zotero-mcp MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

Installs as a Zotero plugin (.xpi), no separate server process
20 tools: search, semantic search, full-text, annotations, notes, tags
Reads cached PDF full text from Zotero's database
100% local — library data never leaves your machine

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

zotero.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-mcp"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "zotero",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-mcp"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": {
        "path": "npx",
        "args": [
          "-y",
          "zotero-mcp"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add zotero -- npx -y zotero-mcp

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use zotero-mcp

How to draft a literature review from your Zotero library

👤 Researchers, PhD students, analysts ⏱ ~45 min intermediate

When to use: You've collected 50+ papers on a topic in Zotero and need to synthesize them into a coherent review.

Prerequisites

Zotero desktop with zotero-mcp plugin installed — Download .xpi from releases, Tools → Add-ons → Install from file
PDFs attached and indexed — Right-click collection → Rebuild Full-Text Index if search is empty

Flow

Scope the review

Semantically search my Zotero collection 'Agentic AI' for papers on tool selection strategies. Return top 15.✓ Copied

→ Ranked list with titles, authors, year, abstract snippet
Extract key claims per paper

For each of those 15, read the full text and extract (a) the main claim, (b) method, (c) dataset or setting.✓ Copied

→ Structured table you can sort
Synthesize with citations

Write a 3-page review clustering these by approach. Cite every claim with Zotero item keys in (Author, Year) style.✓ Copied

→ Draft with bracketed citations mapping back to your library

Outcome: A first-draft review grounded in papers you actually own, every claim traceable to a Zotero item.

Pitfalls

Full-text search returns nothing — Zotero only indexes text-layer PDFs. Run OCR on image PDFs first
Citations hallucinated — Ask for the Zotero item key (e.g. ABCD1234) alongside every citation — you can paste it into a verifier

Combine with: arxiv

Summarize your highlights across a Zotero collection

👤 Avid readers, knowledge workers ⏱ ~20 min beginner

When to use: You've highlighted things across 30 books/papers and want a thematic summary.

Flow

Pull annotations by color/tag

Search my yellow highlights in collection 'Product Strategy'. Return the highlighted text plus the parent item.✓ Copied

→ List of highlights grouped by source
Cluster into themes

Cluster the highlights into 5-7 themes. For each theme, give a 2-sentence synthesis with the source items.✓ Copied

→ Themed notes with citations

Outcome: Scattered highlights turned into a personal knowledge-base note.

Combine with: anytype

Auto-tag and annotate newly added Zotero papers

👤 Library maintainers ⏱ ~15 min intermediate

When to use: You drop papers into a 'Unsorted' collection and want them triaged weekly.

Flow

List items added this week in 'Unsorted'

List Zotero items added in the last 7 days to my 'Unsorted' collection.✓ Copied

→ Inbox of new items
Generate tags and a 1-line summary per item

For each, propose 3-5 tags and a 1-line summary based on abstract. Apply them via the write tools.✓ Copied

→ Items now tagged; summary saved as a note attachment

Outcome: A self-maintaining Zotero library with consistent tagging.

Pitfalls

Write tools modify your library irreversibly — no undo — Run against a test collection first, or back up zotero.sqlite before enabling writes

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

zotero + arxiv

Arxiv-first exploration then auto-save to Zotero for reading

Find 10 recent arxiv papers on retrieval-augmented agents, then add the ones I don't already have to my 'Agents' Zotero collection.✓ Copied

zotero + anytype

Literature notes live in Anytype; source PDFs stay in Zotero

For the top 10 papers in my 'Agents' collection, create an Anytype page per paper with the summary and a backlink to the Zotero item key.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
search_library	query: str, filters?: { collection, tag, itemType }	Text/metadata search across your library	0 — local DB
search_fulltext	query: str	Search inside PDF bodies (only indexed text layers)	0
semantic_search	query: str, top_k?: int	Concept-level match instead of keyword	0 — local embeddings
search_annotations	color?, tag?, query?	Pull your highlights/notes	0
get_item_details	item_key: str	Expand a reference from a search hit	0
get_content	item_key or attachment_key	Feed the full paper to Claude	0

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: None — fully local
Tokens per call: Full PDF fetches can hit 30k+ tokens; chunk before feeding
Monetary: Free (Zotero is free; the plugin is MIT)
Tip: Prefer search_fulltext returning snippets over get_content returning the whole PDF

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: None — plugin runs inside Zotero; local HTTP on 127.0.0.1:23120

Data egress: None in read mode; writes modify zotero.sqlite locally

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

MCP client can't connect on port 23120

Open Zotero → Preferences → Zotero MCP Plugin → verify 'Enable server' is checked and port isn't blocked

Verify: curl http://127.0.0.1:23120/health

Full-text search returns empty

PDF has no text layer. Right-click item → Reindex Item, or run OCR via Zotero's built-in OCR

Write operations forbidden

Enable write mode in plugin preferences — off by default for safety

Alternatives

zotero-mcp vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
Official Zotero Web API	You need cloud sync access from a remote server	Requires API key; rate-limited; no semantic search
Readwise MCP	Your highlights live in Readwise not Zotero	Cloud-based, subscription required

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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