Zoteus Documentation

Zoteus is an open-source MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Zotero. It exposes your Zotero library to AI assistants as a suite of typed, safe tools — search by meaning, format citations in any style, write back to your library, ground answers in PDF text, and explore the wider literature around any paper.

Get started

Install and add to Claude Code in one step:

claude mcp add zoteus -e ZOTERO_API_KEY=your_key -- npx -y @oscardvs/zoteus

Or run it directly:

ZOTERO_API_KEY=your_key npx -y @oscardvs/zoteus

Get a Zotero API key at zotero.org/settings/keys. For local-only reads from the Zotero desktop app no key is required — see Configuration.

What's in the docs

• Architecture — internal layers, source map, and key design principles.
• Configuration — all environment variables: core, OAuth, CIMD, ops, optional dependencies, and library backends.
• Citations — import by DOI/ISBN/arXiv, resolve CSL styles, render bibliographies with citeproc.
• Semantic Search — hybrid BM25 + vector search with privacy-first local embeddings.
• Writing to Zotero — create, patch, trash, delete items safely; manage collections, tags, and saved searches.
• Files, Full-text, Sync & Export — attachment upload/download, full-text read/write, sync deltas, group libraries, and machine-readable exports.
• Scholar Graph — explore references, citations, and related works via OpenAlex/Crossref; spot citation gaps.
• Grounding, Tag Audit & BBT Export — PDF passage retrieval with page locators, tag vocabulary audit, Better BibTeX export.
• Prompts — seven MCP Prompt workflows (literature review, cite, organize, find-related, citation audit, and more).
• Code Execution — progressive tool discovery and generated TypeScript wrappers for sandbox-based agent scripts.
• Remote OAuth — deploy Zoteus as a claude.ai custom connector with OAuth 2.1 + PKCE; single-tenant and multi-tenant modes.

Source & license

github.com/oscardvs/zoteus — MIT licensed.