Upgrade StorageSeerAI – Free AI Research Assistant for Zotero 9 (Chat, Search, Systematic Reviews, Tables, MCP)
Hi everyone,
I've been working on SeerAI, a free and open-source AI research assistant plugin for Zotero 9. It brings a lot of what tools like SciSpace, NotebookLM, and Elicit offer — but directly inside your Zotero workflow, with your own data, API keys and no subscription.
What's new in v1.9.0:
- Federated scholarly search now covers 11 providers with AI query refinement and cross-source deduplication
- Agent skills library expanded to ~148 bundled skill packages, loaded on demand
- Systematic review module with evidence synthesis, gap analysis, forest plots, and extraction health checks
- External search adapter and tool activation improvements for agentic workflows
- CLI MCP Harness — local CLI agents (Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) can now connect to the bundled MCP server and act on your Zotero library directly from chat
What it does:
- Chat with your papers — select one or many items and ask questions; answers are grounded in the paper's text via OCR, indexed PDF, or notes
- Federated scholarly search — searches 11 providers at once (Semantic Scholar, PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, Europe PMC, Zenodo, and more) with AI query refinement and deduplication
- Papers Tables — extract structured data (methodology, sample size, outcomes) from multiple papers into a comparative table using custom AI prompts
- Systematic Review — full PRISMA workflow: protocol builder, screening, data extraction, meta-analysis, forest plots, and evidence synthesis
- Workspace — built-in file editor with Git integration, accessible to you and the AI agent
- MCP Server — lets external AI assistants like Claude Desktop connect directly to your Zotero library
- OCR — Mistral OCR, DataLab, or a free local server via Marker for scanned PDFs
- Agentic tools — the AI can search, read, tag, create notes, manage collections, and run web searches autonomously
- Cloud Storage — connect Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, or Nextcloud and browse, sync, and use cloud files directly as AI context inside Zotero
- File Sync — upload and download files between your local workspace and cloud storage seamlessly, with OAuth 2.0 secure authentication
- Prompt Library — built-in and custom prompt templates with placeholders for papers, folders, tags, authors, and topics
Install: Download the .xpi from GitHub Releases (https://github.com/dralkh/Seerai/releases), then Tools > Add-ons > gear icon > Install Add-on From File.
It's MIT-licensed. Feedback, bug reports, and feature ideas are very welcome.
I've been working on SeerAI, a free and open-source AI research assistant plugin for Zotero 9. It brings a lot of what tools like SciSpace, NotebookLM, and Elicit offer — but directly inside your Zotero workflow, with your own data, API keys and no subscription.
What's new in v1.9.0:
- Federated scholarly search now covers 11 providers with AI query refinement and cross-source deduplication
- Agent skills library expanded to ~148 bundled skill packages, loaded on demand
- Systematic review module with evidence synthesis, gap analysis, forest plots, and extraction health checks
- External search adapter and tool activation improvements for agentic workflows
- CLI MCP Harness — local CLI agents (Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) can now connect to the bundled MCP server and act on your Zotero library directly from chat
What it does:
- Chat with your papers — select one or many items and ask questions; answers are grounded in the paper's text via OCR, indexed PDF, or notes
- Federated scholarly search — searches 11 providers at once (Semantic Scholar, PubMed, arXiv, bioRxiv, Europe PMC, Zenodo, and more) with AI query refinement and deduplication
- Papers Tables — extract structured data (methodology, sample size, outcomes) from multiple papers into a comparative table using custom AI prompts
- Systematic Review — full PRISMA workflow: protocol builder, screening, data extraction, meta-analysis, forest plots, and evidence synthesis
- Workspace — built-in file editor with Git integration, accessible to you and the AI agent
- MCP Server — lets external AI assistants like Claude Desktop connect directly to your Zotero library
- OCR — Mistral OCR, DataLab, or a free local server via Marker for scanned PDFs
- Agentic tools — the AI can search, read, tag, create notes, manage collections, and run web searches autonomously
- Cloud Storage — connect Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box, or Nextcloud and browse, sync, and use cloud files directly as AI context inside Zotero
- File Sync — upload and download files between your local workspace and cloud storage seamlessly, with OAuth 2.0 secure authentication
- Prompt Library — built-in and custom prompt templates with placeholders for papers, folders, tags, authors, and topics
Install: Download the .xpi from GitHub Releases (https://github.com/dralkh/Seerai/releases), then Tools > Add-ons > gear icon > Install Add-on From File.
It's MIT-licensed. Feedback, bug reports, and feature ideas are very welcome.