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Quick Start Guide

Setup

1. Get Your Zotero API Credentials

Visit https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys and:

  1. Create a new API key
  2. Note your User ID (shown at the top)
  3. Copy your API Key

2. Configure the Server

Create a .env file:

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env and add your credentials:

ZOTERO_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
ZOTERO_USER_ID=123456

3. Test the Server

# The server is already built! Just run:
npm start

You should see:

[Zotero MCP] Starting server...
[Zotero MCP] Services initialized
[Zotero MCP] Server running on stdio
[Zotero MCP] Connected to user 123456

Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Usage with Claude Desktop

Configure Claude Desktop

macOS: Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this configuration (replace with your actual path and credentials):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/Users/danielostrow/Projects/ZoteroMCP/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "ZOTERO_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here",
        "ZOTERO_USER_ID": "123456"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

After saving the configuration, restart Claude Desktop completely.

Try It Out!

Once Claude Desktop restarts, try these commands:

Search Your Library

Search my Zotero library for machine learning papers

Generate Citations

Generate APA citations for the first 3 machine learning papers

Extract PDF Content

Extract the abstract from the first paper (you'll need to provide the item key)

Manage Your Library

Create a new collection called "AI Research Papers"

Add a new journal article about deep learning to my library

Available Tools

  1. search_items - Search and filter your library
  2. get_item - Get details for a specific item
  3. generate_citation - Format citations in any style
  4. extract_pdf_text - Get full-text from PDFs
  5. create_item - Add new items
  6. update_item - Modify existing items
  7. delete_items - Remove items
  8. manage_collections - Organize with collections
  9. manage_tags - Tag and categorize

Available Resources

  1. zotero://collections - Browse your collections
  2. zotero://tags - View all tags
  3. zotero://citation-styles - List available citation styles

Troubleshooting

"Configuration validation failed"

  • Check your .env file has both ZOTERO_API_KEY and ZOTERO_USER_ID
  • Make sure there are no extra spaces or quotes

"Authentication failed"

Claude Desktop not showing Zotero tools

  • Verify the path in claude_desktop_config.json is absolute and correct
  • Check Claude Desktop logs (Help → View Logs)
  • Restart Claude Desktop completely (Quit and reopen)

Next Steps

  • Read the full README.md for detailed documentation
  • Explore all available citation styles at zotero://citation-styles
  • Try combining tools: search → get items → generate citations
  • Index your PDFs in Zotero Desktop for full-text extraction

Support