\cite no longer works as expected

MWE:

\startsetups[tightspace]
 \spaceskip 0.5\interwordspace plus.5\interwordstretch minus \interwordshrink
\stopsetups

\def\dostartbibitem[#1][#2]%
{\doifsomethingelse{#2}%
 {\startBibItem[reference={#1},title={#2}]}%
 {\startBibItem[reference={#1},title={#1}]}%
}
\def\startbibitem{\dodoubleempty\dostartbibitem}
\def\stopbibitem{\stopBibItem}

\definedescription[BibItem][
width=broad,
margin=1.5pc,
indenting={no},
indentnext=no,
alternative=hanging,
hang=1,
headcommand=\gobbleoneargument,
align=right,
before={\directsetup{tightspace}\bgroup\language[packed]},
after={\egroup},
]

\definereferenceformat [cite] [type=title,left={},right={}]
\definereferenceformat [bibpage] [type=page]

starttext
Now \cite[test 2020] on page
\page
\startbibitem[test 2020]
\input ward
\stopbibitem
\stoptext

Instead of “Now test 2020 on page”, I get “Now 248>BibItem:referencetext on page” and no sign of an internal link.

Alan