zotero-mcp

A small, read-only MCP server that exposes your Zotero library to Claude (or any MCP client) through Zotero's built-in local HTTP API. No API keys, no cloud — it talks to the Zotero desktop app running on your machine.

What it can do

All tools are read-only:

Related MCP server: zotero-mcp

Prerequisites

1. Zotero 7 or newer, running.

2. Enable the local API: Zotero → Settings → Advanced → "Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero".

3. uv installed.

Verify the API is up:

curl 'http://localhost:23119/api/users/0/items?limit=1'

Install & test

cd ~/zotero-mcp
uv sync
uv run pytest          # unit tests (no running Zotero needed)

Smoke-test against your live library (Zotero must be open):

uv run python -c "from zotero_mcp.client import ZoteroLocalClient as C; import json; print(json.dumps(C().search_items(q='', limit=3), default=str)[:600])"

Inspect the tools interactively:

uv run mcp dev src/zotero_mcp/server.py

Register with Claude Code

claude mcp add zotero -- uv --directory ~/zotero-mcp run zotero-mcp

Then ask Claude things like "search my Zotero for papers on diffusion models" or "give me the BibTeX for item ABCD1234".

Configuration

Environment variables (optional):

• ZOTERO_BASE_URL — override the API base (default http://localhost:23119/api). Useful from WSL where Zotero runs on the Windows host, e.g. http://<windows-host-ip>:23119/api.

• ZOTERO_USER_ID — override the local user id (default 0; almost always correct).

Notes

• Read-only by design. Zotero's local API does not support writes; this server intentionally mirrors that. Citation/BibTeX formatting is delegated to Zotero itself.

• If a tool returns {"error": "Could not reach the Zotero local API..."}, Zotero is closed or the local-API setting is off.