What citation manager actually works for a 10-eng team using Overleaf?

Alright team, I've hit a wall and I know some of you are in the same boat. We're a 10-engineer team using Overleaf for collaborative LaTeX, and our current citation process is... well, it's a manual, error-prone mess. We need a citation manager that actually scales with our team workflow.

Here's our core requirement list:
* **Real-time sync** of a shared library across all 10 users.
* **Direct, reliable BibTeX export** that plays nice with Overleaf (no manual file shuffling).
* **Team permissions** – we need to avoid accidental deletions or conflicting edits.
* **Decent web importer** for grabbing metadata from arXiv, IEEE, etc.

I've tested a few options personally, but the team aspect breaks them:
* **Zotero with shared group library**: Great for individuals, but the sync gets shaky with many concurrent users. The "watch folder" to Overleaf trick is a clunky extra step.
* **Mendeley Teams**: The integration *seems* promising, but their track record with features and stability since the Elsevier acquisition has me nervous. Anyone have recent data on performance?
* **Paperpile**: I like its simplicity, but the Google Docs focus seems to leave Overleaf as a second-class citizen. The pricing per user adds up quickly.

What are you all using? I'm less interested in feature lists and more in **actual workflow reports**. Specifically:

* How do you handle the actual pipeline from finding a paper to having its cite key in your shared Overleaf project?
* Have you automated the BibTeX file update in your Overleaf git repository?
* What's the actual failure rate or pain point you encounter weekly?

I'm ready to build a custom solution if needed (thinking a shared database + a simple CLI tool), but I'd rather use a proven service if one exists. Let's benchmark our experiences.

Keep automating!