Zotero MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that integrates with Zotero's local API to search, retrieve, read PDFs, and add items by DOI from your Zotero library.

Prerequisites

• Zotero application with local API enabled
• uv (recommended) or Python 3.12+

Enable Zotero Local API

In Zotero's settings (Preferences → Advanced → General), enable:

☑️ Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero

Configuration

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file (e.g., mcp.json for Claude Desktop or Cursor):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["masaki39-zotero-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Tool	Parameters	Description
zotero_search_items	q (optional)	Search items in your Zotero library by author name or title. Returns up to 30 matching items (excluding attachments).
zotero_get_item	itemKey (required)	Retrieve detailed information about a specific item including title, authors, publication info, abstract, tags, etc.
zotero_read_pdf	itemKey (required), page_number (optional), attachment_index (optional, default=1)	Extract text from a PDF attachment. Specify a page number to read a single page, or omit to read all pages. Use attachment_index to select among multiple PDFs.
confirm_doi	doi (required)	Fetch metadata for a DOI from CrossRef. Use this to validate a DOI before adding it to Zotero.
add_item_by_doi	doi (required)	Add an item to Zotero by DOI. Validates via CrossRef and checks for duplicates before adding.

Example Usage

Once configured, you can use these tools through your MCP client:

• "Search my Zotero library for papers about spinal deformity"
• "Get details for item ABCD1234"
• "Read page 3 of the PDF attached to item ABCD1234"
• "Look up DOI 10.1038/s41586-021-03819-2 and add it to my Zotero library"

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome at https://github.com/masaki39/zotero-mcp