zotrm

Read your Zotero papers on a reMarkable Paper Pro, then get your handwritten notes back into Zotero — with one command.

Demo

Recording the GIF: see how to record the demo.

What it does, in plain words:

• push — sends the PDFs from one Zotero collection to your reMarkable tablet.
• pull — brings the marked-up PDFs back and attaches them to the same Zotero papers.
• status — shows which papers are waiting, on the tablet, or already done.
• sync — does a pull and then a push, together.

You never push or pull the same paper twice by mistake — the tool remembers what it has done. It is safe to run again and again.

One honest limit (this is reMarkable's behavior, not a bug here): Your highlights and handwriting come back as part of the PDF image — "painted onto" the page. They do not come back as clickable Zotero highlights.

Why zotrm?

If you read research papers on a reMarkable, getting them on and off the tablet is fiddly: export each PDF, drag it into the reMarkable app, and later dig the annotated copy back out and re-file it in Zotero. zotrm makes that one command in each direction, driven by the collection you already curate in Zotero:

• No manual file shuffling — it reads your Zotero collection and uploads the PDFs for you.
• Folders match your library — Zotero sub-collections become nested folders on the tablet.
• Nothing pushed or pulled twice — progress is tracked with Zotero tags, so it's safe to re-run or schedule with zotrm cron.
• No extra database or account — just your Zotero API key and the rmapi tool.

It's a small, focused CLI — not a sync daemon or a cloud service.

Before you start (what you need)

1. A Zotero account with some PDFs in it.
2. A reMarkable tablet, turned on and connected to WiFi.
3. A reMarkable Connect subscription — this is what lets files move to and from the tablet over the internet. Without it, push and pull may not work.
4. A computer (Mac or Linux) where you can open a Terminal (a window where you type commands). On a Mac, open the app called Terminal.

You will copy and paste a few commands. That is all.

Setup (about 10 minutes)

Step 1 — Install uv

uv installs this tool for you. Paste this into the Terminal and press Enter:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Close the Terminal and open it again so the change takes effect.

Step 2 — Install rmapi and connect it to your tablet

rmapi is a separate program that talks to your reMarkable:

brew install rmapi

(No Homebrew? See https://github.com/ddvk/rmapi for other ways. Use the ddvk version — the original does not work with new tablets.)

Now connect it to your tablet one time:

rmapi

It shows a web address and asks for a code. Open https://my.remarkable.com/device/desktop, copy the code shown there, and paste it into the Terminal. Done — you won't do this again.

Step 3 — Install zotrm

uv tool install zotrm

Step 4 — Set up your account

A friendly wizard fills in your settings for you. First grab two things from Zotero, then run it.

4a. Get your Zotero details (about a minute)

Open https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys and log in. You need two things from this page:

1. Your library ID — near the top it reads "Your userID for use in API calls is 1234567." That number is your library ID.
2. An API key — click Create new private key, give it a name, tick Allow library access with both read and write (write lets zotrm save tags and attach your annotated PDFs), click Save Key, and copy the key — you can't see it again later.

4b. Make a collection to sync (recommended)

In the Zotero app, create a collection — say, named reMarkable — and drag in a few papers you want to read. zotrm only ever touches papers in this one collection. Start with a throwaway collection of 1–2 papers while you try things out.

4c. Run the wizard

zotrm config

Use the arrow keys ↑↓ to choose and Enter to confirm. Here is every question and what to put:

When you finish, it checks your details (you'll see ✓ Zotero connection OK), warns if rmapi is missing, and saves everything to ~/.config/zotrm/config.ini.

The wizard also starts on its own the first time you run any command before setting up. To change settings later, run zotrm config again; to see what's saved (API key masked), run zotrm config --show.

Step 5 — Use it

Send your papers to the tablet:

zotrm push

Read and annotate them on the reMarkable. When you're done, bring them back:

zotrm pull

That's the whole loop. 🎉

Step 6 (optional) — Make it automatic

Want it to sync by itself on a schedule? Run:

zotrm cron

Pick how often (every hour, daily, etc.) and it sets everything up for you. Remove it later with zotrm cron --remove.

Everyday commands

zotrm push      # send waiting papers to the tablet
zotrm pull      # bring marked-up papers back into Zotero
zotrm status    # see what is waiting / on the tablet / done
zotrm sync      # pull, then push, in one step

zotrm config    # change your settings any time
zotrm cron      # set up (or change) automatic syncing

Not sure what a command will do? Add --dry-run to see without changing anything:

zotrm --dry-run push

If something goes wrong

• "rmapi not found" → Step 2 was missed, or reopen the Terminal.
• "config not found" → Run zotrm config to set up your account.
• "no Zotero collection named ..." → The collection name in your settings doesn't exactly match a collection in Zotero. Check spelling and capital letters (zotrm config --show prints your current settings).
• Pull finds nothing → Make sure the tablet is online and finished syncing, and that you have a reMarkable Connect subscription.

Run any command with --dry-run first if you're unsure — it changes nothing.

FAQ

Do I need a reMarkable Connect subscription? Yes, in practice. zotrm talks to the reMarkable cloud through rmapi, and two-way document sync (uploading PDFs and downloading annotated ones) needs Connect.

Why don't my highlights come back as real Zotero highlights? The reMarkable returns a flattened PDF — your marks are baked into the page image. That's a reMarkable limitation, not something zotrm can change. You get a faithful annotated PDF re-attached to the item, just not editable highlight objects.

Does it duplicate files if I run it again? No. It tags items rm:synced once pushed and rm:annotated once pulled back, and skips anything already done. Re-run it (or schedule it) freely.

Can I use it with more than one Zotero library? Yes — keep separate config files and pass --config. See advanced usage.

Does it work on Windows? Not currently. zotrm targets macOS and Linux (the cron scheduler is Unix-only).

Is my Zotero API key safe? It's stored only in your local config file (~/.config/zotrm/config.ini) and never sent anywhere except Zotero's own API. zotrm config --show masks it.

More

• Advanced usage — editing the config file by hand, the full settings reference, how the scheduled sync works, multiple configs, and deeper troubleshooting.
• Contributing — set up the project for development and run the tests.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.