Local Zotero MCP

An MCP server that gives an LLM read-only access to your local Zotero library via the desktop app's Local API. It talks to Zotero over http://127.0.0.1:23119, so nothing leaves your machine and no API keys are required.

Requirements

• Zotero desktop app, running, with Settings > Advanced > "Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero" enabled.
• uv installed.

Quickstart

No cloning or installing required — uvx fetches the published package from PyPI and runs it. Add this to your Claude Desktop config (claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "local-zotero-mcp", "zotero-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop and the Zotero tools should be available. uvx caches the environment after the first run, so subsequent launches are fast; add --refresh to args if you want to force-pull the latest version.

Tools

Tool	Description
search_items	Search the library by title/creator/year or full text
get_item	Get full data for an item, optionally with citation/bibliography
get_item_children	List an item's notes and attachments
list_collections	List collections
get_collection_items	List items in a collection
list_tags	List tags
get_bibliography	Generate a formatted bibliography for one or more items
list_saved_searches	List saved searches
execute_saved_search	Run a saved search and return matching items
get_attachment_file_path	Get the local file path of an attachment

This server is read-only: it does not create, edit, or delete anything in your library.

Local development

Clone the repo and install it locally:

uv sync

Run it directly from the checkout:

uv run zotero-mcp

Point Claude Desktop at your local checkout instead of GitHub with:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/Local-Zotero-MCP", "zotero-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Run the tests:

uv run pytest

Tests mock the Zotero HTTP responses, so a running Zotero instance isn't required. To smoke-test against your own Zotero library:

uv run mcp dev zotero_mcp/server.py