Zoteus: MCP server, setup and security

What Zoteus does

According to its repository: “Zotero integration: hybrid search, PDF passages with page locators, CSL bibliographies, add by DOI, group libraries and writes including PDF annotations.”

An MCP server gives an AI agent extra tools it calls during the conversation: the agent reads their description, decides to use them and gets the result back. Zoteus is listed under Scientific research, a category of 35 servers in the directory, where it ranks #13 by stars.

Topics declared by the repository: anthropic, bibliography, citations, claude, csl, reference-manager.

Installing and connecting Zoteus

Distribution modes declared in the official MCP registry:

• npm package (Node.js, usually started with npx)
• remote server (streamable-http): you connect to it by URL, with nothing to install locally

Like any MCP server, you declare it in your client's configuration (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex…): a name, the command that starts it or its URL, and any environment variables. The client then starts it and lists its tools. Project language: TypeScript. Listed systems: macOS, Windows, Linux.

The registry lists one secret variable to provide (API key, access token). Keep them in the client's environment variables, never in a shared file or a repository.

Security: what to check

An MCP server runs code with the rights you give it, and the model reads its tool descriptions: a malicious or compromised server can hijack the agent. Read the code, or pick a maintained and widely used server, before connecting it.

Points found for Zoteus:

• Secrets: the server acts with your credentials. Create a dedicated key with minimum rights and an expiry date.

Good practice: grant only the rights needed (least privilege), require human approval for irreversible actions, and run the AI agent security check.

Project activity and maintenance

Created on May 29, 2026, the oscardvs/zoteus repository has 62 stars and 5 forks, with 3 open issues. It has more stars than 56% of the servers in the directory. It received changes this month. Version published in the registry: 1.23.0 (October 19, 2026).

Stars measure attention, not quality: a recent, heavily promoted project can collect them fast, while a useful but niche server will have few.