alterlab-pyzotero

Pyzotero

Pyzotero is a Python wrapper for the Zotero API v3 (current release 1.15.x as of 2026-09). Use it to programmatically manage Zotero libraries: read items and collections, create and update references, upload attachments, manage tags, and export citations. It also ships an optional CLI and MCP server for a local Zotero library.

When to Use This Skill

• Reading, searching, or bulk-editing items, collections, and tags in a Zotero library from code
• Creating items from templates, attaching PDFs, or exporting BibTeX / CSL-JSON / formatted bibliographies
• Automating research workflows that sync with Zotero (web library or the local desktop app)
• Scripting the local Zotero library from the terminal (pyzotero CLI) or exposing it to an AI client (MCP server)

Does NOT Trigger

Scenario	Use Instead
Discovering new papers in scholarly databases	alterlab-research-lookup or alterlab-openalex
Converting DOIs to BibTeX or searching Google Scholar/PubMed without a Zotero library	alterlab-citation-mgmt
Checking that every bibliography entry exists / spotting hallucinated references	alterlab-citation-verifier
Building an evidence table from a folder of PDFs	alterlab-pdf-extract

Authentication Setup

Required credentials — get from https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys:

• User ID: shown as "Your userID for use in API calls"
• API Key: create at https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys/new
• Library ID: for group libraries, the integer after /groups/ in the group URL

Store credentials in environment variables or a .env file:

ZOTERO_LIBRARY_ID=your_user_id
ZOTERO_API_KEY=your_api_key
ZOTERO_LIBRARY_TYPE=user  # or "group"

See references/authentication.md for full setup details.

Installation

uv add pyzotero
# or with CLI support (local library search, writes, collection management):
uv add "pyzotero[cli]"
# or the MCP server (read-only unless started with --enable-writes):
uv add "pyzotero[mcp]"

Quick Start

from pyzotero import Zotero

zot = Zotero(library_id='123456', library_type='user', api_key='ABC1234XYZ')

# Retrieve top-level items (returns 100 by default)
items = zot.top(limit=10)
for item in items:
    print(item['data']['title'], item['data']['itemType'])

# Search by keyword
results = zot.items(q='machine learning', limit=20)

# Retrieve all items (use everything() for complete results)
all_items = zot.everything(zot.items())

Core Concepts

• A Zotero instance is bound to a single library (user or group). All methods operate on that library.
• Item data lives in item['data']. Access fields like item['data']['title'], item['data']['creators'].
• Pyzotero returns 100 items by default (API default is 25). Use zot.everything(zot.items()) to get all items.
• Write methods return True on success or raise a PyZoteroError subclass (from pyzotero.errors; all class names end in Error, e.g. ResourceNotFoundError).

Reference Files

File	Contents
references/authentication.md	Credentials, library types, local mode
references/read-api.md	Retrieving items, collections, tags, groups
references/search-params.md	Filtering, sorting, search parameters
references/write-api.md	Creating, updating, deleting items
references/collections.md	Collection CRUD operations
references/tags.md	Tag retrieval and management
references/files-attachments.md	File retrieval and attachment uploads
references/exports.md	BibTeX, CSL-JSON, bibliography export
references/pagination.md	follow(), everything(), generators
references/full-text.md	Full-text content indexing and retrieval
references/saved-searches.md	Saved search management
references/cli.md	Command-line interface usage
references/error-handling.md	Errors and exception handling

Common Patterns

Fetch and modify an item

item = zot.item('ITEMKEY')
item['data']['title'] = 'New Title'
zot.update_item(item)

Create an item from a template

template = zot.item_template('journalArticle')
template['title'] = 'My Paper'
template['creators'][0] = {'creatorType': 'author', 'firstName': 'Jane', 'lastName': 'Doe'}
zot.create_items([template])

Export as BibTeX

zot.add_parameters(format='bibtex')
bibtex = zot.top(limit=50)
# bibtex is a bibtexparser BibDatabase object
print(bibtex.entries)

Local mode (no web API key)

Talks to the running Zotero desktop app (Zotero 7+, with "Allow other applications on this computer to communicate with Zotero" enabled in Settings > Advanced). Reads need no key:

zot = Zotero(library_id='0', library_type='user', local=True)
items = zot.items()

Writes to the local library are possible only with Zotero 10 or later and the user's consent: zot.authorize_local("My script") makes Zotero show an Allow / Always Allow / Deny dialog. "Allow" yields a single-use key; "Always Allow" yields a key you can store and pass back as Zotero(..., local=True, local_api_key=...). Local API keys are unrelated to zotero.org API keys. Details: references/authentication.md.

Part of the AlterLab Academic Skills suite.