📌Overview

Purpose: The MCP Zotero framework aims to facilitate seamless integration between Claude and your Zotero library, allowing for efficient library management and interaction.

Overview: MCP Zotero acts as a Model Context Protocol server that interfaces with Zotero, enabling users to utilize their libraries through Claude. It is designed to optimize the way users access, manage, and manipulate their collection of references in Zotero.

Key Features:

Collection Management: Easily list and access all collections in your Zotero library, making organization straightforward.
Detailed Item Retrieval: Fetch detailed information regarding specific papers, providing essential data at your fingertips.
Search Functionality: Conduct comprehensive searches across your entire library to quickly locate resources.
Recent Additions Tracking: Stay updated with the latest papers added to your library, ensuring you never miss important contributions.

MCP Zotero

A Model Context Protocol server for Zotero integration that allows Claude to interact with your Zotero library.

Setup

Get your Zotero credentials:

# First, create an API key at https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys
# Then use it to get your user ID:
curl -H "Zotero-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" https://api.zotero.org/keys/current

The response will look like:

{
  "userID": 123456,
  "username": "your_username",
  "access": {
    "user": {
      "library": true,
      "files": true,
      "notes": true,
      "write": true
    }
  }
}

The userID value is what you need.

Set environment variables:

export ZOTERO_API_KEY="your-api-key"
export ZOTERO_USER_ID="user-id-from-curl"

Verify your credentials:

# Test that your credentials work:
curl -H "Zotero-API-Key: $ZOTERO_API_KEY" \
     "https://api.zotero.org/users/$ZOTERO_USER_ID/collections"

You should see your collections list in the response.

Install and run:

# Install globally (recommended)
npm install -g mcp-zotero
mcp-zotero

# Or run directly with npx
npx mcp-zotero

Integration with Claude Desktop

To use this server with Claude Desktop, add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "mcp-zotero",
      "env": {
        "ZOTERO_API_KEY": YOUR_API_KEY,
        "ZOTERO_USER_ID": YOUR_USER_ID
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

get_collections: List all collections in your library
get_collection_items: Get items in a specific collection
get_item_details: Get detailed information about a paper
search_library: Search your entire library
get_recent: Get recently added papers

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues:

Verify your environment variables are set:

echo $ZOTERO_API_KEY
echo $ZOTERO_USER_ID

Check the installation:
```
npm list -g mcp-zotero
```

Try reinstalling:

npm uninstall -g mcp-zotero
npm install -g mcp-zotero