Zotero MCP Lite

A high-performance Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Zotero with customizable research workflows.

• Full Local - No cloud, no API key; runs entirely via Zotero Desktop
• Atomic Tools - 9 composable tools; LLM orchestrates as needed
• MCP-Native - Works with any MCP client
• Extensible - User-editable prompts to match your research style
• Easy Deploy - Single command install, auto-detects Zotero

Architecture

flowchart LR
    subgraph MCP [Zotero MCP Lite]
        Read[Read Operations]
        Write[Write Operations]
    end
  
    subgraph Zotero [Zotero Desktop]
        LocalAPI["/api/ endpoint"]
        ConnectorAPI["/connector/ endpoint"]
        SQLite[(zotero.sqlite)]
    end
  
    Read -->|GET| LocalAPI
    Read -->|Direct SQL| SQLite
    Write -->|POST saveItems| ConnectorAPI
    LocalAPI --> SQLite
    ConnectorAPI --> SQLite

Quick Start

Prerequisites

1. Python 3.10+
2. Zotero 6 or 7 installed

Step 0: Enable Zotero Local API

The Local API allows third-party applications to communicate with Zotero. This is required.

Steps:

1. Open Zotero → Edit → Settings (or Preferences on macOS)
2. Go to Advanced tab
3. Under Miscellaneous, check "Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero"
4. The API will be available at http://localhost:23119/api/

Note: The Local API requires manual enabling (unlike the browser Connector).

Step 1: Install

Recommended:

uv tool install zotero-mcp-lite

Alternative (requires Python 3.10+):

pip install zotero-mcp-lite

# From GitHub (latest development version)
uv tool install "git+https://github.com/xmruuu/zotero-mcp-lite.git"

# From source (for development)
git clone https://github.com/xmruuu/zotero-mcp-lite.git
cd zotero-mcp-lite && uv sync
uv run zotero-mcp setup

# Direct run without install
uvx zotero-mcp-lite serve

Step 2: Setup

zotero-mcp setup

This detects your Zotero installation and configures MCP clients automatically.

Step 3: Connect to MCP Client

Claude Code (one command):

claude mcp add zotero -- zotero-mcp serve

Other MCP clients — add to your MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "zotero-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"]
    }
  }
}

Config file locations: claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop), Settings → MCP (Cursor), ~/.gemini/settings.json (Gemini CLI)

That's it! You're ready to use Zotero with AI assistants.

Features

9 Atomic MCP Tools

Search and Navigation

• zotero_search_items - Keyword search with tag filtering
• zotero_get_recent - Recently modified/added items (excludes notes by default)
• zotero_get_collections - List all collections
• zotero_get_collection_items - Items in a collection (excludes notes by default)
• zotero_search_annotations - Search all PDF highlights across library

Content Reading

• zotero_get_item_metadata - Metadata, authors, abstract, tags
• zotero_get_item_children - Attachments, notes, and PDF annotations
• zotero_get_item_fulltext - Full text extraction

Writing (via local Connector API)

• zotero_create_note - Create note with full formatting support (tables, lists, line breaks)

4 Research Skills (MCP Prompts)

Pre-defined workflows that guide AI through common academic tasks:

Works with or without annotations. Fully customizable. See Customizing Skills.

Debugging

Debugging MCP servers can be challenging. Use MCP Inspector:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector zotero-mcp serve

This opens a web UI to test tools and prompts interactively.

Technical Notes

• Annotations: Direct SQLite query (faster than Web API, works offline)
• Cross-platform: Auto-detects Zotero on Windows, macOS, Linux
• Architecture: Read via /api/, Write via /connector/, Annotations via SQLite

Customizing Skills

Prompts are fully customizable. Copy from the package defaults and edit:

~/.zotero-mcp/prompts/
├── literature_review.md      # Single paper analysis skill
├── comparative_review.md     # Multi-paper comparison skill
├── knowledge_discovery.md    # Topic exploration skill
└── bibliography_export.md    # Citation export skill

Loading order: User files (~/.zotero-mcp/prompts/) take priority over package defaults.

Edit the .md files to customize analysis sections, add new ones, or change the output format entirely.

Credits

Thanks to @54yyyu for the original zotero-mcp project.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file.