VisualEditor/Complex transclusion
This is a workaround for inserting wikitext into ref tags. This can be useful if you are copying pre-generated citation templates or working around phab:T4700.
- Open the Basic (manual) reference form in the Cite menu. (Skip this step if you don't want your content inside <ref> tags.)
- Choose Insert > Template.
- Click the "Show options" button at the bottom. This takes you to the complex transclusions tool.
- Click the "[ ]" button at the bottom (the tooltip says "Add content").
- Paste your wikitext in there.
- Realize that the "Insert" button is still grayed out, so insert any template at all in the first box.
- Now go back and click the red trashcan icon to delete the pointless "Template" blank (where you just added a template).
- Click the now-green "Insert" button to get back to the Basic Reference dialog (or to the regular article – if you skipped step 1, then proceed to the last step now).
- Click the "Insert" button to insert the citation.
- Save the page.