BibGenie DocsOverview
Learn what BibGenie is, how it fits into Zotero, and where to start.
BibGenie is an AI research agent built directly into Zotero. Instead of acting like a separate web chatbot, it works inside your Zotero workspace with your library, PDFs, web snapshots, notes, and the material you are reading.
Add Zotero items, PDF attachments, snapshots, notes, selected text, page context, images, or screenshots to a conversation, then ask BibGenie to read, explain, search, organize, and preserve your research material.
Local-first by design
BibGenie's core experience runs in your Zotero environment. Chat history and many settings are stored locally. When you use a custom or local model, requests are sent directly to the provider you configure.
Core Workflow
Add context
Add Zotero items, PDFs, snapshots, notes, selected text, or screenshots so BibGenie understands the material you are working with.
Ask and search
Summarize papers, explain figures, search your library, compare articles, use OpenAlex for public scholarly records, or use paid-plan web search to gather public information.
Check sources
BibGenie adds citations automatically when answers are based on traceable sources, so you can return to PDFs, notes, snapshots, web pages, and OpenAlex results. Learn more in BibGenie Citation.
Discover beyond Zotero
Use OpenAlex to find external papers, authors, venues, citation neighbors, and publication trends while keeping them separate from saved Zotero items.
Organize and save
Save useful answers as Zotero notes, or ask BibGenie to help organize tags, collections, and metadata.
What You Can Do With BibGenie
- Read papers: summarize research questions, methods, contributions, limitations, and future work.
- Deep-read excerpts: explain selected passages, formulas, figures, or experimental results.
- Check sources: use automatically added BibGenie Citation markers to return to PDFs, notes, snapshots, web pages, and OpenAlex results.
- Search your library: find relevant papers by keyword or by describing a research topic in natural language.
- Discover external literature: use OpenAlex to find public scholarly records, citation neighbors, authors, venues, and research trends beyond your Zotero library.
- Organize your library: manage tags, collections, metadata, and item movement.
- Save notes: turn structured AI responses into Zotero notes.
- Connect external tools: expose local Zotero tools through BibGenie's MCP server.
Recommended Reading Path
First-time setup: start with Getting Started to install BibGenie and ask your first question.
Understand models and credits: read Models and Pricing & Credits.
Learn the core features: continue with Add Context, BibGenie Citation, Literature Search, OpenAlex Research, and Save as Note.
Advanced setup: if you have your own API key or a local model, read Bring Your Own Key and Custom Models.
Documentation Sections
Introduction
Installation, models, pricing, and credits.
Features
Context, prompts, Zotero search, OpenAlex research, web access, library management, notes, and MCP.
Configuration
Custom models, MCP, Add to Chat, shortcuts, citation format, and semantic indexing.
Troubleshooting
Common errors, model failures, network issues, and Zotero compatibility.