Upgrade StorageNew app: ZotLLM - semantic search, cited answers and literature reviews for your Zotero library
Hi all,
I'd like to share ZotLLM, a free, open-source (MIT) Windows app that I already use extensively for my own research. It works through Zotero's local API and makes your library searchable by meaning, not only by keywords:
- **Ask:** questions about a set of your texts, answered only from the retrieved passages. Every citation shows the passage and its page, and "Open PDF" jumps there in Zotero.
- **Literature review:** an editable search strategy, one evaluation sheet per text, an outline, section-by-section drafting, and a check of every citation and verbatim quotation against the PDFs.
- **Search without a language model** across your library and groups: copy references in your Zotero citation style, or export a selection (Word with live Zotero fields, BibTeX, RIS).
You choose the models: Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek or local models via Ollama. Embeddings can run entirely on your computer, and API keys stay in the Windows key store. ZotLLM never reads zotero.sqlite directly; it only writes notes or collections after you grant write access. Tested with Zotero 10.
A few things to know:
- The code was written by Claude (Anthropic) in Claude Code. I defined the features and tested every version in daily use. There are about 200 automated tests, but no line-by-line review by a human developer.
- The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen shows a warning. The README explains how to proceed.
- It is meant as a tool for finding and checking sources, not as a replacement for reading them and writing yourself.
ZotLLM is an independent project and not affiliated with Zotero.
Download and documentation: https://github.com/avibecoder42/ZotLLM
Later I plan to release Mac and Linux Versions. Feedback, bug reports and ideas are very welcome, here or on GitHub.
I'd like to share ZotLLM, a free, open-source (MIT) Windows app that I already use extensively for my own research. It works through Zotero's local API and makes your library searchable by meaning, not only by keywords:
- **Ask:** questions about a set of your texts, answered only from the retrieved passages. Every citation shows the passage and its page, and "Open PDF" jumps there in Zotero.
- **Literature review:** an editable search strategy, one evaluation sheet per text, an outline, section-by-section drafting, and a check of every citation and verbatim quotation against the PDFs.
- **Search without a language model** across your library and groups: copy references in your Zotero citation style, or export a selection (Word with live Zotero fields, BibTeX, RIS).
You choose the models: Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, DeepSeek or local models via Ollama. Embeddings can run entirely on your computer, and API keys stay in the Windows key store. ZotLLM never reads zotero.sqlite directly; it only writes notes or collections after you grant write access. Tested with Zotero 10.
A few things to know:
- The code was written by Claude (Anthropic) in Claude Code. I defined the features and tested every version in daily use. There are about 200 automated tests, but no line-by-line review by a human developer.
- The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen shows a warning. The README explains how to proceed.
- It is meant as a tool for finding and checking sources, not as a replacement for reading them and writing yourself.
ZotLLM is an independent project and not affiliated with Zotero.
Download and documentation: https://github.com/avibecoder42/ZotLLM
Later I plan to release Mac and Linux Versions. Feedback, bug reports and ideas are very welcome, here or on GitHub.