Research the web without constantly switching tabs.
Research Wheel puts research tools directly alongside the information you're reading. Save quotes, search research sources, generate citations, and organize your findings with a simple middle-click workflow.
The recommended installation method is Firefox Add-ons.
Install Research Wheel for Firefox
Chrome and Chromium-based browsers can install Research Wheel manually using the v2.0.0 release package.
⬇️ Download Research Wheel v2.0.0 for Chrome / Chromium
- Download the Chrome/Chromium ZIP from the v2.0.0 release.
- Extract the ZIP to a folder on your computer.
- Open
chrome://extensions/. - Enable Developer mode.
- Click Load unpacked.
- Select the extracted Research Wheel folder.
Research Wheel can then be used directly in your browser.
Note: Chrome/Chromium installation is currently a manual developer-mode installation rather than a Chrome Web Store installation.
Research Wheel is a Firefox browser extension designed to make web research faster and easier.
Instead of constantly switching between webpages, search engines, note-taking apps, and citation tools, Research Wheel keeps common research actions close to the information you're working with.
Find something → middle-click → research, save, or cite it.
It's useful for:
- Students
- Researchers
- Writers
- Developers
- Journalists
- Anyone who regularly collects information from the web
Browse the web normally and find information worth researching, saving, or citing.
Select text and middle-click to open the Research Wheel directly where you're working.
Search research sources, save notes and quotes, generate citations, translate text, or copy useful source information.
Search Google Scholar or PubMed using selected text or the current webpage title without manually opening another tab.
Save highlighted text directly to the Research Wheel workspace.
Collect:
- Quotes
- Notes
- Code
- URLs
- Source information
Keep useful information together instead of losing it across dozens of browser tabs.
Generate and copy citations in:
- APA 7th
- MLA 9th
- Chicago 17th
- BibTeX
Research Wheel also cleans webpage metadata to produce more useful citation information from messy webpages.
Use the Firefox sidebar as a persistent workspace for your collected research.
Review and manage saved notes, quotes, citations, and sources while continuing to browse.
Translate webpage content directly from the Research Wheel menu using available translation services.
Copy a clean Markdown link containing the page title and URL.
Copy selected text together with its source attribution as a Markdown blockquote.
Research Wheel provides eight research actions through its middle-click radial menu.
| Direction | Action | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 🎓 North | Google Scholar | Search selected text or the webpage title |
| 🧬 North-East | PubMed | Search selected text or the webpage title |
| 📝 East | Append Note | Save selected text to the workspace |
| 📚 South-East | Citation | Generate and copy a citation |
| 📂 South | Workspace | Open the research sidebar |
| 🌐 South-West | Translate | Translate webpage content |
| 🔗 West | Title + URL | Copy a clean Markdown link |
| 📋 North-West | Quote + Source | Copy selected text with source attribution |
Research Wheel is designed as a local-first browser extension.
The extension operates locally on your device and does not use external servers for its core workspace functionality.
No tracking. No analytics. No collection of your browsing activity.
The project is also open source, allowing you to inspect how the extension works yourself.
Your research should belong to you.
Webpages aren't always clean.
Article titles can contain:
- Site names
- Taglines
- Publisher branding
- Inconsistent capitalization
- Unusual apostrophes
- Incorrect metadata
- Messy author information
Research Wheel includes several systems designed to clean and normalize this information before it reaches your research workspace or citation output.
Preserves important names, organizations, locations, acronyms, and other proper nouns while formatting article titles.
Removes common publisher suffixes and branding from scraped webpage titles.
Detects root and localized homepages to improve source metadata and publisher identification.
These systems exist for one reason:
Cleaner research results and more useful citations.
Research Wheel is built for Mozilla Firefox using the WebExtensions API and Manifest V3.
The extension includes several systems designed specifically around Firefox's interaction behavior.
Middle-click interactions are handled without unnecessarily interfering with Firefox's native autoscroll behavior.
Research Wheel captures text selection during mouse interaction so that selected text remains available when the radial menu opens.
While the radial wheel is active, relevant scrolling and keyboard interactions are temporarily controlled to prevent accidental page movement.
The radial interface uses isolation techniques to reduce conflicts with webpage styles.
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/fluryjanis/ResearchWheel.gitThen load the project as an unpacked browser extension.
The project is primarily designed around Firefox and its WebExtensions environment.
Research Wheel supports exporting collected workspace research to local Markdown files.
This keeps your research portable and avoids locking your notes into a proprietary cloud service.
Research Wheel began as QuickWheel, a general-purpose radial browser interaction tool.
Version 2 pivoted the project toward web research, replacing generic browser shortcuts with research-focused actions.
- Rebranded QuickWheel as Research Wheel
- Added research-focused radial actions
- Added Google Scholar search
- Added PubMed search
- Added citation generation
- Added APA, MLA, Chicago, and BibTeX support
- Added persistent research workspace sidebar
- Added quote and note clipping
- Added Markdown export
- Added metadata cleaning and citation safeguards
- Added improved text-selection handling
- Added interaction protection against accidental scrolling and page movement
The original QuickWheel release provided a general-purpose radial browser menu with actions including:
- Tab duplication and reopening
- Search focus
- Markdown clipping
- Translation
- Scroll-to-top
- Tab muting
- Link copying
- 🦊 Firefox Add-ons
- 💻 Source Code
- 🌐 Research Wheel Website
- 🎮 Research Wheel on itch.io
- 👤 Frog1230 Portfolio or Repo
Research Wheel is designed to operate locally and does not intentionally collect, sell, or transmit personal browsing data or analytics.
For the most accurate information about permissions and data handling, inspect the extension source code and Firefox Add-ons listing.
Research Wheel is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. The developer is not responsible for issues or damages resulting from use of the software.