Zotero MCP: Your Research Library in Claude

Zotero MCP seamlessly connects your Zotero research library with Claude and other AI assistants via the Model Context Protocol. Discuss papers, get summaries, analyze citations, extract PDF annotations, and more!

🚀 Quick Install

Installing via Smithery

To install Zotero MCP for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @54yyyu/zotero-mcp --client claude

Installing via pip

pip install git+https://github.com/54yyyu/zotero-mcp.git
zotero-mcp setup  # Auto-configure for Claude Desktop

✨ Features

Search Your Library

• Find papers, articles, and books by title, author, or content
• Perform complex searches with multiple criteria
• Browse collections, tags, and recent additions

Access Your Content

• Retrieve detailed metadata for any item
• Get full text content (when available)
• Access attachments, notes, and child items

Work with Annotations

• Extract and search PDF annotations directly
• Access Zotero's native annotations
• Create and update notes and annotations

🖥️ Setup & Usage

For Claude Desktop

After installation, either:

1. Auto-configure (recommended):

   zotero-mcp setup

2. Manual configuration: Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "zotero": {
         "command": "zotero-mcp",
         "env": {
           "ZOTERO_LOCAL": "true"
         }
       }
     }
   }

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Zotero 7+ (for local API with full-text access)
• Claude Desktop or compatible AI assistant

Using Zotero in Claude

1. Start Zotero desktop (make sure local API is enabled in preferences)
2. Launch Claude Desktop
3. Access the Zotero-MCP tool through Claude Desktop's tools interface

Example prompts:

• "Search my library for papers on machine learning"
• "Find recent articles I've added about climate change"
• "Summarize the key findings from my paper on quantum computing"
• "Extract all PDF annotations from my paper on neural networks"
• "Search my notes and annotations for mentions of 'reinforcement learning'"

🔧 Advanced Configuration

Using Web API Instead of Local API

For accessing your Zotero library via the web API (useful for remote setups):

zotero-mcp setup --no-local --api-key YOUR_API_KEY --library-id YOUR_LIBRARY_ID

Environment Variables

• ZOTERO_LOCAL=true: Use the local Zotero API (default: false)
• ZOTERO_API_KEY: Your Zotero API key (for web API)
• ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID: Your Zotero library ID (for web API)
• ZOTERO_LIBRARY_TYPE: The type of library (user or group, default: user)

Command-Line Options

# Run the server directly
zotero-mcp serve

# Specify transport method
zotero-mcp serve --transport stdio|sse

# Get help on setup options
zotero-mcp setup --help

📑 PDF Annotation Extraction

Zotero MCP includes advanced PDF annotation extraction capabilities:

• Direct PDF Processing: Extract annotations directly from PDF files, even if they're not yet indexed by Zotero
• Enhanced Search: Search through PDF annotations and comments
• Image Annotation Support: Extract image annotations from PDFs
• Seamless Integration: Works alongside Zotero's native annotation system

For optimal annotation extraction, it is highly recommended to install the Better BibTeX plugin for Zotero. The annotation-related functions have been primarily tested with this plugin and provide enhanced functionality when it's available.

The first time you use PDF annotation features, the necessary tools will be automatically downloaded.

📚 Available Tools

Search Tools

• zotero_search_items: Search your library
• zotero_advanced_search: Perform complex searches
• zotero_get_collections: List collections
• zotero_get_collection_items: Get items in a collection
• zotero_get_tags: List all tags
• zotero_get_recent: Get recently added items

Content Tools

• zotero_get_item_metadata: Get detailed metadata
• zotero_get_item_fulltext: Get full text content
• zotero_get_item_children: Get attachments and notes

Annotation & Notes Tools

• zotero_get_annotations: Get annotations (including direct PDF extraction)
• zotero_get_notes: Retrieve notes from your Zotero library
• zotero_search_notes: Search in notes and annotations (including PDF-extracted)
• zotero_create_note: Create a new note for an item (beta feature)

🔍 Troubleshooting

• No results found: Ensure Zotero is running and the local API is enabled
• Can't connect to library: Check your API key and library ID if using web API
• Full text not available: Make sure you're using Zotero 7+ for local full-text access

📄 License

MIT