zotero-mcp

A small, read-only MCP server that exposes your Zotero library to Claude (or any MCP client) through Zotero's built-in local HTTP API. No API keys, no cloud — it talks to the Zotero desktop app running on your machine.

What it can do

All tools are read-only:

Tool	Purpose
zotero_search	Search the library (title/creator/year, or everything)
zotero_get_item	Full metadata for one item
zotero_get_children	Notes, attachments, and annotations of an item
zotero_get_item_fulltext	Extracted full text of a PDF/attachment
zotero_list_collections	Browse the collection tree
zotero_collection_items	Items in a collection
zotero_list_tags	List/filter tags
zotero_saved_searches	List saved searches
zotero_export_bibtex	Export items as BibTeX
zotero_export_citation	Formatted citation + bibliography in any CSL style
zotero_health	Check connectivity

Prerequisites

1. Zotero 7 or newer, running.
2. Enable the local API: Zotero → Settings → Advanced → "Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero".
3. uv installed.

Verify the API is up:

curl 'http://localhost:23119/api/users/0/items?limit=1'

Install & test

cd ~/zotero-mcp
uv sync
uv run pytest          # unit tests (no running Zotero needed)

Smoke-test against your live library (Zotero must be open):

uv run python -c "from zotero_mcp.client import ZoteroLocalClient as C; import json; print(json.dumps(C().search_items(q='', limit=3), default=str)[:600])"

Inspect the tools interactively:

uv run mcp dev src/zotero_mcp/server.py

Register with Claude Code

claude mcp add zotero -- uv --directory ~/zotero-mcp run zotero-mcp

Then ask Claude things like "search my Zotero for papers on diffusion models" or "give me the BibTeX for item ABCD1234".

Configuration

Environment variables (optional):

• ZOTERO_BASE_URL — override the API base (default http://localhost:23119/api). Useful from WSL where Zotero runs on the Windows host, e.g. http://<windows-host-ip>:23119/api.
• ZOTERO_USER_ID — override the local user id (default 0; almost always correct).

Notes

• Read-only by design. Zotero's local API does not support writes; this server intentionally mirrors that. Citation/BibTeX formatting is delegated to Zotero itself.
• If a tool returns {"error": "Could not reach the Zotero local API..."}, Zotero is closed or the local-API setting is off.