AI research platform

Grounded AI research writing, from PDF to submission.

Rivul AI is an AI research platform for researchers and students. Read your PDFs, draft with AI grounded in those papers, and attach citations as you write. When a claim needs a source, ask across your Library or the Rivul Index. When the manuscript is ready, export it to Word or LaTeX.

Free for every account. Sign in with Google to start; AI features run on your own API key.

Claim checkFlag sentences that do not match their cited passage Grounded autocompleteAutocomplete, then rewrite Academic, Formal, or Concise AnalysisEvidence matrix, claim map, Related Work Citation engineLive numbering from Crossref metadata Library & readerReal typeset PDFs, highlight to cite Export & preflightIEEEtran LaTeX, Word, IEEE source ZIP

Included with every free account

From paper search to a cited manuscript.

Everything below is free. AI features use your own key from Google Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Mistral, or Meta, and that provider bills you directly. Each account stores up to 5 PDFs.

Paper search across 300M+ works, with source links
Rivul Atlas search from your own apps (REST API) and AI clients (MCP)
AI autocomplete, drafting, rewrites, and proofreading
Titles, abstracts, Related Work, and version history
Equations, tables, and footnotes
Citations and bibliography in IEEE, ACM, APA, MLA, and Chicago styles
Claim checks, evidence maps, and matrices
Research gaps, contradictions, and reproducibility checks
Citation checks and submission preflight
Export to Word, LaTeX, BibTeX, Markdown, plain text, and IEEE ZIP

The problem

Reading, drafting, and citing usually happen in separate apps.

Citations drift when work moves between tools. Rivul AI keeps reading, drafting, and citing in one workspace.

The old way

Read in a browser, PDFs in a folder
Hunt citations in Zotero
Draft in Word
Format by hand
Convert to LaTeX at the end

With Rivul AI

Read and draft in one workspace
Citations added as you write
Grounded in your own library
Numbering and styles always in sync
Export to IEEEtran LaTeX or IEEE Word

Rivul AI paper editor with a short review draft on retrieval-augmented generation, numbered citations [1] to [4], and a live IEEE reference list.

Built in

Library, editor, and export in one workspace.

Library, editor, analysis tools, and export share the same workspace. Upload a PDF, draft beside it, run preflight, and ship IEEEtran LaTeX or Word from the same page.

What you get

PDF library with reader, highlight-to-cite, and in-document chat
Autocomplete grounded in papers you uploaded
Citations resolved from Crossref and DOI records
Accept or reject every AI suggestion inline
Evidence matrix, claim map, and Related Work drafts
Reproducibility checklist, review lenses, and IEEE preflight
Read, write, cite, verify, and export without switching apps

Unified workspace

Quote a source beside your draft.

Search literature, open the typeset PDF beside your prose, and pull quoted passages in with citations attached.

Open the PDF and select the passage you want to cite.

Rivul AI PDF reader open at page 2 of Attention Is All You Need, showing the Introduction and Background sections with page navigation and an Ask this paper action.

Research workflows

Common research workflows

Follow an evidence-first path for the research task in front of you, then inspect the product details behind it.

Research assistant

Ask your Library, this paper, or the Rivul Index.

Ask in plain language. All sources combines indexed scholarly papers with usable Library text. Choose Papers for the Rivul Index, Library for your saved sources, or This paper for the manuscript open in the editor. Library answers require extracted PDF text.

Grounded in your own PDFs or in indexed scholarly papers
Source-backed answers link to the papers used
Insert into your draft, already cited

Explore the Open Research workspace, or see how to choose sources and inspect an answer before adding it to your draft.

Rivul AI Research workspace with a question box, an All sources scope selector, starter actions, and an empty evidence sources panel.

Analyze

Compare evidence. Check a claim. Draft Related Work.

Turn cited papers and library PDFs into a table of findings, check a sentence against your sources, map draft sentences to library evidence, or draft Related Work, all from the same editor.

Evidence matrix from your citations and library
Claim → evidence map with CSV export
Draft Related Work from selected library papers
Check a selected sentence against your sources

For a worked process and a blank CSV template, follow the literature review evidence matrix guide.

Rivul AI editor beside its Claims panel, which lists claim to evidence map, evidence matrix, check claim, reproducibility checklist, and gaps and contradictions.

Grounded writing & editorial control

Autocomplete that cites what you've read. Suggestions you control.

Pause, and autocomplete draws on passages from your library. Rewrites and polish appear as tracked changes with live diffs. Accept or reject each revision; your prose is never overwritten blindly.

Grounded autocomplete with library-backed citations
Tracked changes mode: inline Accept / Reject diffs
Live word counts under every section heading
Rewrite Academic, Formal, or Concise; tone includes Formal academic
Rewrite preserves citations; Polish tightens phrasing

Rivul AI editor beside its Drafting panel, which lists Draft Related Work, Generate abstract, Summarize paper, Generate outline, and Polish grammar and clarity.

The citation engine

Every [n] is live.

Search, cite, and let numbering follow first-citation order automatically. Hover any bracket for the source; switch styles and every marker repaints. Run Source quality before you submit to flag retracted and preprint references.

IEEE, ACM, APA, MLA & Chicago, markers & bibliography in sync
Hover any marker for its source card
Retraction & preprint checks against Crossref
Live bibliography updates on cut, paste, or delete

Rivul AI citation panel open over a draft, listing papers from the library with Insert citation buttons, an IEEE style selector, and the paper's four numbered sources.

