In short. Mistral Work footnotes open the relevant Library passage; API references point to source documents without documented passage navigation.
Definition: Yes. In Mistral Work, a response from an attached Library includes numbered footnotes linked to the original source material, and selecting a footnote jumps to the relevant passage. Mistral's API documentation describes the same kind of citation as a
tool_referencethat points back to a source document.
Key facts
- Mistral describes Libraries as persistent knowledge bases built from documents and web pages, with answers based on the Library data and direct references to source material in Work's Libraries documentation.
- A Work response includes numbered footnotes linked to the original source material. Selecting a footnote opens the relevant passage, while the Sources button lists every reference used in the response.
- For a web page added to a Library, only the page's text content is indexed. Child pages, images and charts are excluded from that indexed content.
- Mistral's Studio documentation says that Library agent output contains text chunks or
tool_referencechunks, with the latter serving as citations pointing back to source documents.
How does numbered navigation work in Work?
The documented interaction is passage-level. After a Library is attached to a chat, Work searches across the documents in that Library to answer the task. The answer then presents numbered footnotes linked to the original source material. Selecting a footnote jumps to the relevant passage, and the Sources button at the bottom of the message opens the complete reference list.
The feature therefore does more than identify the document name. It gives the reader a path from an answer claim to the part of the stored source that supports it. The documentation describes this as a way to verify answers against the original documents before using them in reports, emails or presentations.
What content can the passage refer to?
The result depends on what the Library processed. A web page added through the Library view contributes its text content. Mistral states that child pages, images and charts are not included, and recommends downloading a page and uploading it as a file when the full visual content is needed. A document opened from a Library shows processed content and an automatically generated summary in the right panel, while the original file remains available through Download or the three-dots menu.
This boundary matters when a page's meaning depends on a chart, an image or a linked child page. A footnote can lead to the relevant indexed text passage, while material outside that text is outside the documented web-page indexing scope.
What does the API expose?
Mistral's Studio Libraries guide describes a Document Library as an agent tool. An agent is created with the document_library tool and the Library IDs it may access. In the resulting message.output, the content field is a list of chunks. Those chunks can be text, which is the actual response, or tool_reference, which is a citation pointing back to a source document.
{
"content": [
{"type": "text"},
{"type": "tool_reference"}
]
}
The API guide calls these citations useful for verifiable, traceable outputs. It does not document passage coordinates or a browser-style jump target for API clients. The passage-opening behavior is explicitly documented for the Work interface.
Related terms
FAQ
Can you open the passage from a Work answer?
Yes. Select the numbered footnote in the response. Mistral documents that the footnote jumps to the relevant passage, and the Sources button shows every reference used.
Does a Library index every part of a web page?
No. A Library indexes the page's text content. Child pages, images and charts are excluded from that web-page index, so upload the page as a file when its full visual content matters.
Does the API return the same passage jump?
The API returns tool_reference citation chunks that point to source documents. Mistral documents the passage jump for Work, while the Studio guide does not specify a passage coordinate or equivalent navigation control for API clients.
Sources
Check how a page reads to answer engines. Open the GEO score analyzer