Webtero

A Firefox extension that integrates web browsing with Zotero, enabling you to save pages, create annotations, and capture snapshots directly to your Zotero library. Download now via the Mozilla Add-ons marketplace for free.

Features

• "Save" button archives the web pages to a specific Zotero Project
  • Any link you click from a "Saved" page will be auto-saved to your library
  • Links on the page you're viewing to a page in Zotero will have a webtero badge appended so you can see which links you've stored, how much you've read, and a summary of the annotations on that page
• Select text to show a popup to pick one of with Zotero's 8 color options to store the annotation
  • You can attach notes to annotations
  • You don't have to wait for the save to complete (or start): making an annotation starts (or waits) for the save, and then saves the annotations to the save once it's complete
• Full-page snapshots use the same technique as the Zotero Connect browser plugins
• Track reading progress, time spent on pages, and referer (saved locally in your browser)
• OAuth authentication with Zotero Web API

Privacy Notes

• Does not communicate with any services except Zotero.com - your data is as private as your Zotero collection already is

Requirements

• Firefox 142.0 or later
• Zotero.com Web Library

Limitations

• Currently doesn't support PDFs in the browser, but can later. It's just not a flow I use so I didn't prioritize it.
• Built specifically for Firefox because:
  1. Corporations like Google are ruining the internet and paying for the destruction of the East Wing of the White House
  2. Firefox supports Sidebars, which felt like an intuitive way to support this feature

FAQ

• Users doing sensitive work may opt to disable automatic extension updates. (I would love feedback on this note.). In Firefox, go to about:config, select extensions.update.enabled and set it to false. You can then manually update the extension by downloading the latest release from the Mozilla Add-ons site or from the GitHub releases page.
• Forward/backward compatible: Annotations made in Zotero on a webpage (in the client or Zotero.com Web Library) will be visible when you surf to that page in Firefox. Annotations made with Webtero are equally visible when viewing in the client or Zotero.com Web Library.
• Uses your Zotero storage at the moment
• Does not connect with your local Zotero, instead currently uses the Web API for Zotero (so your library must be synced with Zotero.com). This can be fixed in the future but out-of-the-box Zotero's local APIs don't support this functionality.
• There is no paywall or paid features beyond your existing way of managing your Zotero storage (although the author is unemployed so sponsorship is appreciated!)

Configurable Settings

In the Webtero Sidebar, the gear icon allows you to:

• Disable Auto-Save
• Disable Link Indicators that you've saved the destination of a link to your Zotero
• Disable read progress tracking

Contributions are Welcome

Install from Github

1. Download webtero-0.1.*.zip from Releases
2. Unzip it
3. Go to Firefox Debug Extensions (Copy/paste this url: about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox) and "Load a Temporary Add-on...". Find the directory where you unzipped webtero and choose the manifest.json to load.
4. The sidebar should open and you can now authenticate into Webtero securely using OAuth.

Building

pnpm install
pnpm build

For development with file watching:

pnpm web-ext watch

Loading the Extension

After building, load the extension from the dist/ directory:

cd dist
pnpm web-ext run

To lint the extension:

cd dist
pnpm web-ext lint

Project Structure

src/
  background/    Background service worker (message routing, API calls)
  content/       Content script (highlighting, toolbars, page tracking)
  sidebar/       Sidebar UI (project browser, annotations, page info)
  options/       Options page (authentication settings)
  lib/           Shared utilities and types
    types.ts     TypeScript interfaces (Project, Annotation, SavedPage)
    utils.ts     Helper functions
    zotero-api.ts Zotero Web API client

Authentication

The extension supports two authentication methods:

1. OAuth (recommended) - Authenticate via Zotero's OAuth flow
2. API Key - Manual entry of Zotero API credentials

Configure authentication in the extension options page.

License

See LICENSE file.