Cover grid and cover browser plugin

burgarth · 2026-07-31T18:58:21+00:00

I made a cover grid plugin for Zotero using Claude Opus 5 Max with Pro subscription and with this prompt:

'https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibre has a cover grid and a cover browser that can be displayed alongside the list view. Implement both of these features as a plug-in for https://github.com/zotero/zotero. The covers should be generated from the first page of each item’s PDF.'

The result is surprisingly useful, but I have no idea about programming, so no guarantee for anything. I tested it on the recent Beta both in Linux and on Mac.

Here is the plugin: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gjxj65v8vl50jcr8qn3mi/cover-grid-1.0.0.xpi?rlkey=7mji3uux0hkc5csc1fcqil4fd&dl=1

Here is the full source of the plugin: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/v95rasqy0rsv4y6uhho5z/files.zip?rlkey=k1xgoslapvynsdi4gjb3edftx&dl=1

damnation · 2026-08-01T10:11:41+00:00

I'm not sure Dropbox is the best way for sharing such tools. Anything could be inside.
Side note: there is also this tool: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/123769/zotshelf-new-app-that-shows-zotero-epub-covers-on-android-open-for-beta-testers#latest

burgarth · 2026-08-01T10:39:40+00:00

I agree that Dropbox was lazy ;) But I don’t see why the binary would be safer anywhere else. You could check the source within the zip… and by the way since all is written by Claude I would also not trust this, or do so at your own risk. Or, you could run the same prompt to create your own files. Thanks for pointing out the other link, I am in touch with its developer also. Serves a slightly different purpose.

damnation · 2026-08-01T10:58:41+00:00

You can check out the source code, sure, but for that you'll need to download it from an unknown source to your harddisc. The standard way of doing this is via a code repository where one can inspect code in your browser.

burgarth · 2026-08-01T11:40:37+00:00

Thanks, that’s indeed safer and has escaped my mind. I’ve never used this option and since I’m not planning to develop the code myself won’t. But if someone wants to and is brave enough to download the zip they would be welcome to- I do not claim any ownership to the files. Indeed my secret hope is that the Zotero devs will read this and see how easy it would be to implement the feature into the core. It’s reasonably fast and super fun! Plugins are not a good solution since they don’t cover the mobile and tablets versions.

burgarth · 2026-08-01T11:45:08+00:00

By the way Claude wrote me a second plugin which searches a cover image on the web based on the meta-data, merges the image as a new first page to the PDF, while shifting potential annotations to the correct new place. This works well enough for me but I will not share it: since it modifies the user database a lot more testing would be needed.