oscardvs/zoteus

Overview

MCP server for Zotero that enables search, citation management, DOI-based adding, safe writes, semantic search, and PDF page images. Built in TypeScript and local-first, it works with Claude, ChatGPT, and any MCP client.

Best for

Best for
Researchers and developers who use Zotero and want AI assistants to access their library.

Use cases

• Search a Zotero library from an MCP client
• Add references by DOI without leaving the chat
• Retrieve PDF page images for cited sources

How to use

Install

claude mcp add --transport stdio zoteus -e ZOTERO_API_KEY=xxxxx -- npx -y @oscardvs/zoteus

Tools exposed

• ZOTERO_API_KEY
• ZOTEUS_LOCAL
• ZOTEUS_LOCAL_API_KEY
• ZOTEUS_EMBEDDINGS
• ZOTEUS_EMBEDDING_MODEL
• ZOTEUS_EMBEDDING_DTYPE
• ZOTEUS_EMBED_BATCH_SIZE
• ZOTEUS_EMBED_BATCH_DELAY_MS
• ZOTEUS_INDEX_OWN_WORDS
• ZOTEUS_INDEX_FULLTEXT
• ZOTEUS_INDEX_BACKEND
• ZOTEUS_TRANSFORMERS_PATH
• ZOTEUS_LOG_FILE
• ZOTEUS_ALLOW_DELETE

Tested with

Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT

Notes

MCP server for Zotero that enables search, citation management, DOI-based adding, safe writes, semantic search, and PDF page images. Built in TypeScript and local-first, it works with Claude, ChatGPT, and any MCP client.

40 stars on GitHub. Last updated 2026-09-16. Licensed MIT.

Use cases

• Search a Zotero library from an MCP client
• Add references by DOI without leaving the chat
• Retrieve PDF page images for cited sources

Pros

• Local-first design keeps data on your machine
• Works with any MCP client, not just Claude or ChatGPT
• Safe write operations reduce accidental edits

Cons

• Requires local MCP server setup and a running Zotero instance
• Limited to Zotero users
• Small community with 40 stars

Indexed from awesome-mcp-servers-punkpeye and enriched against its public facts.