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Zotero Native MCP Server

local only

Zotero Native MCP runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 92 installs a week from npm. Last commit 4 Sep 2026.

Read and write your local Zotero 10 library. No plugin, no zotero.org API key, no cloud.

Installs per day peak 55 · avg 3
a month agotoday
92
Installs / week
npm · zotero-native-mcp
5
Stars
0 open issues
4 Sep 2026
Last commit
0 releases in 90 days
MIT
License
TypeScript

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check Zotero Native MCP every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Three servers free · no card

Connect this server

This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.

run in your terminal
claude mcp add zotero-native-mcp -- npx -y zotero-native-mcp
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero-native-mcp": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-native-mcp"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}
~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.zotero-native-mcp]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "zotero-native-mcp"]
.cursor/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero-native-mcp": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-native-mcp"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}
.vscode/mcp.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero-native-mcp": {
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "zotero-native-mcp"
      ],
      "command": "npx"
    }
  }
}

This one needs environment variables set before it will start: ZOTERO_LOCAL_PORT (Port of Zotero's local HTTP server. Defaults to 23119.), ZOTERO_LOCAL_APP_NAME (Name shown in Zotero's authorization dialog. Defaults to zotero-native-mcp.). The author declared them in the registry entry; get the values from the project itself.

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Zotero Native MCP — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Zotero Native MCP?
Zotero Native MCP runs on your own machine over stdio — there is no network address to reach, so uptime cannot be measured for it by anyone. What can be measured is adoption: the npm package zotero-native-mcp was installed 92 times last week.
How do I connect Zotero Native MCP?
Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It runs locally, so the command pulls zotero-native-mcp straight from npm; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.
How many people use Zotero Native MCP?
The npm package zotero-native-mcp was installed 92 times in the last week. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.
Is Zotero Native MCP open source?
Yes — it is published under the MIT licence, written in TypeScript and 5 stars on GitHub. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.