// Use when user mentions papers, references, citations, Zotero, literature, bibliography, workspaces, or needs to search, read, export, or organize documents. Handles all zot CLI operations including workspace-based RAG search.
| name | zotero-cli-cc |
| description | Use when user mentions papers, references, citations, Zotero, literature, bibliography, workspaces, or needs to search, read, export, or organize documents. Handles all zot CLI operations including workspace-based RAG search. |
zot is an all-in-one Zotero CLI: search, CRUD, PDF extraction, citation export, and workspace-based RAG. Local SQLite for reads, Zotero Web API for writes.
zot search "transformer attention" # Search papers
zot --json read ABC123 # View paper details (JSON)
zot export ABC123 # BibTeX export
zot workspace query "RLHF" --workspace my-ws # RAG search
--json for programmatic processing (auto-enabled when stdout is not a TTY).zot versions auto-reconfigure stdout to UTF-8. For older versions or subprocess calls, set PYTHONIOENCODING=utf-8. See references/windows-encoding.md.--dry-run to preview mutations. Pass --idempotency-key on retries.--outline first, then --section SECID to extract selectively. Avoid pulling full text when >20k chars.--force rebuild without user confirmation — it is slow.zot find-pdf KEY fetches paywalled PDFs but needs Zotero desktop running + the bridge plugin. One-time setup: zot bridge install. See references/commands.md.zot schema <cmd> for exhaustive flags, types, and safety tiers.| User Intent | Command |
|---|---|
| Search metadata | zot --json search "query" |
| Read item detail | zot --json read KEY |
| Export BibTeX/RIS/JSON | zot export KEY --format bibtex |
| Formatted citation | zot cite KEY --style apa |
| Batch import DOIs | zot add --from-file dois.txt |
| Add single item | zot add --doi "10.1038/..." |
| Update metadata | zot update KEY --title "New" |
| Delete item | zot --no-interaction delete KEY |
| PDF full text | zot --json pdf KEY |
| PDF outline | zot --json pdf --outline KEY |
| PDF section | zot --json pdf --section SECID KEY |
| Fetch/attach missing PDF | zot find-pdf KEY (needs Zotero desktop + bridge) |
| Rename attachment files | zot rename KEY --dry-run (needs bridge; preview first) |
| Add journal metrics (IF/分区) | zot enrich KEY --set "JCR=Q1" or --from-map journals.toml |
| Set up find-pdf bridge | zot bridge install |
| Collection list | zot --json collection list |
| Collection items | zot --json collection items COLLKEY |
| Find duplicates | zot --json duplicates |
| Recent items | zot --json recent --days 7 |
| Library stats | zot --json stats |
| Workspace create | zot workspace new NAME |
| Workspace RAG query | zot workspace query "q" --workspace NAME |
| Ask (evidence pack) | zot --json ask "question" --workspace NAME |
| Group library | zot --library group:ID search "q" |
Rule of thumb: zot search for quick metadata lookups. zot workspace query for deep content search over curated papers. zot ask when you need a citation-keyed evidence pack to write a grounded answer — it returns chunks tagged with their Zotero item key plus answer_instructions; zot does not call an LLM, so you synthesize and cite the answer from the evidence.
| Flag | Purpose |
|---|---|
--json | JSON output (always use for programmatic processing) |
--limit N | Limit results (default: 50) |
--detail minimal | Only key/title/authors/year — saves tokens |
--detail full | All fields |
--no-interaction | Suppress prompts (automation) |
--verbose | Debug output |
zot config init)K853PGUG)--jsonreferences/commands.md — Full command reference with examplesreferences/workspaces.md — Workspace management and RAG deep divereferences/workflows.md — Common multi-step workflow patternsreferences/windows-encoding.md — Windows CJK encoding fix