diff --git a/modules/biblio/config.el b/modules/biblio/config.el
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f1a5730
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/biblio/config.el
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+;;; tools/biblio/config.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
+
+;; Internal function to set the various paths used in the
+;; reference packages.
+(defun +biblio-set-paths-fn (&optional symbol value)
+ (when symbol
+ (set-default symbol value))
+ (when value
+ (cond ((eq symbol '+biblio-pdf-library-dir)
+ (when (featurep! :lang org)
+ (setq org-ref-pdf-directory value))
+ (setq bibtex-completion-library-path value))
+ ((eq symbol '+biblio-default-bibliography-files)
+ (when (featurep! :lang org)
+ (setq reftex-default-bibliography value
+ org-ref-default-bibliography value))
+ (setq bibtex-completion-bibliography value))
+ ((eq symbol '+biblio-notes-path)
+ (when (featurep! :lang org)
+ (if (directory-name-p value)
+ (setq org-ref-notes-directory value)
+ (setq org-ref-bibliography-notes value)))
+ (setq bibtex-completion-notes-path value)))))
+
+
+(defcustom +biblio-pdf-library-dir nil
+ "Directory where pdf files are stored. Must end with a slash."
+ :type 'string
+ :set #'+biblio-set-paths-fn)
+
+(defcustom +biblio-default-bibliography-files nil
+ "A list of default bibtex files to use."
+ :type '(repeat :tag "List of bibtex files" file)
+ :set #'+biblio-set-paths-fn)
+
+(defcustom +biblio-notes-path nil
+ "The place where you will store your notes for bibliography files.
+
+This can be either a single file or directory of files.
+In case of directory the path must end with a slash."
+ :type 'string
+ :set #'+biblio-set-paths-fn)
+
+
+(use-package! bibtex-completion
+ :defer t
+ :preface
+ ;; Allow the user to set a template of their own via (setq). if the user does
+ ;; not set one fall back to the +biblio variants which have a reasonable
+ ;; fallback.
+ (defvar bibtex-completion-notes-template-multiple-files nil)
+ :config
+
+ (when (featurep! :completion ivy)
+ (add-to-list 'ivy-re-builders-alist '(ivy-bibtex . ivy--regex-plus)))
+
+ (setq bibtex-completion-additional-search-fields '(keywords)
+ ;; This tell bibtex-completion to look at the File field of the bibtex
+ ;; to figure out which pdf to open
+ bibtex-completion-pdf-field "file")
+ (unless bibtex-completion-notes-template-multiple-files
+ (setq bibtex-completion-notes-template-multiple-files
+ "${title} : (${=key=})
+
+- tags ::
+- keywords :: ${keywords}
+
+\n* ${title}\n :PROPERTIES:\n :Custom_ID: ${=key=}\n :URL: ${url}\n :AUTHOR: ${author-or-editor}\n :NOTER_DOCUMENT: /${file}\n :NOTER_PAGE: \n :END:\n\n")))
+
+
+;; TODO which set of keys that should be bound for commonly used functions
+;; see https://github.com/jkitchin/org-ref/blob/master/org-ref-core.el#L3998
+(use-package! org-ref
+ :when (featurep! :lang org +ref)
+ :after org
+ :preface
+ ;; This need to be set before the package is loaded, because org-ref will
+ ;; automatically `require' an associated package during its loading.
+ (setq org-ref-completion-library (cond ((featurep! :completion ivy) #'org-ref-ivy-cite)
+ ((featurep! :completion helm) #'org-ref-helm-bibtex)
+ (t #'org-ref-reftex)))
+ :config
+ ;; Although the name is helm-bibtex, it is actually a bibtex-completion function
+ ;; it is the legacy naming of the project helm-bibtex that causes confusion.
+ (setq org-ref-open-pdf-function 'org-ref-get-pdf-filename-helm-bibtex)
+ ;; orb will define handlers for note taking so not needed to use the
+ ;; ones set for bibtex-completion
+ (unless (featurep! :lang org +roam)
+ ;; Allow org-ref to use the same template mechanism as {helm,ivy}-bibtex for
+ ;; multiple files if the user has chosen to spread their notes.
+ (setq org-ref-notes-function (if (and org-ref-notes-directory (directory-name-p org-ref-notes-directory))
+ #'org-ref-notes-function-many-files
+ #'org-ref-notes-function-one-file))))
+
+(use-package! org-roam-bibtex
+ :when (featurep! :lang org +roam)
+ :preface
+ ;; if the user has not set a template mechanism set a reasonable one of them
+ ;; The package already tests for nil itself so we define a dummy tester
+ (defvar orb-preformat-keywords
+ '("=key=" "title" "url" "file" "author-or-editor" "keywords"))
+ (defvar orb-templates nil)
+ :hook (org-roam-mode . org-roam-bibtex-mode)
+ :config
+ (unless orb-templates
+ (setq orb-templates
+ '(("r" "ref" plain (function org-roam-capture--get-point)
+ ""
+ :file-name "${slug}"
+ :head "#+TITLE: ${=key=}: ${title}\n#+roam_key: ${ref}\n#+roam_tags: lit
+
+- tags ::
+- keywords :: ${keywords}
+
+\n* ${title}\n :PROPERTIES:\n :Custom_ID: ${=key=}\n :URL: ${url}\n :AUTHOR: ${author-or-editor}\n :NOTER_DOCUMENT: %(orb-process-file-field \"${=key=}\")\n :NOTER_PAGE: \n :END:\n\n"
+ :unnarrowed t)))))
diff --git a/modules/biblio/packages.el b/modules/biblio/packages.el
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc0ae56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/biblio/packages.el
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+;; -*- no-byte-compile: t; -*-
+;;; tools/biblio/packages.el
+
+(package! bibtex-completion :pin "9f6ea920a49457d85096caa0e61f086a42b2908e")
+(when (featurep! :completion ivy)
+ (package! ivy-bibtex :pin "9f6ea920a49457d85096caa0e61f086a42b2908e"))
+(when (featurep! :completion helm)
+ (package! helm-bibtex :pin "9f6ea920a49457d85096caa0e61f086a42b2908e"))
+(when (featurep! :lang org +ref)
+ (package! org-ref :pin "8aa2bb45268f660956151547533689d4ec30378d"))
+(when (featurep! :lang org +roam)
+ (package! org-roam-bibtex :pin "f7b5be2ce0b43dd4d842484fc0ec37fdc8526907"))