MCP Zotero

A Model Context Protocol server for Zotero integration that allows Claude to interact with your Zotero library.

Setup

1. Get your Zotero credentials:

   # First, create an API key at https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys # Then use it to get your user ID: curl -H "Zotero-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" https://api.zotero.org/keys/current

   The response will look like:

   { "userID": 123456, "username": "your_username", "access": { "user": { "library": true, "files": true, "notes": true, "write": true } } }

   The userID value is what you need.

2. Set environment variables:

   export ZOTERO_API_KEY="your-api-key" export ZOTERO_USER_ID="user-id-from-curl"

3. Verify your credentials:

   # Test that your credentials work: curl -H "Zotero-API-Key: $ZOTERO_API_KEY" \ "https://api.zotero.org/users/$ZOTERO_USER_ID/collections"

   You should see your collections list in the response.

4. Install and run:

   # Install globally (recommended) npm install -g mcp-zotero mcp-zotero # Or run directly with npx npx mcp-zotero

Related MCP server: Zotero MCP Connector

Integration with Claude Desktop

To use this server with Claude Desktop, add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration:

Available Tools

• get_collections: List all collections in your library

• get_collection_items: Get items in a specific collection

• get_item_details: Get detailed information about a paper

• search_library: Search your entire library

• get_recent: Get recently added papers

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues:

1. Verify your environment variables are set:

   echo $ZOTERO_API_KEY echo $ZOTERO_USER_ID

2. Check the installation:

   npm list -g mcp-zotero

3. Try reinstalling:

   npm uninstall -g mcp-zotero npm install -g mcp-zotero