How do I install the Zotero Paper Import skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add majiayu000/zotero-paper-import in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

What does the Zotero Paper Import skill do?

Download PDFs from Zotero by citation key, cut references, and prepare for Swanki. It is listed under Research & Search on SkillMD.

Is Zotero Paper Import safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Independent scanners report: SkillSpector: PASS, Skill Scanner: PASS. Capability flags: docs only. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Zotero Paper Import?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Zotero Paper Import free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Zotero Paper Import?

majiayu000 (@majiayu000) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Zotero Paper Import by majiayu000 — Agent Skill

Name: Zotero Paper Import
Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Author: majiayu000

File contents

When the user asks to import papers from Zotero, follow this workflow:

Input

The user provides one or more citation keys as arguments, e.g.:

/zotero-paper-import montanolopezPhysiologicalLimitationsOpportunities2022
/zotero-paper-import key1 key2 key3

Procedure

Step 1: Run the import script

/Users/michaelvolk/miniconda3/bin/python scripts/zotero_paper_import.py <key1> [key2 ...]

This single command handles everything per key:

Connects to Zotero and downloads PDFs into ../Swanki_Data/{key}/
Detects reference pages via PyPDF2 text extraction
Cuts references with swanki-cut, creates _clean.pdf via pdfunite
Writes the .sh runner script

Use --download-only to skip the cleaning step if needed.

Step 2: Handle failures

If references are NOT auto-detected for a paper (script reports "No references heading detected, keeping all pages"), manually inspect the PDF and re-run the cut using /clean-pdf {key}.

Step 3: Report summary

After all keys are processed, report:

Which keys were successfully imported
Pages kept vs removed per paper
Any papers where references were not detected

Frequently asked questions

Zotero Paper Import