Zotivity 1.2.0

New

• Mistral as a language model provider. Mistral Large 4 and Small 4 are suggested; with a key, the app loads the current model list. For processing in the EU, change the server address to https://api.eu.mistral.ai (10 % surcharge, not all models).
• Database search shows the way: the tabs show the status (a tick when done, numbers for the pool and screening), and a line below them says what to do next. Every tab has Next, which turns blue once nothing is open in the current one; nothing is locked. After the handover, it leads on to creating a corpus.

Changed

• Search no longer belongs to a project. It moved down to the views that apply to all projects (Ctrl+6 stays). There is one search history; existing histories are merged. Switching projects keeps the fields, results and selection. Items can be added to any corpus, and results show all corpora containing them. Search history is no longer part of .zoty files; older files still import it.
• Database search, clearer names: the tab "Project" is now "Research question", so that "project" only means the Zotivity project; "Folders" is now "Target & folders" and also holds the target in Zotero. The target library can be chosen right at the check in the pool.
• AI suggestion for folders now also uses a sample of the titles in the pool, not only those of included works.
• AI buttons without a research question now say visibly what is missing instead of only being greyed out.
• Database search: one rule for button colours. Blue is the next step, at most one per area; violet starts a language model; white is for other actions. In Search & import, for example, "Search all" is blue while something has not been searched yet, and it follows "Add search string".
• Database search: areas with AI suggestions are tinted violet. "Apply all" under search strings per source is now called "Apply all as search strings", because the AI suggestion has a button with the same name.

Fixed

• Zotivity no longer disturbs Zotero while it starts. Zotero opens its interface before its items are ready. A request from Zotivity in that moment could apparently leave Zotero stuck on "Loading items" until it was restarted. Zotivity now only pings until Zotero is ready: the Zotero plugin shows that the start is finished; without the plugin, Zotivity waits 20 seconds.
• A hanging Zotero is reported correctly and quickly. Instead of waiting two minutes and then saying that Zotero is not running, Zotivity says after a few seconds that Zotero is running but its interface does not respond, and asks to restart Zotero.
• After a change of the target library, the pool named the new library for matches found in the old one. It now asks for a new check, and the new check removes the old matches. What was already handed over stays linked.

Install (Windows)

Download Zotivity-Setup-1.2.0.exe below and run it (per user, no admin rights). Check the download against Zotivity-Setup-1.2.0.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

• Zotivity 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.
• Zotivity 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.