MCP Zotero runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 582 installs a week from npm. Last commit 25 Oct 2026.
Unofficial Zotero server: search your library, add papers by DOI, import PDFs, cite in Word
Nothing serious here today
Today is the operative word: we check MCP Zotero every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.
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.
claude mcp add mcp-zotero -e 'ZOTERO_API_KEY=<ZOTERO_API_KEY>' -e 'ZOTERO_USER_ID=<ZOTERO_USER_ID>' -- npx -y @xevos117/mcp-zotero{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-zotero": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@xevos117/mcp-zotero"
],
"env": {
"ZOTERO_API_KEY": "<ZOTERO_API_KEY>",
"ZOTERO_USER_ID": "<ZOTERO_USER_ID>"
}
}
}
}[mcp_servers.mcp-zotero]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "@xevos117/mcp-zotero"]
env = { ZOTERO_API_KEY = "<ZOTERO_API_KEY>", ZOTERO_USER_ID = "<ZOTERO_USER_ID>" }{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-zotero": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@xevos117/mcp-zotero"
],
"env": {
"ZOTERO_API_KEY": "<ZOTERO_API_KEY>",
"ZOTERO_USER_ID": "<ZOTERO_USER_ID>"
}
}
}
}{
"servers": {
"mcp-zotero": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@xevos117/mcp-zotero"
],
"env": {
"ZOTERO_API_KEY": "<ZOTERO_API_KEY>",
"ZOTERO_USER_ID": "<ZOTERO_USER_ID>"
}
}
}
}Put your own values in place of
<ZOTERO_API_KEY> (Zotero Web API key (zotero.org/settings/keys) with library read/write and file access), <ZOTERO_USER_ID> (Your numeric Zotero user ID (shown on zotero.org/settings/keys); the default library is this user's).
The author’s registry entry marks them as required.
Optional settings from the registry entry, left out of the block above:
ZOTERO_LIBRARY_TYPE (Default library type: 'user' (personal library) or 'group'), ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID (Numeric group ID; required when ZOTERO_LIBRARY_TYPE is 'group', otherwise defaults to ZOTERO_USER_ID), UNPAYWALL_EMAIL (Email sent to the Unpaywall API to find open-access PDFs; if unset, OA PDF lookup is skipped), UNSAFE_OPERATIONS (Deletions allowed: 'none' (default, all blocked), 'items' (delete_items) or 'all' (also delete_collection)).
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MCP Zotero — questions
Answers built from our own checks of this server.