Phase 7: Cross-References

What this skill carries — grep references/ for any subject the names below miss: !d=${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}; command -v skill-toc >/dev/null 2>&1 && exec skill-toc "$d"; s=$HOME/.claude/skills/plugin-utils/bin/skill-toc; [ -x "$s" ] && exec "$s" "$d"; echo "(skill-toc unavailable: references and scripts are NOT listed here — install the plugin-utils plugin, or start a new session so its bin/ reaches PATH)"

Convert hardcoded supra/infra note numbers to NOTEREF field codes that auto-update when footnotes are renumbered, then tie each cross-reference to a bibkey from the document project's references/sources.bib so the bibliography becomes the semantic identity layer.

Canonical 3-script pipeline

sources.bib ← make_bib_from_docx.py       # BOOTSTRAP (once per paper, Gemini)
                       ↓
docx ← create_crossrefs.py                # ONE-TIME conversion of hand-typed text
                       ↓
docx ← audit_crossref_targets.py --grep --apply        # DRIFT CORRECTION (deterministic)
                       ↓
docx ← bib_integrate.py --bib references/sources.bib   # BIBKEY-TAG SYNC (deterministic)
       (also pre-computes cached display values)

All four live in ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/.

Maintenance one-liner

After a Word session that added/edited footnotes (including new hand-typed <X>, supra note N text), run:

"${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/sync_crossrefs.sh" \
  draft.docx references/sources.bib

The shell wrapper runs create_crossrefs → audit_crossref_targets → bib_integrate in sequence. All three are idempotent and fully deterministic — re-running on a clean doc does nothing; ~5 seconds total runtime.

Stage	Script	Gemini?	When
Bootstrap	make_bib_from_docx.py	Yes (one-off batch)	Paper has hand-typed footnotes and no sources.bib yet
Initial conversion	create_crossrefs.py	No	Convert hardcoded supra note N text → NOTEREF fields
Drift correction	audit_crossref_targets.py --grep	No	After footnote edits — fix any supras whose target drifted
Drift correction (ambiguous)	audit_crossref_targets.py --batch	Yes	Only for refs grep can't resolve uniquely
Bibkey-tag sync	bib_integrate.py	No	After cross-refs settle — rename bookmarks to _RefBib_<bibkey> and pre-compute cached display

Initial conversion (one-time)

Convert hardcoded <X>, supra note N text to NOTEREF cross-reference fields.

# Preview
uv run python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/create_crossrefs.py" --docx <path> --dry-run

# Apply
uv run python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/create_crossrefs.py" --docx <path>

Workflow

1. Bootstrap the bib (only if no references/sources.bib yet):

   uv run --with lxml --with google-genai --with google-cloud-storage python3 \
     "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/make_bib_from_docx.py" \
     --docx <path> --out references/sources.bib
   

   Walks the docx footnotes, skips supra-only / bio fns, sends each first-cite candidate to Gemini Vertex Batch, emits BibTeX with note = {fnN} linking each entry to its source footnote.
2. Dry run create_crossrefs — review the cross-reference map and bookmark plan
3. Apply create_crossrefs — the script backs up the original before writing
4. Audit + retarget — run audit_crossref_targets.py --grep --apply (see below). Hand-typed supra note N numbers go stale as footnotes are added or reordered; the create_crossrefs script faithfully bookmarks the literal N, which can be silently wrong for every reference. Grep resolves the easy cases deterministically; only ambiguous refs need --batch.
5. Bibkey-tag — run bib_integrate.py --bib references/sources.bib --apply. Renames bookmarks to _RefBib_<bibkey>, retargets supras by bibkey, and pre-computes cached display values so the doc renders correctly on first read (no F9 needed).
6. Verify in Word — open the DOCX, spot-check 5-10 supras. Cmd+A → fn+F9 (Mac) or Ctrl+A → F9 (Windows) to force-refresh fields if needed.
7. Renumber test (optional) — add a footnote before a referenced target and confirm the supra numbers update.

audit_crossref_targets.py (drift correction, also runnable standalone)

# Mechanical audit only — flags refs whose surnames don't appear in the target footnote
uv run --with lxml python3 \
  "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/audit_crossref_targets.py" \
  --docx <path>

