Use your Zotero library in Claude
Claude can't see your Zotero library on its own. My Paper Library connects it: Claude can then search what you saved, read your stored PDFs and highlights, write citations in any style, add papers by DOI, and check your sources for retracted papers.
Three steps
- In Claude, add a custom connector with this address (or use the button above):
https://mypaperlibrary.com/api/mcp- Sign in with your email or Google account.
- Connect your Zotero library and approve access on zotero.org. Then ask Claude about your papers.
Hosted connector or a local Zotero MCP server?
Open-source Zotero MCP servers run on your own computer and are a good choice if you live in Claude Desktop or Claude Code and like setting things up. A hosted connector works everywhere Claude does, including the web and your phone, with nothing to install.
| My Paper Library | A local Zotero MCP server | |
|---|---|---|
| Works in | Claude on the web, desktop, iPhone and Android, Claude Code | Claude Desktop or Claude Code on the computer where it's installed |
| Setup | Add a connector, sign in, approve access on zotero.org | Install Python or Node, configure an API key or the local database, edit a config file |
| Zotero open? | No, it uses Zotero's Web API | Usually yes for local-database servers |
| PDFs | Stored PDFs read page by page, with your highlights | Depends on the server |
| Writes | Add by DOI/arXiv/PubMed/ISBN, tags, collections, notes | Depends on the server |
| Library check | Retractions, duplicates, missing DOIs | Not usually |
What to ask
- “What did I save on transformer interpretability? Which ones have PDFs?”
- “Read the discussion of item 7XK2PQ9A and tell me its main limitation.”
- “Give me an IEEE reference list for my Literature Review collection.”
- “Add 10.1145/3442188.3445922 to my Ethics collection.”
- “Check my library for retracted papers.”
My Paper Library is independent and works with Zotero through its public Web API. It isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Zotero or the Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Documentation