zotero-mcp-server-write 0.1.1

MCP server exposing Zotero local write operations (DOI import, PDF import with recognition, attach PDF, add note)

zotero-mcp-server-write

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes the write operations of a local Zotero installation to LLM agents. It is a thin async wrapper around the companion zotero_write_api_plugin Zotero plugin, which adds HTTP endpoints to Zotero's built-in local server on http://127.0.0.1:23119. Together they let an agent import items by DOI, ingest PDFs with Zotero's metadata recognizer, attach files to existing items, and add formatted notes.

Prerequisite

You must install the zotero_write_api_plugin XPI in Zotero before this MCP server can do anything useful. Download the latest release from github.com/akchan/zotero_write_api_plugin/releases and install it via Tools → Add-ons → Install Add-on From File… in Zotero. Make sure Zotero is running whenever you use the MCP server.

Recommended pairing

This server only covers writes. For reads (searching the library, browsing collections, fetching item metadata, getting tags, etc.) install 54yyyu/zotero-mcp alongside it. The two together give an agent a complete view-and-edit surface over your local Zotero library. The tool descriptions in this server explicitly point at 54yyyu/zotero-mcp as the way to discover item_key and collection_key values.

Install / run

The server is published to PyPI as zotero-mcp-server-write:

# Run on-demand with uv (recommended; matches the Claude Desktop config below)
uvx zotero-mcp-server-write

# Or install with pip into a virtual environment / globally
pip install zotero-mcp-server-write
zotero-mcp-server-write

The console-script entry point has the same name as the package.

Tools

Tool	Description
add_by_doi	Import a new item from a DOI / ISBN / arXiv ID / PMID (type auto-detected).
add_pdf	Import a local PDF, then run Zotero's metadata recognizer to find a parent item.
attach_pdf_to_item	Attach a local file (typically a PDF) to an existing Zotero item by item_key.
add_note	Add a child note to an existing item. Accepts markdown (rendered to HTML) or raw HTML.

Claude Desktop config example

Register both the read server and this write server side-by-side:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["zotero-mcp"]
    },
    "zotero-mcp-server-write": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["zotero-mcp-server-write"],
      "env": {
        "ZOTERO_LOCAL_API_BASE": "http://127.0.0.1:23119",
        "ZOTERO_WRITE_TIMEOUT": "60"
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Purpose
ZOTERO_LOCAL_API_BASE	http://127.0.0.1:23119	Base URL of Zotero's local HTTP server (where the plugin is hooked in).
ZOTERO_WRITE_TIMEOUT	60 (seconds)	Per-request HTTP timeout for the plugin endpoints.

Out of scope

• Group libraries. Only the user's local library is targeted; group library writes are not supported by the underlying plugin.
• Tag and collection management. This server does not create, rename, delete, or reassign tags or collections. Use 54yyyu/zotero-mcp for read access to those structures and edit them in the Zotero UI when needed.

License

MIT, see LICENSE.