---
name: zotero-ai-butler-guide
description: "AI-powered paper summarization plugin for Zotero"
metadata:
  openclaw:
    emoji: "🤵"
    category: "literature"
    subcategory: "fulltext"
    keywords: ["Zotero", "AI summary", "paper summarization", "LLM", "abstract generation", "reading assistant"]
    source: "https://github.com/steven-jianhao-li/zotero-AI-Butler"
---

# Zotero AI Butler Guide

## Overview

Zotero AI Butler is a Zotero plugin that uses LLMs to summarize, analyze, and annotate academic papers directly within Zotero. It can generate structured summaries, extract key findings, compare papers, and answer questions about documents — all without leaving the reference manager. Supports multiple LLM backends (OpenAI, Claude, local models).

## Installation

```bash
# Download .xpi from GitHub releases
# Zotero 7: Tools → Add-ons → Install Add-on From File
```

## Configuration

```markdown
### LLM Backend Setup (Preferences → AI Butler)

**Option 1: OpenAI**
- Provider: OpenAI
- Model: gpt-4o
- Set environment variable for credentials

**Option 2: Anthropic**
- Provider: Anthropic
- Model: claude-sonnet-4-20250514

**Option 3: Local (Ollama)**
- Provider: Ollama
- Endpoint: http://localhost:11434
- Model: llama3.1

**Option 4: Custom API**
- Provider: Custom
- Endpoint: your-api-url
- Compatible with OpenAI API format
```

## Features

### Paper Summarization

```markdown
### Usage
1. Select paper in Zotero
2. Right-click → AI Butler → Summarize
3. Summary added as Zotero note

### Summary Templates
- **Quick Summary** (1 paragraph): Core contribution + method + result
- **Structured Summary**: Background / Method / Results / Limitations
- **Executive Brief**: Who should read this and why
- **Technical Deep-Dive**: Detailed methodology and math
```

### Key Finding Extraction

```markdown
### Extract structured information:
- **Research question**: What problem does this paper address?
- **Methodology**: What approach do the authors use?
- **Key results**: What are the main findings?
- **Contributions**: What is novel about this work?
- **Limitations**: What are the acknowledged limitations?
- **Future work**: What directions do the authors suggest?
```

### Paper Comparison

```markdown
### Compare multiple papers:
1. Select 2+ papers in Zotero
2. Right-click → AI Butler → Compare Papers
3. Generates comparison table:
   - Shared and unique contributions
   - Methodological differences
   - Performance comparison (if applicable)
   - Complementary insights
```

### Q&A Mode

```markdown
### Ask questions about papers:
1. Open paper in Zotero reader
2. AI Butler sidebar → Ask a question
3. Answers grounded in paper content with page references

Example questions:
- "What loss function do they use?"
- "How does this compare to prior work?"
- "What are the hyperparameters?"
- "Explain equation 3 in simpler terms"
```

## Batch Processing

```markdown
### Summarize multiple papers:
1. Select papers (or entire collection)
2. Right-click → AI Butler → Batch Summarize
3. Progress bar shows completion
4. Each paper gets a summary note attached

### Reading List Generation:
1. Select collection
2. AI Butler → Generate Reading Order
3. Suggests optimal reading sequence based on:
   - Citation relationships
   - Conceptual dependencies
   - Publication chronology
```

## Custom Prompts

```markdown
### Create custom analysis prompts:
# In AI Butler preferences → Custom Prompts

Prompt: "Systematic Review Extraction"
Template: |
  Extract the following from this paper:
  1. Study design (RCT, cohort, etc.)
  2. Sample size
  3. Primary outcome
  4. Effect size with CI
  5. Risk of bias indicators
  Format as structured JSON.
```

## Integration with Zotero Workflow

```markdown
### Combined Plugin Workflow
1. **Zotero Connector** → Import paper
2. **Zotero Sci-Hub** → Fetch PDF
3. **AI Butler** → Generate summary note
4. **Zotero Actions Tags** → Auto-tag based on summary
5. **Notero** → Sync to Notion with summary
6. **Better BibTeX** → Export citations for writing
```

## Use Cases

1. **Rapid screening**: Quick summaries for literature triage
2. **Paper comprehension**: Ask clarifying questions
3. **Comparison studies**: Side-by-side paper analysis
4. **Data extraction**: Structured information for systematic reviews
5. **Reading preparation**: Generate briefings before journal club

## References

- [Zotero AI Butler GitHub](https://github.com/steven-jianhao-li/zotero-AI-Butler)
- [Zotero Plugin Development](https://www.zotero.org/support/dev/client_coding/plugin_development)


---
Source attribution: wentorai
Original project: https://github.com/wentorai/research-plugins/blob/bf44b3cd617fa94c8a1b254c5d1987142ca3d631/skills/literature/fulltext/zotero-ai-butler-guide/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 Wentor AI

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Dave AI resource metadata

Creator / publisher: wentorai
Original project: https://github.com/wentorai/research-plugins/blob/bf44b3cd617fa94c8a1b254c5d1987142ca3d631/skills/literature/fulltext/zotero-ai-butler-guide/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Content & Media, Data & Analytics, Design, Education & Research, Marketing
Roles: Content Marketer, Copywriter, Data Analyst, Researcher, UX Writer
Specialties: API
Tools: Anthropic API, Ollama, OpenAI API, Zotero
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: c19be5176332cebdbf65c20268230fcb4f568ff871ced01f9c7e7d5560b43402