Model Context Protocol server for Zotero

This project is a python-based server that implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Zotero .

Features

This MCP server provides the following tools:

zotero_search_items: Search for items in your Zotero library using a text query
zotero_item_metadata: Get detailed information about a specific Zotero item
zotero_item_fulltext: Get the full text of a specific Zotero item

These can be discovered and accessed through the MCP Inspector or any other MCP client .

Each tool returns formatted text containing relevant information from your Zotero items.

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


    "zotero": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["zotero-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "ZOTERO_LOCAL": "true"
      }
    }

The following environment variables are supported:

You can find your library ID and create an API key in your Zotero account settings: https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys

The local Zotero API can be used with Zotero 7 running on the same machine.

n.b. An upcoming Zotero release is needed to support the fulltext API locally: https://github.com/zotero/zotero/pull/5004

Start the MCP Inspector for local development:


npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run zotero-mcp

To run the test suite:


uv run pytest