | `{ id, title, url, snippet?, kind? }[]` | — |  |
| `list / streaming` | `boolean` | — |  |
| `style / ref` | `CSSProperties / native Ref` | — | native HTMLDivElement; Citation native anchor |
| `classNames` | `CitedTextClassNames` | — |  |
| `citationClassNames / Citation.classNames` | `CitationClassNames` | — | Anchor and portalled preview parts; Citation has native anchor style/ref. |

## Built from

- [hover-card](https://beamline.io/components/hover-card)

## Import

```tsx
import { Citation, CitedText } from "@/components/citations/citations";
```

## Get it

Citations is part of Beamline: 190 React components and screens your coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any MCP client) installs into your app through Beamline's MCP server, as a ready-built package or as plain React source you can change. $49 one payment (regular $200), no subscription, a year of updates, one licence for your whole team. [Get Beamline](https://beamline.io/checkout?pack=complete) · [Connect your agent](https://beamline.io/connect)

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