find_missing_pdfs
Report items without PDFs or fetch open-access PDFs for them.
How to use it
Project documentation lists find_missing_pdfs for the Zotero Agent MCP server. Add the server to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf and others), then check which tools your installed version makes available. Tool availability can depend on configuration and credentials. A server handshake does not verify this tool’s behavior. See the full listing for setup details.
Install Zotero Agent
claude mcp add --transport http zotero-mcp http://127.0.0.1:23120/mcp `Other tools in Zotero Agent (39)
Add one or more items to a collection.
Check items against scite.ai editorial notices such as retractions or corrections.
Create a new collection, optionally under a parent collection.
Delete a collection, with optional item deletion.
Fill missing fields (abstract/venue/volume/issue/pages/ISSN/publisher/date) from a DOI via doi.org CSL-JSON + OpenAlex; dry-run default, confirm write requires write.enabled.
Mine DOI or arXiv ID from a PDF's fulltext cache using frequency voting. Read-only.
Reverse-lookup a DOI via CrossRef title-similarity (≥0.86 threshold), or mode:"repair" to validate a dead DOI (Handle System API) and propose a replacement; dry-run default, confirm write requires write.enabled.
Find items that are semantically similar to a given item.
Access the cached full-text database with list, search, get, and stats actions.
Get annotations and notes for a specific item or annotation ID.
Get detailed information for a specific collection.
List items inside a specific collection.
List collections in the library, including recursive tree output when needed.
Read full-text content from PDFs, attachments, notes, and abstracts.
Get the abstract or summary of a specific item.
Get detailed metadata for a specific Zotero item.
List the Zotero libraries available in the current client.
Get child collections under a specific collection.
Bulk-import BibTeX / RIS / CSL-JSON (auto-detected); idempotent dedup by DOI / title similarity; dry-run plan by default.
Import an item by DOI, arXiv ID, ISBN, or PMID.
Install or upgrade a plugin XPI from a reachable URL or file path.
Register Sci-Hub / Anna's Archive into Zotero's native PDF resolver pref (grey sources default automatic=false, manual-only); actual download is via findmissingpdfs.
Reload an installed Zotero plugin for development workflows.
Remove one or more items from a collection without deleting them from the library.
Execute JavaScript inside the Zotero process for advanced automation.
Search highlights, notes, and comments by query, color, tag, or item scope.
Search collections by name.
Search across cached full-text document content and return matching passages.
Search libraries by name.
Search the Zotero library with filters such as title, year, full text, item type, and relevance scoring.
Search Clarivate Web of Science Starter API with an advanced query; applies plan-aware rate, daily, and per-call safeguards and returns normalized records for identifier-based import.
Run embedding-based semantic search to find conceptually related content.
Show the status and index statistics of the semantic search service.
Rename or move an existing collection.
Find the published version of arXiv-style preprints via OpenAlex title search and upgrade DOI/venue/date/itemType; old values backed up into Extra; dry-run default.
Create items, re-parent attachments, or import local files as attachments.
Update item metadata such as title, abstract, DOI, date, or creators.
Create, update, or append Zotero notes.
Add, remove, or replace tags on Zotero items.