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Inline Citation

A source in the sentence that opens on hover.

Next.js streams a route in chunks, so the page shows up before every request finishes.

Wrap a slow part of the page in a Suspense boundary and React sends the fallback first. When the data resolves, the finished HTML streams into the same response and replaces the fallback, with no extra request from the browser. Server Components help here, because their code never ships to the browser.

A loading.tsx file does the same for a whole route segment. It all runs over chunked transfer encoding, so there is nothing extra to set up.

"use client"

import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button"
import {
  HoverCard,
  HoverCardContent,
  HoverCardTrigger,
} from "@/components/ui/hover-card"

type Source = {
  url: string
  title: string
  description: string
}

const sources = {
  streaming: {
    url: "https://nextjs.org/docs/app/getting-started/linking-and-navigating#streaming",
    title: "Linking and Navigating",
    description: "How the App Router streams a route to the browser.",
  },
  suspense: {
    url: "https://react.dev/reference/react/Suspense",
    title: "<Suspense>",
    description: "Display a fallback until its children have finished loading.",
  },
  serverComponents: {
    url: "https://react.dev/reference/rsc/server-components",
    title: "Server Components",
    description: "Components that render ahead of time, on the server.",
  },
  loading: {
    url: "https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/file-conventions/loading",
    title: "loading.js",
    description: "Show an instant loading state for a route segment.",
  },
  chunked: {
    url: "https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Reference/Headers/Transfer-Encoding",
    title: "Transfer-Encoding",
    description: "Send a response as a series of chunks.",
  },
} satisfies Record<string, Source>

function hostname(url: string) {
  return new URL(url).hostname.replace(/^www\./, "")
}

function Citation({ source }: { source: Source }) {
  const host = hostname(source.url)

  return (
    <HoverCard>
      <HoverCardTrigger
        delay={10}
        closeDelay={100}
        render={<Button variant="secondary" size="xs" />}
      >
        {host}
      </HoverCardTrigger>
      <HoverCardContent className="flex w-64 flex-col gap-1">
        <div className="font-medium">{source.title}</div>
        <p className="text-muted-foreground">{source.description}</p>
        <a
          href={source.url}
          target="_blank"
          rel="noreferrer"
          className="text-xs text-muted-foreground underline-offset-4 hover:underline"
        >
          {host}
          <span className="sr-only"> (opens in a new tab)</span>
        </a>
      </HoverCardContent>
    </HoverCard>
  )
}

export function InlineCitationDemo() {
  return (
    <div className="mx-auto flex max-w-sm flex-col gap-3 py-6 text-sm leading-relaxed">
      <p>
        Next.js streams a route in chunks, so the page shows up before every
        request finishes. <Citation source={sources.streaming} />
      </p>
      <p>
        Wrap a slow part of the page in a Suspense boundary and React sends the
        fallback first. When the data resolves, the finished HTML streams into
        the same response and replaces the fallback, with no extra request from
        the browser. <Citation source={sources.suspense} /> Server Components
        help here, because their code never ships to the browser.{" "}
        <Citation source={sources.serverComponents} />
      </p>
      <p>
        A loading.tsx file does the same for a whole route segment.{" "}
        <Citation source={sources.loading} /> It all runs over chunked transfer
        encoding, so there is nothing extra to set up.{" "}
        <Citation source={sources.chunked} />
      </p>
    </div>
  )
}

Inline Citation is a source that sits in the sentence it supports. It is a Hover Card on a Button.

To show a list of sources after the reply, use Sources.

Installation

Inline Citation is built with the Hover Card and Button components.

pnpm dlx shadcn@latest add https://ui.ikramhasan.com/r/hover-card.json https://ui.ikramhasan.com/r/button.json

Usage

<HoverCard>
  <HoverCardTrigger
    delay={10}
    closeDelay={100}
    render={<Button variant="secondary" size="xs" />}
  >
    {hostname}
  </HoverCardTrigger>
  <HoverCardContent className="flex w-64 flex-col gap-1">
    <div className="font-medium">{title}</div>
    <a href={url} target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">
      {hostname}
      <span className="sr-only"> (opens in a new tab)</span>
    </a>
  </HoverCardContent>
</HoverCard>

AI SDK

A source-url part is the citation. Set sendSources: true on toUIMessageStreamResponse(), or write the part yourself.

app/api/chat/route.ts
writer.write({
  type: "source-url",
  sourceId: "shadcn",
  url: "https://ui.shadcn.com",
  title: "shadcn/ui",
})
const sources = message.parts.filter((part) => part.type === "source-url")

title is optional. Fall back to the URL's hostname.

Migrating from AI SDK Elements

If you added Inline Citation from AI SDK Elements, your project has a components/ai-elements/inline-citation.tsx wrapper. Paste this prompt into your coding agent to rebuild it on Hover Card and Button. Every export keeps its name and props, so the code that uses it keeps working.

Prompt
Migrate components/ai-elements/inline-citation.tsx from AI SDK Elements to the Hover Card and Button components.
 
Keep every export, with the same name and props, so the code that imports it keeps working. Only change how each part renders.
 
1. Install the components: npx shadcn@latest add https://ui.ikramhasan.com/r/hover-card.json https://ui.ikramhasan.com/r/button.json
2. Read https://ui.ikramhasan.com/docs/ai-elements/inline-citation and build Inline Citation the same way.
3. Rebuild each part:
   - InlineCitationCard renders a HoverCard.
   - InlineCitationCardTrigger renders a HoverCardTrigger with render={<Button variant="secondary" size="xs" />} instead of a Badge, so it can take keyboard focus. Set delay and closeDelay on the trigger.
   - InlineCitationCardBody renders a HoverCardContent.
   - InlineCitationSource renders the title and a link to the URL that opens in a new tab, with "(opens in a new tab)" in an sr-only span.
   - Keep InlineCitation, InlineCitationText, InlineCitationQuote and the carousel parts as they are.
4. Remove the imports the file no longer uses.
5. Run the type checker and fix any errors.