Zotero MCP Server

A MCP (Model Context Protocol) server to let your MCP clients (e.g. Anthropic Claude App, Goose, possibly vscode Cline too) interact with your local Zotero repository. This server enables programmatic access to your Zotero library, allowing you to search papers, manage notes, and more.

Setup

Install dependencies:

pip install -e .

Create a .env file in the root directory with your Zotero credentials:

ZOTERO_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
ZOTERO_USER_ID=your_user_id_here

You can get your Zotero API key and user ID from Zotero's settings page.

Integration with Anthropic Desktop App

To integrate with the Anthropic Desktop app, add the following configuration to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero-mcp-server": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/Users/swairshah/work/research/zotero-mcp",
        "run",
        "python",
        "-m",
        "zotero_mcp.server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

If this gives an error like

{"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"claude-ai","version":"0.1.0"}},"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":0}
  error: unexpected argument '--directory' found

Then use the following config, make sure to do uv venv; source .venv/bin/activate; uv pip install ".[dev]" to make sure the server can be run with all dependencies.

{
   "mcpServers": {
      "zotero-mcp-server": {
        "command": "bash",
        "args": [
          "-c",
          "cd /Users/shahswai/personal/zotero-mcp-server && source .venv/bin/activate && python -m zotero_mcp.server"
        ]
      }
    }
  }

Example Usage

Zotero MCP Server Example

The server allows you to:

Search papers by tags
Get paper details and attached notes
Add notes to papers
Request paper summaries

This server cannot be installed

security - not tested

license - permissive license

quality - not tested

local-only server

The server can only run on the client's local machine because it depends on local resources.

A server that enables MCP clients like Anthropic Claude App to interact with local Zotero libraries, allowing users to search papers, manage notes, and access research materials through natural language.

Related Resources

Reddit Discussion about this server

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