paper-zotero

Paper Zotero

Overview

Imports selected papers into Zotero via mcp-zotero. Supports DOI-based import (preferred — Zotero auto-fetches full metadata) and PDF import with fulltext indexing. Assigns papers to a specified collection.

Required MCP

Xevos117/mcp-zotero must be installed and configured. See setup guide: https://github.com/Xevos117/mcp-zotero

Input

Accepts paper-fetch output JSON, or ask the user for:

• PDF file paths and/or DOI list
• Target Zotero collection name (default: Inbox)

Steps

1. For each paper in input: a. If DOI available → call zotero_add_by_doi(doi) (Zotero fetches full metadata automatically) b. If only PDF available → call zotero_import_pdf(pdf_path) with fulltext indexing c. Zotero auto-attaches open-access PDF via Unpaywall if available
2. Assign each imported item to the target collection
3. Collect returned Zotero item keys
4. Report summary: "Imported N papers to collection 'Inbox'"

Output

{
  "imported": [
    {
      "title": "Attention Is All You Need",
      "doi": "10.48550/arXiv.1706.03762",
      "zotero_key": "ABC123DE",
      "collection": "Inbox"
    }
  ],
  "failed": []
}

Pass zotero_key values to downstream Obsidian sub-skills so notes can link back to Zotero.

Common Issues

• Duplicate detection: Zotero warns on duplicates. Skip and log rather than creating duplicates.
• Missing metadata: If DOI import returns incomplete metadata, inform the user which fields are missing rather than silently leaving them blank.