There isn't really a good way to do this, no.

One option would be to use the --biblatex or --natbib option
with pandoc instead of --citeproc, if you're targeting LaTeX
anyway.  Then you *could* just use regular LaTeX \cite
commands.  (Note however that pandoc's pdf output won't
run bibtex or biber itself; you'd need to use
--pdf-engine=latexmk, or generate the tex using pandoc
and compile it yourself.)

Clément Aubert <aubert.clement-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org> writes:

> Good morning,
>
> Tldr: I don't understand how I can cite inside latex blocks using
> --citeproc.
>
> Long version:
>
> If I use
>
> pandoc test.md --citeproc -o test.pdf
>
> to convert an md file into a pdf, then I can use [@key] for references, and
> I can also use most of LaTeX commands inside my md file (such as \label{…},
> typically).
> Inside a latex environment, everything has to be in latex, if I understand
> correctly, so that
>
> \begin{definition}
> - This
> - Is
> - A list
> \end{definition}
>
> would not work. Hence,
>
> \begin{definition}
> [@key]
> \end{definition}
>
> would not work either, but since I use citeproc, I cannot use \cite{key}
> either.
> So, is there any way to make a reference from within a "latex environment"
> using -citeproc?
> (And, just to be clear: the definition environment is just an example here,
> I don't particularly care about this specific environment).
>
> Thanks!
> Clément.
>
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