diff --git a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectController.coffee b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectController.coffee
index 1d0a70642a..540e460953 100644
--- a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectController.coffee
+++ b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/Project/ProjectController.coffee
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ module.exports = ProjectController =
 					allowedFreeTrial = !!subscription.freeTrial.allowed || true
 
 				# HACK: don't do it for now
-				ReferencesSearchHandler.indexProjectReferences project, ->  # don't need to wait on this
+				# ReferencesSearchHandler.indexProjectReferences project, ->  # don't need to wait on this
 
 				logger.log project_id:project_id, "rendering editor page"
 				res.render 'project/editor',
diff --git a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchController.coffee b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchController.coffee
index 5926041ef9..e2208aeffa 100644
--- a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchController.coffee
+++ b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchController.coffee
@@ -36,3 +36,14 @@ module.exports = ReferencesSearchController =
 				logger.err {err, project_id}, "error getting references keys"
 				return res.send 500
 			return res.json data
+
+	loadReferencesKeys: (req, res) ->
+		project_id = req.params.Project_id
+		shouldBroadcast = req.body.shouldBroadcast
+		logger.log {project_id}, "loading project references keys"
+		ReferencesSearchHandler.loadReferencesKeys project_id, (err, data) ->
+			if err
+				logger.err {err, project_id}, "error getting references keys"
+				return res.send 500
+			# TODO: optionally broadcast to all connected clients
+			return res.json data
diff --git a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchHandler.coffee b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchHandler.coffee
index 13bdad9927..dd2990c3f4 100644
--- a/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchHandler.coffee
+++ b/services/web/app/coffee/Features/ReferencesSearch/ReferencesSearchHandler.coffee
@@ -28,12 +28,39 @@ module.exports = ReferencesSearchHandler =
 
 		return ids
 
-	_isFullIndex: (projectId, callback = (err, result) ->) ->
-		Project.findById projectId, {owner_ref: 1}, (err, project) ->
+	_isFullIndex: (project, callback = (err, result) ->) ->
+		UserGetter.getUser project.owner_ref, {features: 1}, (err, owner) ->
 			return callback(err) if err
-			UserGetter.getUser project.owner_ref, {features: 1}, (err, owner) ->
-				return callback(err) if err
-				callback(null, owner.features.references == true)
+			callback(null, owner.features.references == true)
+
+	loadReferencesKeys: (projectId, callback=(err, data)->) ->
+		logger.log {projectId}, "load references keys for project"
+		Project.findPopulatedById projectId, (err, project) ->
+			if err
+				return callback(err)
+			ReferencesSearchHandler._isFullIndex project, (err, isFullIndex) ->
+				if err
+					return callback(err)
+				bibDocIds = ReferencesSearchHandler._findBibDocIds(project)
+				bibDocUrls = bibDocIds.map (docId) ->
+					ReferencesSearchHandler._buildDocUrl projectId, docId
+				logger.log {projectId, isFullIndex, bibDocIds}, "sending request to references service"
+				request.post {
+					url: "#{settings.apis.references.url}/project/#{projectId}/loadreferenceskeys"
+					json:
+						docUrls: bibDocUrls
+						fullIndex: isFullIndex
+				}, (err, res, result) ->
+					if err
+						return callback(err)
+					if 200 <= res.statusCode < 300
+						return callback(null)
+					else
+						err = new Error("references api responded with non-success code: #{res.statusCode}")
+						logger.log {err, projectId, fileUrl}, "error updating references"
+						return callback(err)
+
+	## ## ## ##
 
 	indexProjectReferences: (project, callback = (err) ->) ->
 		logger.log {projectId: project._id}, "try indexing references from project"
@@ -62,7 +89,6 @@ module.exports = ReferencesSearchHandler =
 				url: target_url
 				json:
 					referencesUrl: fileUrl
-					fullIndex: isFullIndex == true
 			}, (err, res, result) ->
 				if err
 					return callback(err)
diff --git a/services/web/public/coffee/ide/references-search/ReferencesSearchManager.coffee b/services/web/public/coffee/ide/references-search/ReferencesSearchManager.coffee
index 6b80dcbc4d..47e310e1ed 100644
--- a/services/web/public/coffee/ide/references-search/ReferencesSearchManager.coffee
+++ b/services/web/public/coffee/ide/references-search/ReferencesSearchManager.coffee
@@ -13,7 +13,20 @@ define [
 						@indexReferences doc.doc_id
 
 			@$scope.$on 'project:joined', (e) =>
-				@getReferenceKeys()
+				@loadReferencesKeys()
+
+		loadReferencesKeys: () ->
+			if window._ENABLE_REFERENCES_AUTOCOMPLETE != true
+				return
+			$.post(
+				"/project/#{@$scope.project_id}/referenceskeys",
+				{
+					shouldBroadcast: false
+					_csrf: window.csrfToken
+				},
+				(data) =>
+					console.log ">> ", data
+			)
 
 		indexReferences: (doc_id) ->
 			if window._ENABLE_REFERENCES_AUTOCOMPLETE != true