Zotero MCP
PYPI · ZOTERO-MCP · SCANNED SEP 21
Search your Zotero library, retrieve item metadata, and read full text from AI assistants.
Available components
How this component scores in each security and reliability category. Every signal is checked automatically from public evidence about the published package, including repeated runs of it in an isolated sandbox, and we only credit what we can confirm. How we score → Why this is hard to score →
Supply Chain Security100
- No malware found by supply-chain analysis.Pass
- No known CVEs affecting this package version or its production dependencies.Pass
- Runs hatchling.build at install time, a recognised native-build step with no shell scripting around it. View diagnostics → Pass
- 1 of 37 dependencies flagged as unhealthy. View diagnostics → Partial
Provenance & Transparency32
- Source repository is publicly reachable at the declared URL. View diagnostics → Pass
- Provenance check failed: no build-provenance attestation is published. See how to fix → View diagnostics → Fail
- License check failed: the license (MIT License) isn't a recognized OSI-approved license. See how to fix → Fail
- Actively maintained (last published 45 days ago).Pass
- Disclosure check failed: no security disclosure policy was found in the source repository. See how to fix → Fail
Schema Quality & AI Usability65
- AI-judged instruction clarity (good).Pass
- Context-footprint check failed: tool/resource definitions use about 582 tokens (~194/item across 3 items; 3 tools + 0 resources), over budget; trim descriptions and params. See how to fix → Fail
- Usage-examples check failed: none of the tools include examples. See how to fix → Fail
Stability & Change Management100
- No destabilizing schema changes in the last 30 days.Pass
Tool Coverage90
- 100% of tools have a non-trivial description (not blank, and not just the tool's name).Pass
- 67% of tool parameters carry a description.Partial
- Structured output schemas are declared (100% of tools); any adoption earns full credit.Pass
Tool Safety100
- No prompt-injection markers were found in the server instructions, tool names or descriptions we captured.Pass
- We read all 3 captured tool definition(s), and no name or description among them implies an irreversible operation.Pass
- An AI judge read all 3 captured unit(s) of tool text and found none that tries to manipulate the model reading it.Pass
Capabilities100
- Implements a current MCP spec version (2026-07-28).Pass
How do I install the Zotero MCP server?
Zotero MCP runs locally as a PyPI package, launched with uvx zotero-mcp. Ready-made configuration for Claude, Cursor, VS Code, Codex and 5 more is on this page, copied from each client's own documentation.
pypi · zotero-mcp
claude mcp add kujenga-zotero-mcp -- uvx zotero-mcp
{
"mcpServers": {
"kujenga-zotero-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"zotero-mcp"
]
}
}
} {
"servers": {
"kujenga-zotero-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"zotero-mcp"
]
}
}
} codex mcp add kujenga-zotero-mcp -- uvx zotero-mcp
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"kujenga-zotero-mcp": {
"type": "local",
"command": [
"uvx",
"zotero-mcp"
],
"enabled": true
}
}
} openclaw mcp add kujenga-zotero-mcp --command uvx --arg zotero-mcp
mcp_servers:
kujenga-zotero-mcp:
command: "uvx"
args: ["zotero-mcp"] {
"McpServers": {
"kujenga-zotero-mcp": {
"Transport": "stdio",
"Command": "uvx",
"Arguments": [
"zotero-mcp"
]
}
}
} assistant mcp add kujenga-zotero-mcp -t stdio -c uvx -a zotero-mcp
{
"mcpServers": {
"kujenga-zotero-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"zotero-mcp"
]
}
}
} Every change we have recorded for this component, newest first. Security-relevant changes are always shown. ▲ marks a change for the better, ▼ a change for the worse; unmarked changes are neutral.
- 21 Sept 26 0
- Stability: 0.97 → pass security
- 20 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 93 to 97. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 28 days of observed history at the previous scan, 29 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 18 Sept 26 +16
- Malware scan: unverified → pass ▲ security
- 16 Sept 26 −15
- Malware scan: pass → unverified ▼ security
- 15 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 77 to 80. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 23 days of observed history at the previous scan, 24 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
- 14 Sept 26 +12
- Malware scan: unverified → pass ▲ security
- Stability: pass → 0.77 functional
- 13 Sept 26 0
- Stability: 0.97 → pass security
- 12 Sept 26 +1
No change was recorded against any check on this day. Stability & Change Management went from 93 to 97. That category is still filling its 30-day observation window: 28 days of observed history at the previous scan, 29 at this one. The score rises as the window fills, whether or not the server changes.