# Deterministic first pass — grep each reference for its first cite. No LLM cost.
#   On a 138-ref test set: resolved 62 refs unique with 98% accuracy, deferred
#   76 truly ambiguous cases. Always run this BEFORE invoking Gemini/Batch — it
#   strips the easy cases and saves LLM calls.
uv run --with lxml python3 \
  "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/audit_crossref_targets.py" \
  --docx <path> --grep --apply

# Grep + production LLM batch for the residue (recommended for full pipeline)
uv run --with lxml --with google-genai --with google-cloud-storage python3 \
  "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/audit_crossref_targets.py" \
  --docx <path> --grep --batch --apply --location global

# LLM-only paths (skip grep — coverage-risky for --gemini):
uv run … --docx <path> --batch --apply   # --model overrides the resolved role
uv run … --docx <path> --gemini --apply

bib_integrate.py (bibkey-tag sync, fully deterministic)

uv run --with lxml python3 \
  "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/bib_integrate.py" \
  --docx <path> --bib references/sources.bib --apply

What it does:

1. Parses sources.bib.
2. For each bib entry, derives signature tokens (author surnames + distinctive title words + institutional bibkey prefix) and finds the docx footnote whose body text contains all of them. This re-derives the fn_id → bibkey map from current docx content — sidesteps any drift between bib's note={fnN} tag and current numbering.
3. For each supra/infra NOTEREF, picks the best matching bibkey (target-fn bonus + global token scoring).
4. Creates _RefBib_<bibkey> bookmarks wrapping body footnoteReferences. Multi-cite footnotes get multiple bookmarks (one per source) — each pointing at the same body footnoteReference, so the displayed number stays the same; only the bookmark name differs by source.
5. Rewrites each NOTEREF instr text to point at its bibkey-named bookmark.
6. Pre-computes cached NOTEREF display values (using --bio-count, default 3 for *, †, ‡ author bios that don't consume display numbers when numRestart=eachSect is set).
7. Emits SUPRA_BIB_AUDIT.md listing any supras whose surnames don't match the picked bibkey's haystack (author + title + howpublished + bibkey).

Fully deterministic — no LLM calls. Idempotent on re-runs.

make_bib_from_docx.py (bootstrap, Gemini)

uv run --with lxml --with google-genai --with google-cloud-storage python3 \
  "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../../../skills/bluebook-audit/scripts/make_bib_from_docx.py" \
  --docx <path> --out references/sources.bib

Walks the docx footnotes, splits multi-cite footnotes on ;, sends each first-cite candidate to a Vertex AI Batch job (one independent request per citation; the bulk role by default). Emits BibTeX entries with bibkey conventions firstauthorlastYEAR for academic works and short slugs (gao2017, crs2024, secReg2020) for institutional sources.

Each entry includes note = {fnN} linking back to the source footnote.

Once sources.bib exists, maintain it directly — do not regenerate. Edits to the bib (typos, missing fields, new sources) should be in-place.

Vertex AI batch requires:

• gcloud auth application-default login for ADC
• --project (default $GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT or activist-defense-nal)
• --gcs-bucket (default $GEMINI_BATCH_BUCKET or nal-batch-extraction)
• Location: us-central1 (default)

For gemini-3.x models, thinkingLevel: MINIMAL is set automatically — without it, batch responses silently return empty content (see /gemini-batch SKILL gotcha 12).

Output written to <docx-dir>/scratch/:

• crossref_audit.json — every cross-reference with current target + match status
• crossref_remap.json — Gemini's proposed corrections (with confidence)
• CROSSREF_AUDIT.md — human-readable diff report

The audit is safe to run standalone without re-running the rest of the bluebook-audit workflow. Use it any time create_crossrefs has been run and you want to validate that hand-typed supra/infra numbers were correct.

Recommended pipeline order

1. --grep first. Cheapest, deterministic, ~98% precision on unique matches. Resolves ~half the refs at $0 cost.
2. --batch (Vertex AI, per-ref independence) on the deferred set.
3. Manual first-cite verification on remaining mechanical flags (Step 4 below).

