Zotero MCP Server (Ubuntu)

FastMCP server that provides Claude Code with tools to interact with Zotero via a bridge server running on Windows.

Architecture

Claude Code (Ubuntu VM)
    │
    └── Zotero MCP Server (this)
            │
            │ HTTP requests
            ▼
        Windows Host (192.168.56.1:5555)
            │
            ├── Zotero Bridge Server (Flask)
            │       │
            │       ▼
            └── Zotero + Better BibTeX

Setup

1. Create virtual environment:

uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install fastmcp httpx

2. Discover Windows host IP:

python discover_host.py

3. Configure Claude Code (add to .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zotero": {
      "command": "/home/vboxuser/projects/zotero-mcp/run_zotero_mcp.sh",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Tools Provided

Tool	Description
check_zotero_connection	Verify bridge connectivity
search_zotero	Search library, returns scannable cites
get_scannable_cite	Get ODF scannable cite for a citekey
get_scannable_cites_batch	Get multiple scannable cites
get_item_metadata	Full CSL-JSON metadata
get_abstract	Quick title + abstract lookup
list_collections	List Zotero collections
get_collection_items	Get items in a collection
generate_bibliography	Generate formatted bibliography

Scannable Cite Format

Output format matches Zotero ODF Scan plugin:

{  | (Author et al., Year) |  |  |zu:LIBID:ITEMKEY}

Files

• zotero_mcp.py - MCP server
• discover_host.py - Network discovery script
• run_zotero_mcp.sh - Wrapper script for Claude Code
• start_zotero_mcp.sh - Manual startup script