Citation display

Problem Context

• The system may generate citations from web search, file search, enterprise retrieval, user-provided documents, code execution outputs, or manually curated references.
• Citations may arrive after answer text, be removed during safety or grounding checks, be blocked by permissions, point to changed documents, or support only part of a sentence.
• Users need to evaluate whether the source supports the claim without losing their place in the answer, especially on mobile or in long chat transcripts.
• Citation display often sits inside a chat interface, streaming response, research workspace, document editor, review queue, or support-answer panel.

Selection Rules

• Choose citation display when the main user need is verifying a generated or summarized claim against the source that supports it.
• Use chat interface when the primary concern is the conversation container, prompt composer, message history, and turn-taking rather than source evidence.
• Use streaming response when the primary concern is partial generated output and response lifecycle; include citation states inside streaming only when evidence arrives asynchronously.
• Use related links when links are optional onward reading or adjacent resources instead of claim-level evidence.
• Use tooltip only for short supplemental descriptions; citation details need persistent, inspectable source records.
• Show a source preview before sending users away from the answer when verifying the evidence is part of the task.
• Use a broader grounding or evidence view when users need coverage across all sources, retrieval steps, or unsupported claims rather than inspecting one selected citation.
• Do not show a citation marker until the system can either resolve the source or label the citation as pending, missing, stale, permission-limited, or mismatched.
• Do not use citation display as a confidence score; a source link can still be incomplete, irrelevant, outdated, or misinterpreted.

Required States

• Default answer with cited claims and inline citation markers.
• Selected citation state with source preview, source title, source type, excerpt, date or version, and open source action.
• Multiple citations supporting one claim with clear source ordering and source preview switching.
• Pending citation state during streaming or retrieval before the source is verified.
• Stale citation state after answer revision, document update, or regenerated text changes the claim-to-source mapping.
• Missing source, unavailable source, and permission-limited source states with recovery or explanation.
• Source mismatch state when the cited excerpt does not support the selected claim.
• Copied citation state that confirms what was copied and keeps source context attached.
• Mobile stacked-panel state that preserves reading position while the source preview opens.

Interaction Contract

• Each citation marker opens or focuses the source record that supports the adjacent claim.
• The selected source preview remains associated with the selected claim and marker until the user changes selection or the answer changes.
• Open source, copy citation, retry source, and report mismatch actions operate on the selected citation, not the whole answer.
• Regeneration, editing, or streaming updates invalidate or re-check citation markers whose claim text changed.
• Permission-limited citations explain that a source exists but cannot be opened by the current user.
• Keyboard and touch users can select citations, inspect the source preview, open the source, and return to the claim without losing context.
• Citation status changes are announced as meaningful status messages without moving focus unexpectedly.

Implementation Checklist

• Store citation markers as structured ranges or anchors tied to answer text, source IDs, excerpt IDs, retrieval result IDs, and verification status.
• Render source previews with title, source type, owner or publisher when useful, date or version, excerpt, page or section, permission state, and source-opening action.
• Track pending, verified, stale, missing, permission-limited, mismatch, copied, and reported states separately from the answer text state.
• Revalidate or clear citations after regeneration, editing, translation, summarization, document update, source deletion, or permission changes.
• Preserve selected citation, scroll position, focus, and mobile source-panel state when users open and close previews.
• Make copied output explicit: copy claim, copy citation, copy source title, and copy quoted excerpt should not be ambiguous.
• Test citations in long answers, tables, code blocks, Markdown links, streamed output, virtualized transcripts, mobile viewports, high zoom, keyboard navigation, and screen readers.

Common Generated-UI Mistakes

• Displaying a link dump below the answer instead of mapping sources to specific claims.
• Using decorative numbers that do not open a source preview.
• Keeping citations attached after the cited claim changes.
• Hiding citation details in a tooltip that disappears on blur, touch, or scroll.
• Treating a citation as proof of correctness without checking whether the source supports the claim.
• Showing permission-blocked or missing sources as if they were verified.
• Over-citing every sentence so users cannot identify the evidence that matters.

Critique Questions

• Can users tell exactly which claim each citation supports?
• Does selecting a citation show enough source detail to verify the claim before opening a new page?
• What happens when the cited source is pending, stale, missing, permission-limited, or mismatched?
• Are citation markers updated or invalidated when the answer changes?
• Can keyboard, touch, and screen reader users inspect citations and return to the claim without losing position?
• Would related links, a chat interface, streaming status, tooltip, or a broader evidence view solve the actual user need better?