Zotero MCP Server

Content

Zotero MCP Server connects MCP clients to Zotero research libraries. It supports local Zotero access for offline-friendly reads, Zotero Web API access for cloud or write workflows, and hybrid setups that read locally while using web API credentials for operations the local API cannot perform.

The server exposes paper search, item metadata, full text, collections, tags, recent items, notes, annotations, duplicate handling, DOI or URL imports, optional PDF/EPUB helpers, optional semantic search, and optional Scite citation intelligence.

Source Review

• https://github.com/54yyyu/zotero-mcp
• https://github.com/54yyyu/zotero-mcp/blob/main/README.md
• https://github.com/54yyyu/zotero-mcp/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md
• https://github.com/54yyyu/zotero-mcp/blob/main/pyproject.toml
• https://pypi.org/pypi/zotero-mcp-server/json

Verified on 2026-06-18. The repository README documents Claude Desktop, ChatGPT Developer Mode, Chorus, and general MCP-client usage. The PyPI package is zotero-mcp-server, requires Python 3.10 or newer, and exposes the zotero-mcp and zotero-cli console commands.

Features

• Search Zotero items by title, creator, content, tags, collections, or recent additions.
• Retrieve item metadata, BibTeX-style citation data, full text, child items, notes, annotations, collections, and tags.
• Add papers by DOI, URL, arXiv, generic webpage, or local file when write mode is configured.
• Create and manage collections, update metadata, batch-update tags, and merge duplicates with preview-oriented workflows.
• Run optional semantic search with local default embeddings or configured OpenAI/Gemini embeddings.
• Use optional PDF outline extraction, EPUB annotation support, and Scite citation intelligence.
• Run the standalone zotero-cli for terminal research-library automation.

Installation

Install the package:

uv tool install zotero-mcp-server
zotero-mcp setup

For local Zotero access, enable Zotero's local API and configure the MCP client:

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

For write-mode or cloud-library access, add the Zotero Web API environment variables documented upstream, such as ZOTERO_API_KEY, ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID, and ZOTERO_LIBRARY_TYPE.

Use Cases

• Ask Claude to find papers in a Zotero library by topic, author, tag, or collection.
• Retrieve paper metadata, citations, notes, annotations, and full text for a literature review.
• Use semantic search to find conceptually related papers instead of only exact keyword matches.
• Add new papers by DOI or URL and organize them into collections with tags.
• Review duplicate papers and merge them only after confirming the preview.
• Connect a research library to ChatGPT Developer Mode through a carefully configured tunnel when a web-based MCP client is required.

Safety and Privacy

Research libraries are sensitive even when the papers are public. Zotero items, notes, annotations, collections, tags, group-library membership, local paths, queries, and generated summaries can reveal academic, medical, legal, product, or competitive research direction.

Keep Zotero API keys out of prompts and committed config files. Prefer local read-only mode for sensitive libraries, use narrow web API permissions for write-mode workflows, and review every broad metadata, tag, collection, note, annotation, import, or duplicate-merge operation before applying it.

If you enable semantic search, confirm whether embeddings are produced locally or sent to a hosted provider. If you expose the MCP server through SSE, HTTP, or a tunnel, treat the tunnel URL and session configuration as sensitive access to your research library.

Duplicate Check

Checked current content/mcp/, content/tools/, content/skills/, open pull requests, and repository-wide content for 54yyyu/zotero-mcp, zotero-mcp-server, Zotero MCP, Zotero Claude MCP, research library MCP, and citation management MCP. Existing arXiv and literature-search entries cover paper discovery, but no dedicated Zotero MCP entry, exact source URL duplicate, target file, or open duplicate PR was found.