ZotLLM 0.8.1

First public release.

• Ask: questions about your knowledge corpora, answered only from the retrieved passages. Every citation opens the passage and its page; "Open PDF" jumps there in Zotero. "Passages only" searches without a language model.
• Literature review: an editable search strategy, screening, one evaluation sheet per text (stored as a Zotero note), an editable outline, section-by-section writing, and a check of every citation and verbatim quotation against the sources. Output as Markdown, Word (live Zotero fields), LaTeX or a Zotero note, with a search-method appendix.
• Search without a language model across your library and all groups: copy references and in-text citations in your Zotero citation style, export selections as Word, BibTeX, RIS or Markdown, add them to a corpus or a Zotero collection, or ask about exactly these items.
• Projects bundle corpora, chats and literature reviews; export and import as .zllm files, archive.
• Language models: Claude, ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini, DeepSeek and local models via Ollama. API keys stay in the operating system's key store.
• Built-in embeddings (llama.cpp) with a curated catalog of 12 models, checksum-verified downloads, a short benchmark on your own computer and a comparison mode; Ollama and cloud embeddings are also supported.
• Indexing for large libraries: printed page numbers, resumable runs, a queue, background mode in stages, duplicate detection across libraries, citations that follow deleted duplicates, backups.
• Zotero plugin with context menus; MCP server for Claude Desktop.
• Interface and manual in English and German.

Install (Windows)

Download ZotLLM-Setup-0.8.1.exe below and run it (per user, no admin rights). Check the download against ZotLLM-Setup-0.8.1.exe.sha256. The installer is built by GitHub Actions from the source code of this release and is not code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen warns ("Unknown publisher"): click More info → Run anyway. If that option is missing (e.g. on managed PCs), right-click the file → Properties → tick Unblock → OK, then start it again.

Then enable Zotero's local API (Zotero → Settings → Advanced) and follow the setup checklist.

Please note

• ZotLLM is vibe-coded: it was written by Claude (Anthropic) in Claude Code and tested in daily use, not reviewed line by line by a human developer.
• Use it as a tool, not as a replacement for your own scholarly work – read the sources, verify critically and do not submit generated text as your own. See the README section on the risk of deskilling.
• ZotLLM is an independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Zotero or the Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Zotero is a registered trademark of the Corporation for Digital Scholarship.