delete_items
Delete up to 50 items per call (moves to Zotero trash). Requires UNSAFEOPERATIONS=items or all
How to use it
delete_items is exposed by the MCP Zotero MCP server. Add the server to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf and others), and the delete_items tool becomes available to the model automatically. See the full listing for setup details and every tool this server provides.
Install MCP Zotero
npx tsx src/server.ts # Run directly without buildingOther tools in MCP Zotero (14)
Add items with direct metadata — supports all 37 Zotero item types (books, theses, reports, etc.), batch-capable
Add papers by DOI with automatic metadata resolution. Auto-attaches OA PDFs via Unpaywall
Attach a URL to an existing item or create a standalone link
Create a new collection, optionally nested under a parent
Delete a collection (folder). Items inside are kept. Requires UNSAFEOPERATIONS=all
Batch OA PDF lookup and auto-attach via Unpaywall (by item keys or collection)
Get items in a specific collection with keys, titles, authors, dates
List all collections (folders) with keys, names, and parent relationships
Get full-text content of a PDF attachment via Zotero's fulltext index
Batch metadata retrieval for multiple items — returns all type-specific fields (bookTitle, proceedingsTitle, university, etc.)
Returns the configured Zotero user ID
Download a PDF from URL, upload to Zotero storage, auto-index full text
Inject live Zotero citations into a Word document. Supports APA, IEEE, Vancouver, Harvard, Chicago. Output is saved in the same folder as the input file with a cited suffix (e.g. paper.docx → papercited.docx)
Search by query, or list items sorted by field (date, title, etc.)