acidghost / zotools

Useful CLI tools for Zotero

This is a simple collection of tools to operate on a Zotero library.

Commands implemented:

• sync: creates or updates a local cache with useful info from the remote library
• search: searches via regular expression for items in the cached library
• act: performs an action on a selected result from a previous search

Please, feel free to copy, improve, distribute and share. Feedback and patches are always welcome!

Installation

• With go get github.com/acidghost/zotools/cmd/...
• By downloading the source and running make build followed by make install

Usage

You need to provide a configuration file with the Zotero API key and various paths the tool uses to operate (look at the template in the root of this repository):

• key is the Zotero API key; you can get one from https://www.zotero.org/settings/keys
• zotero is the path to the folder where Zotero downloads all the attachments
• storage is the file zotools will use to store all its information (e.g. Zotero items, search results, etc.)

The configuration file can be passed via the command line (-config flag) or via an environment variable (ZOTOOLS). The former overwrites the latter.

For detailed usage information try zotools help and zotools cmd -h.

Use Cases

Search for an item and then open it. First issue zotools search <term> and then zotools act -i=<idx> zathura to open the result numbered idx with zathura.

fzf

If you desire a more interactive experience than running zotools twice to first search and then to act, you may have a look at fzf. The function below uses fzf to interactively search with zotools and act on your selection with one enter at the correct line. To use it add the following function to your .bashrc (or equivalent) and install fzf alongside zotools.

zotools_pdf() {
    local INITIAL_QUERY=$1
    local SEARCH_CMD="zotools search "
    FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND="$SEARCH_CMD '$INITIAL_QUERY'" \
        fzf --bind "change:reload:$SEARCH_CMD {q} || true" \
            --ansi --disabled --query "$INITIAL_QUERY" \
            --height=50% --layout=reverse \
        | awk '{print $1}' | tr -d ')' \
        | xargs -I{} -o zotools act -i={} zathura
}

zotools's Issues

Handle top level items that are attachments

We currently store top level attachment items incorrectly, losing the attachment data (e.g. filename).