nocite does not work with Typst

[timothoms]

Bug description

Nocite does not work as expected with Typst.

Steps to reproduce

---
title: "Test"
format: typst
citeproc: false
bibliography: "references.bib"
bibliographystyle: chicago-fullnotes
nocite: |
  @DancyThoms2025
---

Actual behavior

Using nocite in the frontmatter does not include the citation in the bibliography. When setting citeproc: true instead, the citation is included correctly, but the Bibliography heading disappears.

Expected behavior

Citations added with Nocite should be in the bibliography regardless of the format used.

Your environment

No response

Quarto check output

Quarto 1.6.42
[✓] Checking environment information...
Quarto cache location: /Users/otthoms/Library/Caches/quarto
[✓] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
Pandoc version 3.4.0: OK
Dart Sass version 1.70.0: OK
Deno version 1.46.3: OK
Typst version 0.11.0: OK
[✓] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[✓] Checking Quarto installation......OK
Version: 1.6.42
Path: /Applications/quarto/bin

[✓] Checking tools....................OK
TinyTeX: v2025.02
Chromium: (not installed)

[✓] Checking LaTeX....................OK
Using: TinyTex
Path: /Users/otthoms/Library/TinyTeX/bin/universal-darwin
Version: 2024

[✓] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[✓] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
Version: 3.13.2
Path: /opt/homebrew/opt/python@3.13/bin/python3.13
Jupyter: (None)

  Jupyter is not available in this Python installation.
  Install with python3 -m pip install jupyter

[✓] Checking R installation...........OK
Version: 4.4.2
Path: /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources
LibPaths:
- /Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Versions/4.4-arm64/Resources/library
knitr: 1.49
rmarkdown: 2.29

[✓] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[mcanouil]

nocite is a Pandoc option and imply the use of citeproc, natbib, or biblatex.
So if you disable citeproc, then the option has no effect on Typst since natbib and biblatex are LaTeX specific.

https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html#including-uncited-items-in-the-bibliography

When using citeproc:

---
format: typst
citeproc: true
bibliography: "references.bib"
nocite: "@*"
---

## Introduction

{{< lipsum 1 >}}

## Bibliography

::: {#refs}
:::

• Support #refs div bibliography placement for default Typst citation processing  #8710

Alternatively you could use the biblio partials to make Typst cite all work.

• https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/blob/main/src/resources/formats/typst/pandoc/quarto/biblio.typ
• https://typst.app/docs/reference/model/bibliography/

[timothoms]

Thanks for the clarification and the additional information. The nocite limitation was not clear to me from the Quarto documentation.

[mcanouil]

Let's keep this open.
It's the current state as I understand it but it does not mean there is nothing to be done.

[cderv]

nocite is a feature handle by Pandoc. I think if we want to push for Typst support, this is a Pandoc feature request to make it work with Typst own citation processing, the way it works for LaTeX ones.

However, Typst does no seem to have a nocite equivalent.

I see workaround using hide command in

• Citations in hide do not work typst/typst#622

someone did

#let nocite(citation) = {
  place(hide[#cite(citation)])
}

and it seems that Typst has some package to trick and use hidden references like https://typst.app/universe/package/hidden-bib/

Anyhow, Pandoc could support nocite config through some tricks like that. Or we could...

[mcanouil]

However, Typst does no seem to have a nocite equivalent.

It has, at least for the "no cite all" (i.e., nocite: "@*"), it's the "full" parameter: https://typst.app/docs/reference/model/bibliography/#parameters-full

[timothoms]

Thinking about this more... being able to use the Typst native bibliography processing would be great for custom templates via partials.

[mcanouil]

Thinking about this more... being able to use the Typst native bibliography processing would be great for custom templates via partials.

You can already do that.

[timothoms]

Yes, but not when I also need the nocite option.

[mcanouil]

How so? If you use the "full" option (nocite: "@*") as described in Typst documentation in the partial for bibliography as suggested in #12245 (comment) it should work.

[timothoms]

I only want to include specific items in the bibliography, not all. I guess a work-around would be to have a separate .bib file for each document.