Zotero MCP Lite

A high-performance Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Zotero with customizable research workflows.

• Full Local - No cloud, no API key; runs entirely via Zotero Desktop
• Atomic Tools - 9 composable tools; LLM orchestrates as needed
• MCP-Native - Works with any MCP client
• Extensible - User-editable prompts to match your research style
• Easy Deploy - Single command install, auto-detects Zotero

Architecture

flowchart LR
    subgraph MCP [Zotero MCP Lite]
        Read[Read Operations]
        Write[Write Operations]
    end
  
    subgraph Zotero [Zotero Desktop]
        LocalAPI["/api/ endpoint"]
        ConnectorAPI["/connector/ endpoint"]
        SQLite[(zotero.sqlite)]
    end
  
    Read -->|GET| LocalAPI
    Read -->|Direct SQL| SQLite
    Write -->|POST saveItems| ConnectorAPI
    LocalAPI --> SQLite
    ConnectorAPI --> SQLite

Quick Start

Prerequisites

1. Python 3.10+
2. Zotero 7+ installed (the Local API is a Zotero 7 feature; earlier versions are not supported)

Step 0: Enable Zotero Local API

The Local API allows third-party applications to communicate with Zotero. This is required.

Steps:

1. Open Zotero → Edit → Settings (or Preferences on macOS)
2. Go to Advanced tab
3. Under General (in Zotero 7), check "Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero"
4. The API will be available at http://localhost:23119/api/

Note: The Local API requires manual enabling (unlike the browser Connector).

Step 1: Install

Recommended:

uv tool install zotero-mcp-lite

Alternative (requires Python 3.10+):

pip install zotero-mcp-lite

<details> <summary>Alternative: Install from GitHub or source</summary>

# From GitHub (latest development version)
uv tool install "git+https://github.com/xmruuu/zotero-mcp-lite.git"

# From source (for development)
git clone https://github.com/xmruuu/zotero-mcp-lite.git
cd zotero-mcp-lite && uv sync
uv run zotero-mcp setup

# Direct run without install
uvx zotero-mcp-lite serve

</details>

Step 2: Setup

zotero-mcp setup

This detects your Zotero installation and configures MCP clients automatically.

Step 3: Connect to MCP Client

Claude Code (one command):

claude mcp add zotero -- zotero-mcp serve

Other MCP clients — add to your MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "zotero-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Config file locations: claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop), Settings → MCP (Cursor), ~/.gemini/settings.json (Gemini CLI)

That's it! You're ready to use Zotero with AI assistants.

Remote setup (claude.ai web · Word add-in · mobile)

The default serve command uses stdio transport, which works only with locally-installed clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code). To make Zotero MCP available in claude.ai web, the Microsoft Word Claude add-in, or any other surface that runs through your claude.ai account, the server must be reachable over HTTPS as a Custom Connector.

Two architectural realities to know up front:

• Zotero must run on the same machine as the MCP server — the server talks to Zotero's local API at 127.0.0.1:23119. Each user runs their own server; no central hosted instance is possible.
• claude.ai Custom Connectors only support OAuth (not pasted bearer tokens). This server embeds a small OAuth 2.1 authorization server with both DCR (RFC 7591) and CIMD support so claude.ai's connector flow works out of the box.

Quickest path: the wizard

zotero-mcp setup --remote

This will:

1. Download cloudflared if it isn't already on your system (cached under your user data dir).
2. Generate a random admin password and write it to .env (or reuse the existing one).
3. Start a Cloudflare tunnel and capture the public *.trycloudflare.com URL.
4. Start the MCP server with OAuth enabled.
5. Print the connector URL to paste into claude.ai → Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector. When the login page appears in your browser, enter the password from step 2.
6. Watch for the OAuth handshake to complete and print Connected!

Leave the window open — closing it stops the tunnel and the server. For a long-running deployment, run as a system service.

Manual setup

Prefer to wire things yourself? Set both environment variables in .env:

ZOTERO_MCP_ADMIN_PASSWORD=<a long random string>
ZOTERO_MCP_PUBLIC_URL=https://<your-tunnel-url>

Start a tunnel of your choice:

Tunnel	Why
Cloudflare Tunnel	Free, stable URL, no signup needed for *.trycloudflare.com. cloudflared tunnel --url http://localhost:8000
ngrok	Easiest for a quick test. Free tier rotates the URL each restart. ngrok http 8000
Tailscale Funnel	Free, gives a stable *.ts.net HTTPS URL. Requires a Tailscale account.

Then run the server:

zotero-mcp serve --transport streamable-http --port 8000

Add the public URL (with /mcp path) on claude.ai: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector.

Security caveats

• The admin password is the only thing protecting your Zotero library on the public internet. Use a strong random password. The .env file is sensitive — keep its file permissions tight, do not commit it.
• --no-auth exists as an escape hatch for local debugging. Never expose an unauthenticated server through a tunnel — anyone with the URL can read and write your Zotero library (including zotero_create_note).
• OAuth tokens persist in a SQLite file under your user data directory. Delete that file to effectively log out claude.ai everywhere.

Features

9 Atomic MCP Tools

Search and Navigation

• zotero_search_items - Keyword search with tag filtering
• zotero_get_recent - Recently modified/added items (excludes notes by default)
• zotero_get_collections - List all collections
• zotero_get_collection_items - Items in a collection (excludes notes by default)
• zotero_search_annotations - Search highlights across library (PDF, EPUB, snapshot)

Content Reading

• zotero_get_item_metadata - Metadata, authors, abstract, tags
• zotero_get_item_children - Attachments, notes, and annotations (PDF/EPUB/snapshot)
• zotero_get_item_fulltext - Full text extraction

Writing (via local Connector API)

• zotero_create_note - Create note with full formatting support (tables, lists, line breaks)

4 Research Skills (MCP Prompts)

Pre-defined workflows that guide AI through common academic tasks:

Skill	Use Case	What It Does
knowledge_discovery(query)	Explore a topic	Searches titles AND your annotations
literature_review(item_key)	Deep-dive one paper	Structured analysis from annotations or full text
comparative_review(item_keys)	Compare papers	Table-rich synthesis with insights
bibliography_export(item_keys)	Prepare citations	APA, IEEE, and BibTeX formats

Works with or without annotations. Fully customizable. See Customizing Skills.

Debugging

Debugging MCP servers can be challenging. Use MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector zotero-mcp serve

This opens a web UI to test tools and prompts interactively.

Technical Notes

• Annotations: Direct SQLite query (faster than Web API, works offline)
• Cross-platform: Auto-detects Zotero on Windows, macOS, Linux
• Architecture: Read via /api/, Write via /connector/, Annotations via SQLite

Customizing Skills

Prompts are fully customizable. Copy from the package defaults and edit:

~/.zotero-mcp/prompts/
├── literature_review.md      # Single paper analysis skill
├── comparative_review.md     # Multi-paper comparison skill
├── knowledge_discovery.md    # Topic exploration skill
└── bibliography_export.md    # Citation export skill

Loading order: User files (~/.zotero-mcp/prompts/) take priority over package defaults.

Edit the .md files to customize analysis sections, add new ones, or change the output format entirely.

Credits

Thanks to @54yyyu for the original zotero-mcp project.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file.