Search papers and save notes to Zotero

A researcher used Claude to find papers, check a personal Zotero library, and write short literature notes back into Zotero or Obsidian.

Done with Claude· Advanced

What they did
Pin Shuai ran Claude Code with a Paper Search MCP to surface highly cited papers and then trace the works that cited them. A Zotero MCP, connected through Zotero’s local API and a searchable database, let Claude look through his library in plain language. He also had Claude summarize one paper’s findings and open questions from his own annotations, after which Claude asked follow-up questions and wrote the note into Zotero or Obsidian.
How it went
The note showed up in Zotero when he opened it, and library searching saved time across hundreds of entries. He has not tried using Claude to draft a full literature review from the collected papers.
Tips
Searching a local Zotero library helps limit made-up references. This setup requires Zotero’s local API to be on and a database index to be built, with a slower full-text search option available.

Try it yourself with Claude Code

Help me research [topic]. First, find [number] highly relevant papers and trace important citations from them. Then check my Zotero library for related items and summarize each paper into a note with the title, authors, year, main findings, and why it matters for [project]. Before you change anything already in my library or vault, stop and ask for my approval. After that, create an index note that links all of the new notes together in [Zotero library / Obsidian vault path].

Fill in the [brackets]. Agents can make mistakes, so review anything before it is sent, paid or deleted.

Read the original on groundwater.usu.edu ↗

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