What is zotkit?

Zotkit is a command line tool and Python library for managing your Zotero library, a popular reference manager researchers and academics use to organize citations and papers, without needing the Zotero desktop app open at all. The word headless in the description means it talks directly to Zotero's own web service, so you can search, add, tag, and organize your references from any terminal on macOS, Windows, or Linux, including a remote server where no graphical app could run. Beyond just managing entries, zotkit can also upload and download the actual PDF or document files attached to your references, either through Zotero's own storage system or through a personal WebDAV server if that is how your attachments sync, something the official web service alone cannot do. It is built with safety in mind for scripted or automated use: creating new items defaults to a dry run mode that only shows what would happen, changes are made in batches, and version checks prevent one process from silently overwriting another's edits. You can also define a strict set of allowed tags in a configuration file so tags stay consistent even if an automated tool or a distracted person is managing the library. Installing it is simple through Python's package tools, since it works the same way across operating systems with no special setup per platform. After installing, you fill in a small configuration file with your Zotero API key and, optionally, your WebDAV details, then run a built-in doctor command that checks everything is set up correctly and tells you what to fix if something is wrong. Notably, this tool is explicitly designed to be driven by AI coding assistants like Claude Code, including a ready-made skill file you can copy into your assistant's configuration so it can search, file, and attach papers to your Zotero library on your behalf while respecting your tagging rules. It is released under the MIT license and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Zotero itself. Researchers, academics, and anyone managing a large personal paper library, especially those comfortable scripting things or using AI agents, would get the most benefit from this tool.