Search the library and return a compact list of matching items.

Args: query: Free-text query. Matched against titles, creators and years by default. search_mode: "titleCreatorYear" for metadata only (fast), or "everything" to include note text and indexed PDF full text. item_type: Restrict to one Zotero item type, for example "journalArticle", "book", "thesis" or "preprint". tag: Restrict to items carrying this tag. Prefix with "-" to exclude a tag. collection: Collection key or collection name to search within. limit: Maximum number of items to return (1-100).

Returns: A Markdown list, one line per item, ending in the item key needed by zotero_get_item and the citation tools.

Search by individual metadata fields and filter by publication year.

Field filters other than item_type and tag are applied client-side after a broad server-side query, which keeps the tool usable on both the local and the web transport.

Args: title: Substring to match in the title. creator: Substring to match in any creator's name. publication: Substring to match in the journal or book title. year_from: Earliest publication year to include. year_to: Latest publication year to include. item_type: Restrict to one Zotero item type. tag: Restrict to items carrying this tag. limit: Maximum number of items to return (1-100).

Returns: A Markdown list of matching items with their item keys.

List the collections in the library with their keys and item counts.

Args: limit: Maximum number of collections to return.

Returns: A Markdown list of collections, showing nesting where a collection has a parent.

List tags used in the library, optionally filtered by substring.

Args: contains: Only return tags containing this substring. limit: Maximum number of tags to return.

Returns: A comma-separated list of tag names.

List the most recently added items in the library.

Args: limit: Number of items to return (1-50).

Returns: A Markdown list of items, newest first.

Report which transport is in use and whether writes are permitted.

Call this first when something is not working; the answer names the setting to change.

Returns: A short Markdown status report.

Fetch the full metadata of a single item by its Zotero key.

Args: item_key: Eight-character Zotero item key, as returned by the search tools. include_abstract: Include the abstract in the output.

Returns: Markdown metadata for the item, followed by a ready-made APA 7th reference and in-text citation.

List the notes and attachments belonging to an item.

Args: item_key: Eight-character Zotero item key of the parent item.

Returns: A Markdown list of child items with their own keys, which zotero_get_annotations and zotero_get_fulltext accept.

List the items held in one collection.

Args: collection_key: Eight-character collection key from zotero_list_collections. limit: Maximum number of items to return (1-200).

Returns: A Markdown list of items with their keys.

Extract readable text from the best attachment of an item.

The attachment is downloaded through the Zotero API and parsed locally, so the text is the document's own, not a summary.

Args: item_key: Key of the parent item, or of the attachment itself. pages: Optional 1-based page selection such as "1-8" or "2,5,9-11". Omit to read the whole document. max_chars: Override the configured character cap for this call.

Returns: The extracted text, preceded by a short provenance header.

Render one or more items as formatted citations.

Args: item_keys: One item key, or several separated by commas. style: "apa" for an alphabetised APA 7th reference list with hyperlinked DOIs, "apa-intext" for parenthetical citations, "bibtex" for a .bib fragment, or "csl-json" for CSL-JSON.

Returns: The formatted citations, ready to paste into a manuscript or a reference manager.

Render every item in a collection as a bibliography.

Args: collection_key: Eight-character collection key. style: "apa", "apa-intext", "bibtex" or "csl-json". limit: Maximum number of items to include (1-500).

Returns: The formatted bibliography.

Retrieve the annotations stored on an item's PDF attachments.

Highlights, underlines, sticky notes and image annotations are all returned, grouped by page, with any comment you attached to them.

Args: item_key: Key of the parent item or of an attachment. annotation_type: Restrict to "highlight", "underline", "note" or "image". colour: Restrict to one highlight colour, given as a hex value such as "#ffd400". Useful when colour encodes a coding scheme.

Returns: A Markdown report of the annotations, ordered by page.

Search the text of highlights and comments across the whole library.

Args: query: Substring to look for in highlighted text and comments. limit: Maximum number of matching annotations to return (1-100).

Returns: A Markdown list of matches, each naming the annotation key and the attachment it belongs to.

Ask the Zotero desktop application for a local API key.

Zotero raises a confirmation dialogue on the desktop. Approve it, then copy the returned key into ZOTBRIDGE_LOCAL_API_KEY and restart the MCP client. Read access does not need this; writes over the local transport do.

Returns: The granted key and the next step, or an explanation of why the request failed.

Look a DOI up on Crossref and save the resulting item to Zotero.

Args: doi: The DOI, with or without the https://doi.org/ prefix. collection_key: Optional collection to file the new item in. tags: Optional comma-separated tags to apply. dry_run: Fetch and show the metadata without writing anything.

Returns: A confirmation carrying the new item key and an APA 7th rendering of what was saved.

Attach a child note to an existing item.

Args: item_key: Key of the parent item. content: Note text. Plain text is converted to simple HTML paragraphs; if the text already contains HTML tags it is sent unchanged. tags: Optional comma-separated tags for the note. dry_run: Show the payload without writing.

Returns: The new note's key, or the payload if dry_run is set.

Change one or more metadata fields on an existing item.

The item's current version is read first and supplied as If-Unmodified-Since-Version, so a concurrent edit in the Zotero desktop application causes the write to fail rather than silently overwrite.

Args: item_key: Key of the item to edit. fields_json: A JSON object of field names to new values, for example {"volume": "12", "pages": "45-58"}. dry_run: Show the change without writing.

Returns: A before-and-after summary of the fields that changed.

Add or remove tags on an item without touching its other fields.

Args: item_key: Key of the item. add: Comma-separated tags to add. remove: Comma-separated tags to remove. dry_run: Show the resulting tag set without writing.

Returns: The item's tag list after the change.

Create an item from a metadata object you supply directly.

Use this for sources without a DOI, such as a thesis, a technical report or a dataset.

Args: item_json: A JSON object with at least "itemType" and "title". Creators take the Zotero shape: [{"creatorType": "author", "firstName": "J.", "lastName": "Odipio"}] collection_key: Optional collection to file the item in. dry_run: Show the payload without writing.

Returns: The new item key and its APA 7th rendering.