Library & reader

Your sources, read where you write.

Upload PDFs or pull them by DOI, arXiv, or a .bib file. Read the real typeset paper, not a stripped text dump. Select a passage to copy it as a quote with its citation attached, or ask about it in chat.

Real PDF reader with continuous scroll & text search
Highlight to copy quote with pre-attached citation
In-reader grounded chat & select-to-explain
DOI · arXiv · Unpaywall · .bib · Zotero import
OCR for scanned PDFs without text layers

Rivul AI PDF reader zoomed in on the Introduction of Attention Is All You Need, with the Library breadcrumb and an Ask this paper action.

Export and submit

Draft in prose. Export structured source.

Export IEEEtran LaTeX with an external .bib, or an IEEE-oriented Word file. Preflight estimates page count, checks citations, and calls out required author metadata; the IEEE source ZIP includes figures and compile instructions.

IEEEtran LaTeX · IEEE Word (.docx) · Markdown
Preflight: page limit · citations · venue readiness
IEEE source ZIP: .tex + .bib + figures + instructions

Rivul AI Export paper dialog with LaTeX, Word, Markdown, plain text, and BibTeX formats, IEEE venue and bibliography options, Run preflight, and IEEE submission ZIP.

Pre-submission checks

Catch consistency problems before you submit.

Rivul AI scans your manuscript for mixed US and UK spellings, figure references written both ways, acronyms used before they are defined, and mixed numeral style. It also estimates how much of the draft it wrote or revised. Retracted sources and preprints are flagged against Crossref.

AI-use footprint: Estimated share of the draft Rivul AI wrote or revised, per section
Consistency checker: Mixed US and UK spellings, "Fig." against "Figure", acronyms used before they are defined
Claim check: Flag sentences whose cited passages do not share their wording, or disagree with it
Source quality: Crossref retraction & preprint detection

Rivul AI editor beside its Preflight panel, which lists draft review, submission readiness, citation-worthiness, source quality, AI-use footprint, and consistency checks.

Every feature

One workspace for the whole workflow.

Library, citations, analysis, and export live in the editor you write in, from the first sentence to the preflighted submission source.

Library & reading 9

Real PDF reader, select-to-explain
In-reader grounded chat
PDF upload & fetch
DOI · arXiv · .bib import
Zotero import
OCR for scanned PDFs
Full-text search
Tags, status & annotations
Highlight to copy quote & cite

Research & chat 4

Similar-paper discovery
Scoped Research: Rivul Index / Library / This paper
Citation-worthiness checks
Insert answer, with sources

Grounded writing 9

Grounded autocomplete
Tracked changes (Accept/Reject)
Rewrite · expand · polish
Abstract & title drafting
Equations (LaTeX / KaTeX)
Footnotes & figures
Per-section word counts
Paper-brief steering
AI-use footprint

Citations 8

Metadata-backed references
Search the Rivul Index
5 major styles, in sync
First-citation numbering
Registry-resolved metadata
Hover source cards
Retraction & preprint flags
Live bibliography

Export & submit 7

IEEE submission source ZIP
IEEEtran LaTeX (.tex + .bib)
IEEE-oriented Word (.docx)
Markdown · plain text · .bib
Preflight: page & compliance
Spelling, figure-style & acronym checker
Author placeholder checks

Platform 5

Bring your own AI key
Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, Mistral, or Meta
Never trained on your work
Your research remains readable
Account-data export stays available

Questions researchers ask

Before you start

How are bibliography entries created?

Reference records are resolved from scholarly metadata services such as Crossref and DataCite, then formatted by fixed rules. A resolved record does not prove that generated prose is correct or supported, so inspect the source and run Claim check and Source quality before submitting.

Does it check that a source supports my claim?

Claim check counts how many of your sentence's terms appear in the cited passage, and flags wording that disagrees with it, such as "did not", "failed to", or a reversed direction. It quotes the passage back to you so you can judge it yourself. Terms matching means the words line up, not that the source supports the claim.

Is my unpublished work private?

When you request an AI feature, the relevant draft text and passages are sent to the AI provider you connected, using your own API key. We never train models on your drafts or library, and we never sell your content. Export or delete everything whenever you want.

Where do the sources come from?

Upload PDFs or pull them by DOI, arXiv, Unpaywall, a .bib file, or Zotero. Autocomplete and answers are grounded in those documents; scoped Research can also search the Rivul Index.

Do I need an API key to search papers?

No. Search runs on the Rivul Index of 300M+ scholarly records and needs no key. Your own AI key is used only for AI features.

Can I actually submit what it produces?

Export to IEEEtran LaTeX with a .bib, or an IEEE-oriented Word file. Preflight estimates page count, checks citations, and reminds you to replace author metadata. The source ZIP still requires IEEE's official IEEEtran class before compilation.

Will I be locked in?

Your work remains readable, and Settings provides a complete account-data export. Manuscript export supports LaTeX, Word, Markdown, and BibTeX.

Is it just a chatbot bolted onto an editor?

It's one writing surface: grounded autocomplete, a live citation engine, a real typeset PDF reader, and submission-oriented export, without switching tools.

Research and write for free

Find the evidence and turn it into a paper.

Search scholarly works, read sources, organize evidence, and draft with citations in Rivul AI. Every account is free, and AI features run on your own API key.