get_collection_items
Get all items in a specific collection
LABSCO SUMMARY
Your reference library becomes something you can ask about mid-sentence.
Five tools, all of them reads: collections, their contents, one item's details, a library-wide search, and the recent list. That is enough to settle "what do I already have on this" without opening Zotero, and not enough to file anything — nothing here adds an item, a note or a tag. Collection keys and item keys are how the tools chain, so a search or a collection listing is the first call in nearly every sequence.
What it is
A read-only server over one Zotero user library: collections, their contents, item details, search and recent additions.
What you get
- The library's collections listed, and the items inside any one of them by collection key
- A search across the entire library from a single query
- Item-level detail for one paper by item key
- Recent additions with a limit, for resuming a reading list rather than re-finding it
Requirements
ZOTERO_API_KEY and ZOTERO_USER_ID — a personal API key and the user id of the library it belongs to.
Setup effort
One command plus a key — npm install -g mcp-zotero, then supply credentials
USE CASES
01
Checking what you already have on a topic
Search the whole library for the topic before going looking elsewhere, then open the items that come back to see what each one actually argues.
02
Working through one collection
Find the collection you filed the reading under, list what is in it, and pull details for the ones you have not read yet.
03
Picking up where the reading list left off
Ask for the most recent additions with a limit, and open whichever of them you saved and never got to.
5 tools
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
get_collections
List all collections in your Zotero library
get_item_details
Get detailed information about a specific paper
get_recent
Get recently added papers to your library
search_library
Search your entire Zotero library
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
5 tools when we connected. Read-only: there is no add, create or write tool, even though Zotero API keys carry write access.
Requires
- ZOTERO_API_KEY in your environment
- ZOTERO_USER_ID in your environment
Where it runs
The documented client runs the server on your machine.
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the 5 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
Server setup
TERMINAL
npm install -g mcp-zoteroMCP Clients
Claude Desktop
CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"zotero": {
"command": "mcp-zotero",
"env": {
"ZOTERO_API_KEY": "<YOUR_ZOTERO_API_KEY>",
"ZOTERO_USER_ID": "<YOUR_ZOTERO_USER_ID>"
}
}
}
}
