MCP Tools Reference¶

39 tools organized by category. All tools accept an optional library parameter (default: "user"). For group libraries use "group:<id>".

Read Tools¶

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
`search`	Search library by title, author, tag, fulltext; `ranked=True` gives relevance-ranked results (scores + snippets, index-free)	`query`, `collection?`, `item_type?`, `sort?`, `limit`, `ranked?`
`list_items`	List all items	`item_type?`, `sort?`, `limit`
`read`	Read item details + notes	`key`, `detail?`
`pdf`	Extract PDF text	`key`, `pages?`
`annotations`	Extract PDF annotations	`key`
`references`	Extract parsed bibliography (needs GROBID service)	`key`
`tables`	Extract tables from PDF (pdfplumber)	`key`
`summarize`	Structured summary for AI	`key`
`summarize_all`	Export all items as summaries	`limit`
`export`	Export citation (bibtex/csl-json/ris)	`key`, `fmt?`
`cite`	Format citation (apa/nature/vancouver)	`key`, `style?`
`relate`	Find related items	`key`, `limit?`
`recent`	Recently added/modified	`days?`, `modified?`, `limit?`
`note_view`	View item notes	`key`
`tag_view`	View item tags	`key`
`find_orphans`	Find attachments whose file is missing locally	`dead_only?`
`collection_list`	List all collections	—
`collection_items`	Items in a collection	`collection_key`
`duplicates`	Find duplicates	`strategy?`, `threshold?`, `limit?`
`stats`	Library statistics	—
`update_status`	Check preprint publication status	`key?`, `collection?`, `limit?`, `apply?`

Write Tools¶

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
`add`	Add item by DOI or URL	`doi?`, `url?`
`add_from_pdf`	Add from local PDF	`file_path`, `doi_override?`
`delete`	Delete items (trash)	`keys`
`update`	Update metadata	`key`, `title?`, `date?`, `fields?`
`attach`	Upload file attachment	`parent_key`, `file_path`, `via_bridge?`
`note_add`	Add note to item	`key`, `content`
`note_update`	Update existing note	`note_key`, `content`
`tag_add`	Add tags to items	`keys`, `tags`
`tag_remove`	Remove tags from items	`keys`, `tags`
`collection_create`	Create collection	`name`, `parent_key?`
`collection_move`	Move item to collection	`item_key`, `collection_key`
`collection_remove`	Remove item from collection (item stays in library)	`item_key`, `collection_key`
`collection_delete`	Delete collection	`collection_key`
`collection_rename`	Rename collection	`collection_key`, `new_name`
`collection_reorganize`	Batch reorganize	`plan`
`trash_list`	List trashed items	`limit?`
`trash_restore`	Restore from trash	`key`

Ranked Retrieval Tools¶

Scope retrieval with any Zotero collection — manage membership with the collection_* tools above or in the Zotero app. Retrieval is index-free: there is no index to build and results are always fresh. For a plain ranked result list without evidence passages, use search with ranked=True.

Tool	Description	Key Parameters
`ask`	Citation-keyed evidence pack (metadata + PDF passages) plus answer instructions; the agent synthesizes the answer — zot never calls an LLM	`question`, `collection?`, `evidence_k?`