# 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.
**Note**: If you don't want to set up API keys, see the [SQLite database server option](#alternative-direct-sqlite-database-access) below.
## Setup
1. Install dependencies:
```bash
pip install -e .
```
2. Create a `.env` file in the root directory with your Zotero credentials:
```bash
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](https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys).
## 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`:
```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.
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"zotero-mcp-server": {
"command": "bash",
"args": [
"-c",
"cd /Users/shahswai/personal/zotero-mcp-server && source .venv/bin/activate && python -m zotero_mcp.server"
]
}
}
}
```
## Alternative: Direct SQLite Database Access
If you prefer to bypass the Zotero API entirely and work directly with the SQLite database, use `zotero_mcp/db_server.py`. This approach gives you full control over your Zotero data without API limitations. Note that you'll need to close Zotero completely before using this method since SQLite locks the database when Zotero is running.
Claude MCP config for the SQLite version:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"zotero-mcp-server": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/Users/swair/work/code/zotero-mcp-server",
"run",
"python",
"-m",
"zotero_mcp.db_server"
]
}
}
}
```
## Example Usage
The server allows you to:
- Search papers by tags
- Get paper details and attached notes
- Add notes to papers
- Request paper summaries
