What is zotero-api-mcp AGENTS.md?

Contributor instructions for zotero-api-mcp, a connector that exposes the Zotero Web API. Zotero is a reference manager used to store and organize research sources.

They guide changes to Zotero operations, Python development, tests, API authentication, XML parsing, and tool documentation.

They keep development consistent and protect API keys and XML handling, while requiring the project environment and defined checks to be used.

How siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp configures Codex and OpenCode

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp/main/AGENTS.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp

Made for: Codex, OpenCode.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp/agents-md.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp/agents-md)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp/agents-md"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp/agents-md.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Per session 688 This file is loaded in full into every session.

When invoked 688 The same file — it is already loaded in full.

Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00688	$0.00688
Opus 5	$0.00344	$0.00344
Sonnet 5	$0.00138	$0.00138
Haiku 4.5	$0.00069	$0.00069

Measured 6d ago against content hash c9383979ad92, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

zotero-api-mcp AGENTS.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 6d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

AGENTS.md · 68 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 68 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Agent Instructions for zotero-api-mcp

Environment

Always use the project's virtual environment. The venv is at .venv/ in the repo root. All Python commands (python, pytest, tox) must run inside it.

Activate the venv before any command:

OS	Activation
Windows (PowerShell)	`.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1`
Windows (cmd)	`.\.venv\Scripts\activate.bat`
macOS / Linux	`source .venv/bin/activate`

Project Identity

zotero-api-mcp is a 1:1 MCP server wrapping the Zotero Web API. It exposes Zotero operations as MCP tools — no AI/semantic features, no abstraction beyond the API.

Python ≥3.12, built with hatchling
Dependencies: fastmcp, pyzotero, requests, pydantic-settings, defusedxml, tenacity
Dev deps: pytest, tox, bump-my-version

Key Rules

One tool = one Zotero API endpoint. Don't compose or add semantic layers.
All public functions must have type hints.
Follow PEP 8.
Use defusedxml for any XML parsing (never xml.etree.ElementTree directly).
API keys use SecretStr — never log or expose them.
Tool docstrings must follow the structured format (PURPOSE, WHEN TO USE, INPUT, OUTPUT, BEHAVIOR, EXAMPLE).

Architecture

src/zotero_api_mcp/
├── server.py          # MCP server definition, tool registration
├── client.py          # Zotero API client (pyzotero wrapper)
├── config.py          # Settings via pydantic-settings
├── models.py          # Pydantic models for tool parameters
├── constants.py       # Enums, constants, response helpers (_ok/_err)
├── cli.py             # CLI entry point (serve, setup)
└── tools/
    ├── search.py      # Search & discovery
    ├── items.py       # Item CRUD (DOI, arXiv, ISBN, update, delete)
    ├── collections.py # Collection management
    ├── notes.py       # Note CRUD
    ├── annotations.py # PDF annotation reading
    └── attachments.py # File & URL attachments

Common Commands

just test          # Run tests (current Python, fast)
just test-all      # Full CI matrix via tox (3.12, 3.13, 3.14)
just build         # Build the package
just bump-patch    # Bump version + git tag

Read the full file on GitHub · 68 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

6d ago First seen · 68 lines · 688 tokens per session scan A c9383979ad92

Subscribe to this mod's changes

zotero-api-mcp AGENTS.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository siebert-julien/zotero-api-mcp (0 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 688 tokens to every session, about $0.0034 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

Research

codex AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md instructions for openai/codex, covering rust/codex-rs, the codex-core crate, code review rules, crate api surface and model visible context.

openai/codex · 5,182 tokens

vscode buildNext.instructions.md

Working notes and architecture documentation for the new esbuild-based build system in build/next. Use when making changes to the new build pipeline (transpile/bundle commands, NLS plugin, source-map handling, resource copying, or self-hosting watch tasks).

microsoft/vscode · 6,785 tokens

zotero-api-mcp: Instructions file for Codex