How --grep works

A cross-reference reads <short-form identifier>, supra/infra note N. The identifier can be any Bluebook short form, not just author surnames:

• author group: Hu, Malenko & Zytnick
• hereinafter tag: GAO Report, CRS Report, Rosenberg, 2020 SEC Regulation
• institutional doc: Best Practice Principles, Policies and Procedures, Senate Banking Committee Letter
• case name: ISS v. SEC
• title fragment: Choi, Fisch & Kahan, Power of Proxy Advisors

For each reference the script:

1. Tokenizes the identifier (filters Bluebook signals like See, But see, E.g.).
2. Strips every <X>, supra/infra note <N> phrase from each candidate footnote, so a footnote that merely cites the same identifier via supra doesn't count as the first cite.
3. Searches every footnote — except the source — for one whose post-supra-strip text contains all the identifier tokens with word-boundary matches.
4. If exactly one footnote matches → unique, apply deterministically.
5. If multiple match → ambiguous, defer to LLM (picking the earliest is wrong ~17% of the time — typically when the identifier appears in passing in one footnote and as a first cite in another).
6. If none match → no_match, defer to LLM (which has the catalog and can guess, or correctly say "not in document").

Step 4 (mandatory): Manual first-cite verification on residuals

Iron Law: Neither Gemini pass is fully trustworthy on its own. A two-batch consensus is high-confidence, but the residual disagreements ALWAYS require human first-cite verification. Do not stop after --apply.

The failure modes we observed on a real 248-footnote draft:

• Single-batched call: model returns uniform "medium" confidence — a smoking-gun signal it didn't reason per-reference.
• Per-reference Vertex Batch: model returns uniform "high" with detailed reasoning, but still confidently picks wrong targets when:
  • the cited work isn't in the doc (model hallucinates a plausible-sounding nearby match)
  • the first cite is buried mid-footnote in a See also or multi-cite list (model misses it and picks a different paper by the same author)
  • the reference is to a self-referencing pattern (model returns the source footnote itself)
• Mechanical surname check: only inspects the leading 250 chars of the target footnote, so first cites buried after See/hereinafter/inline-discussion lead-ins are flagged as mismatches even when correct.

Recipe

1. Compare both Gemini passes, taking the intersection where they agree as the high-confidence consensus. Apply that subset first.
2. For each disagreement, search the doc for the first non-supra cite of the disputed surname / title fragment. The script's regex below catches mid-footnote occurrences:

   for fn in fns.findall('.//w:footnote'):
       txt = ''.join(t.text or '' for t in fn.iter('w:t'))
       if re.search(r'<surname-pattern>', txt) and 'supra' not in txt[:300].lower():
           print(fn.get('w:id'), txt[:200])
   

3. Build a manual remap of (source_fn, surnames, current_bookmark) → correct_fn_id, save as crossref_remap_manual.json, and apply with --remap PATH --apply.
4. For the "no first cite in document" residue (works the author cites without ever having introduced):
   • Search broadly first — the first cite is often mid-footnote in a See also/multi-cite list.
   • Only if truly absent: flag for an author edit. Write SUPRA_UNRESOLVED.md listing the source FN, surnames, and the search patterns tried.
5. Final re-audit will still show "mechanical mismatches" for the false-positive cases — verify each by spot-checking the target footnote content. Do not retarget these.

Gate

• Consensus retargets applied (intersection of --gemini and --batch)
• Manual remap built and applied for disagreements
• Each surviving "mismatch" flag spot-checked against actual target content
• No supra/infra reference points at an unrelated footnote
• SUPRA_UNRESOLVED.md written (or empty if all resolved)

What Gets Converted

Pattern	Example	Result
Single supra	supra note 42	NOTEREF to FN42 bookmark
Single infra	infra note 188	NOTEREF to FN188 bookmark
Range	infra notes 209-210	Two NOTEREFs with separator
With pincite	supra note 42, at 15	NOTEREF + roman , at 15
Existing NOTEREF	(already converted)	Skipped

What Is NOT Converted (Phase 2 — Future)

• Part/Section references (supra Section I.A., infra Part III)
• These require a heading-to-bookmark mapping strategy since heading numbering is partially auto-generated

Gate: Exit Cross-References

• Dry run reviewed — cross-reference map is correct
• NOTEREF fields created for all supra/infra note references
• Target audit passed — audit_crossref_targets.py run + Step 4 manual verification complete; no NOTEREF points at an unrelated footnote
• Backup DOCX exists
• Word field update (Ctrl+A, F9) confirms correct numbers

Workflow Complete

Present final summary to user:

• Total formatting corrections applied (from Phase 4)
• Total URLs archived (from Phase 6)
• Total NOTEREF fields created (from Phase 7)
• Final DOCX file path