zotero-mcp
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes a small set of Zotero tools to AI assistants/clients: search for Zotero items, fetch item metadata, and retrieve full text (PDF/fulltext) for items. It can connect either to the Zotero desktop app’s local API or the Zotero Web API using an API key and library ID.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
Uses environment variables for API key configuration (ZOTERO_API_KEY), which is generally safer than hardcoding. However, the README does not specify how secrets are logged/handled at runtime, nor does it describe scope granularity/least-privilege behavior. Fulltext access can increase the sensitivity of returned data, and rate-limit/throttling guidance is not documented.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You want an MCP-compatible bridge between an AI assistant and your personal/group Zotero library, and you’re able to provide the necessary Zotero API credentials or run against the local Zotero API.
Avoid When
You need a fully specified REST-style API contract (OpenAPI/SDKs) or where robust retry/idempotency semantics and rate-limit behavior must be clearly documented for agents.
Use Cases
- • Enable AI assistants to browse and search a Zotero library
- • Ask for summaries, comparisons, or metadata-driven analysis of Zotero items
- • Retrieve and use full text (where supported) for downstream reasoning or extraction
- • Automate research workflows inside MCP-compatible clients (e.g., Claude Desktop via mcpServers config)
Not For
- • High-volume or real-time analytics over Zotero at scale (no evidence of batching, rate-limit handling, or pagination guidance)
- • Use cases requiring strict/explicit guarantees about data minimization or redaction
- • Environments where exposing fulltext content is disallowed
Interface
Authentication
Auth is handled indirectly: provide a Zotero API key for the Web API path; local mode relies on Zotero desktop local API access configuration.
Pricing
As an open-source MCP server, pricing is not specified; costs depend on deployment and any Zotero service/API usage.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ Fulltext retrieval via local Zotero API depends on Zotero version/beta build; in many setups Web API may be safer/required.
- ⚠ Local mode requires Zotero app running locally and appropriate Zotero setting enabled; remote/container setups need network connectivity to local API if attempting local mode from Docker.
- ⚠ Tool outputs are described as formatted text; agents may need to parse text reliably (no structured JSON output is evidenced in the README).
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-30.