Diagnostic detail from the automated scan of this channel: what the scanner observed at each step, so you can see exactly where a check passed or failed. It is informational only and never changes the trust score.
Captured 21 Sept 2026 · Analysed pypi/zotero-mcp@0.3.1
Provenance No attestation
The registry publishes no build provenance for this version, so there is nothing to verify.
| Result | No attestation |
|---|---|
| Ecosystem | pypi |
Background: How many MCP packages publish verified provenance →
Install scripts 1 script
| Hook | Tier | Command |
|---|---|---|
| build_backend | allowlisted | hatchling.build |
Background: Why install scripts are a supply-chain risk →
Dependencies 37 packages
| Packages resolved | 37 |
|---|---|
| No linked repository | 1 |
| Tree resolution | Complete |
Background: SBOMs and build attestations, explained →
The tools this component advertises to a client, with an estimated token cost for each. Expand a tool to see its parameters and schema. The per-tool counts are indicative and are not scored directly; the schema's total context footprint is one signal in Schema Quality & AI Usability. A tool's description is untrusted text the model reads on every call, which is what makes this list a security surface and not just an inventory: how tool poisoning works →
zotero_item_fulltext ~42
Get the full text content of a Zotero item, given the item key of a parent item or specific attachment.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| item_key | string | yes | – |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| result | string | yes | – |
No examples provided.
zotero_item_metadata ~47
Get the complete metadata for a specific Zotero item, given the item key. Includes the citation key, publication details, identifiers, and timestamps.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| item_key | string | yes | – |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| result | string | yes | – |
No examples provided.
zotero_search_items ~493
Search for items in your Zotero library. Returns a summary of each match; look up individual results with zotero_item_metadata or zotero_item_fulltext. Choosing a query mode: - 'titleCreatorYear' (the default) searches titles, creator names, and years. Use it for known-item lookup, where you know roughly what the item is called or who wrote it. - 'everything' additionally searches abstracts, the Extra field, note text, and the full text of attachments. Use it for topic and full-text search, where the term would not appear in a title. Words match by prefix, and space-separated words must all be present though not necessarily adjacent, so 'cybor insect' matches 'Cyborg Insect'. A hyphen separates words and switches the match to OR: 'oxygen-deprived' matches anything containing 'oxygen' or 'deprived', which is far broader than intended. Write hyphenated terms with a space to require both halves.
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| limit | – | – | Maximum number of matches to retrieve. This caps matches rather than items, and several attachments or notes belonging to one work can each match separately, so a search can return fewer items than t… |
| qmode | – | – | Which fields to search. 'titleCreatorYear' covers titles, creator names, and years; against a local Zotero API it also matches citation keys, which the Zotero Web API does not index. 'everything' add… |
| query | string | yes | Text to match. Words match by prefix, and every space-separated word must be present, though not necessarily as a contiguous phrase. A hyphen separates words and ORs them instead, so 'oxygen-deprived… |
| tag | – | – | Filter by tag. Use 'foo || bar' to match either tag and '-foo' to exclude one; tag names containing spaces are matched as written. Requiring two tags at once is not expressible here. |
| Name | Type | Req | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| result | string | yes | – |
No examples provided.
What is the Zotero MCP server?
Zotero MCP is listed in the public MCP registry as io.github.kujenga/zotero-mcp. Search your Zotero library, retrieve item metadata, and read full text from AI assistants. This page covers its PyPI package (zotero-mcp).
Is the Zotero MCP server safe to use?
Zotero MCP scores 79 out of 100 on VerifyMCP. We found no known CVEs affecting it as of 21 September 2026. That is a record of what we were able to check automatically, not an endorsement. The category breakdown on this page shows every signal behind the number, including the ones we could not confirm.
What tools does the Zotero MCP server expose?
Zotero MCP exposes 3 tools: zotero_item_metadata, zotero_item_fulltext, zotero_search_items. Their descriptions and schemas cost roughly 582 tokens of context every time the server is loaded.
Is the Zotero MCP server still maintained?
Zotero MCP is still listed as active in the MCP registry. We last reached this channel on 21 September 2026. Those dates come from our own scans of the registry and the channel itself, not from anything the publisher announced.