zotero-mcp

MCP.Pizza Chef: 54yyyu

Once it is running, an assistant like Claude or ChatGPT can look through everything you have saved in Zotero: titles, authors, collections, tags, full text where available, and the highlights you made inside PDFs. It can add new papers by DOI or link, tidy up duplicates, and write notes back into your library. Reading a library stored on your own computer needs no key; saving changes to the Zotero website does.

Files/PDF

Web/Research

Writing

Use This MCP server To

Find every paper in my library on a given topic Summarize a paper I saved last week Pull all my highlights out of a PDF with page numbers Add a paper to my library from a link or DOI Check whether anything I cite has been retracted Get a clean citation for a paper I already have

README

Zotero MCP: Chat with your Research Library—Local or Web—in Claude, ChatGPT, and more.

Zotero MCP seamlessly connects your Zotero research library with ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI assistants (e.g., Cherry Studio, Chorus, Cursor) via the Model Context Protocol. Review papers, get summaries, analyze citations, extract PDF annotations, and more!

✨ Features

🧠 AI-Powered Semantic Search

Vector-based similarity search over your entire research library (requires [semantic] extra)
Multiple embedding models: Default (free, local), OpenAI, Gemini, and Ollama
Intelligent results with similarity scores and contextual matching
Auto-updating database with configurable sync schedules

zotero-mcp FAQ

Which apps does this work in?

Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Cursor, Cherry Studio, and Chorus are all named in the project docs, plus any other assistant that supports MCP.

Do I need a Zotero account key?

Not for reading a library stored on your own computer. Saving changes to the Zotero cloud does need a key from your account.

Can I use this to write a literature review?

Yes — you can ask your assistant to search your library by topic, summarize what it finds, and hand back the citations.

How hard is setup?

You install it with one terminal command, then run a setup step that configures Claude Desktop for you. A community installer with a Mac app exists if you would rather not open a terminal at all.

Can it search by meaning rather than exact words?

Yes, if you add the optional semantic search extra. It works for free on your own machine, or with OpenAI, Gemini, or Ollama for sharper results.

Can it change my library, or only read it?

Both. It can add papers, create collections, update tags, and merge duplicates, with a preview before anything is merged.