Zotero MCP Server
An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that integrates with Zotero's local API to search, retrieve, and extract full text from PDFs in your Zotero library.
Prerequisites
- Zotero application with local API enabled
- uv (recommended) or Python 3.12+ with pip
Enable Zotero Local API
In Zotero's settings (Preferences → Advanced → General), enable:
☑️ Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero
Configuration
Add the following to your MCP client configuration file (e.g., mcp_config.json for Antigravity, mcp.json for Claude Desktop or Cursor):
{
"mcpServers": {
"zotero": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["git+https://github.com/yuogawaiic/zotero-mcp.git"]
}
}
}
Available Tools
| Tool | Parameters | Description |
|---|---|---|
zotero_search_items | q (optional) | Search items in your Zotero library by author name or title. Returns up to 30 matching items (excluding attachments). |
zotero_get_item | itemKey (required) | Retrieve detailed information about a specific item including title, authors, publication info, abstract, tags, etc. |
zotero_read_pdf | itemKey (required) | Extract full text from a PDF attachment associated with a Zotero item. |
read_pdf | local_path (required) | Extract full text from a PDF file at a local file path. Can be used with filesystem MCP servers. |