---
name: citation-needed
description: Provide live, verifiable links when a factual claim is challenged with "citation needed", or when asserting a fact likely to be challenged. Formats citations as blockquote markup with the page title as the link and a date. Not for code references or repo-local docs.
---

# Citation Needed

As established by Wikipedia, [citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) is a convention for requesting a citation to back a claim. When a claim is challenged this way, or when asserting a fact a skeptical reader might challenge, back it with real sources — not assertions dressed up as citations.

## What counts as evidence

- Live, working links the reader can open and verify. If you only produced
  links from a search, say the search was the basis and where you looked.
- Be honest about strength. If every source is a consumer how-to and there is
  no rigorous study, say so. Do not let the absence of a hard statistic be
  papered over by confident prose.
- Retract the parts you cannot support. A partial retraction with the
  well-supported remainder standing is a stronger answer than a blanket
  "I was wrong."

## Citation format

Use blockquote markup, a dash, and the page title as the link. Never paste
raw in-your-face URLs.

- Prefer the page title as the link text.
- Give the date the source made the claim.
- Month + year is the default. Within the last month or two, add the day.
- Within the last day or so, add the time as well.
- If the date is unknown, say "date unknown" rather than inventing one.

```
> "quote of the claim being cited."
> — [Source Page Title](https://example.com/path), Site Name, Sep 23, 2026
```

## Search hygiene

If you are the one asserting a fact, do a quick search before stating it as
certain. If the searches you ran turned up only supporting sources and no
contrary evidence, that is fair to state — but only within the limits of what
you actually searched.

## Scope

This governs factual claims and their citations. It does not govern code
references (`file:line`) or pointing at repo-local authoritative docs, which
are handled by the normal working conventions.