Zotero has become the core of my research workflow. It helps me collect papers, organize references, export clean BibTeX, and connect my local library to Claude, Codex, NotebookLM, etc. This setup takes some time initially, but once configured it saves a lot of effort in writing, citing, and literature review.
How to install .xpi plugins in Zotero:
.xpi file from the plugin release page.Tools -> Plugins (or Tools -> Add-ons in some versions).Install Add-on From File.....xpi file.auth.lower + year + shorttitle(1, 1).lower abstract,urldate,keywords,file,url,copyright,month,language,note,annotation,lccn,langid I use zotero-mcp to connect my Zotero library with Claude/Codex, so I can search papers, retrieve metadata/notes, and discuss references directly in the chat workflow. Please follow the official documentation: 54yyyu/zotero-mcp.
Attanger is an attachment manager for Zotero. The feature I use most is Rename and Move Attachment. In the Zotero library, right-click a paper and choose Rename and Move Attachment. The PDF attached to that paper will be renamed using a consistent rule, then moved/linked to a synced root directory (for example, Dropbox or Google Drive) with collection-based subfolders.
After using Attanger to export local Zotero content (whole library or selected collections), I upload those files to Google NotebookLM as sources and organize notebooks by topic. Compared with general-purpose chatbots that rely on open-ended web knowledge, NotebookLM usually has fewer hallucinations in this workflow because responses are grounded in my own curated papers and notes, instead of generic web search.