A privacy-first, local-first search assistant and MCP server for your Zotero library, enabling AI agents to search and analyze your research papers securely.
PapersGPT for Zotero is a specialized research assistant designed to turn your local Zotero library into a searchable, intelligent knowledge base. It helps researchers find relevant materials, gain AI-driven insights, rapidly parse research papers, and streamline the literature review process.
You can install PapersGPT for Zotero globally using npm. This will make the pz and pgz commands available in your terminal.
npm install -g papersgpt-for-zotero
After installation, ensure that you have your Zotero storage directory accessible and you are ready to use the pz command. More information please see https://github.com/papersgpt/papersgpt-for-zotero.
pz init once to link your Zotero storage and start the background indexing process.
# Initialize with default Zotero path
pz init
# Initialize with a custom path
pz init "/Users/name/Documents/Zotero/storage"
pz search "your research query" to perform a targeted search across your local files.
# Find papers on a specific methodology
pz search "Bayesian inference in clinical trials"
# Look for specific findings or data points
pz search "What is the baseline accuracy reported in the 2023 study?"
pz stop when you are finished to shut down the background service.
pz stop
pz init to ensure your library is indexed.pz search with specific queries related to your current research focus.pz search returns no results, ensure you have initialized your library with pz init.