Enrich zotero abstracts

Skill benjibromberg/zotero-context/skills/enrich-zotero-abstracts

Project-scoped Zotero references for Claude Code — auto-triggering skill, vendored scripts, no MCP server. For surfacing curated literature while you code.

Install

npx -y skills add benjibromberg/zotero-context --skill enrich-zotero-abstracts

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

1 stars1 stars. Stars are a popularity signal and not a quality one, but at this level it is likely that nobody has read this closely except its author, and you would be relying on your own review.

What its author says it does

Copied from the file, not written here

Use when the user wants to fix or fill in missing Zotero abstracts, when they say "fix abstracts", "fill missing abstracts", "/zotero-context:enrich-zotero-abstracts", or when reviewing items with thin abstractNote fields

SKILL.md

3.2 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

Enrich Zotero Abstracts

Overview

Find Zotero items with empty or short abstracts in the configured libraries, web-search for plausible abstract content, present each candidate to the user for approval, and write back to Zotero with version-conflict protection. Items updated this way receive a claude-enriched-YYYY-MM-DD tag for traceability.

When to Use

User says "fix abstracts", "fill missing abstracts", "/zotero-context:enrich-zotero-abstracts"
User wants to make a library more useful for downstream search

Prerequisites

/zotero-context:setup-zotero-references has been run in this repo (.zotero-context/config.json exists).
ZOTERO_API_KEY with write scope is set in .env — the local Zotero API is read-only for item modification.

Workflow

Step 1: List candidates

.zotero-context/bin/search_items.py --no-abstract --limit 50 --output summary

This returns items where abstractNote is missing or shorter than 50 characters, as a JSON summary with title, creators, year, DOI, url, abstract, and tags fields.

Step 2: For each candidate (one at a time)

Show the user:

Title: <title>
Authors: <creators>
Year: <year>
DOI/URL: <doi or url>
Current abstract: <abstractNote, "(empty)" if blank>

Search the web for an abstract? [y/n/skip-rest]

If yes, web-search using DOI > URL > "title authors year" as the anchor. Quote a candidate abstract back to the user (clearly attributed to the source).

Proposed abstract (from <source URL>):

<text>

Apply this to the Zotero item? [y/edit/n]

If edit, let the user revise inline. If y, proceed to Step 3.

Step 3: Apply

.zotero-context/bin/enrich_abstract.py \
    --key <key> \
    --abstract "<text>" \
    --lib <library id> \
    --type {user|group}

Watch for the result:

{"status":"ok",...} — success.
{"status":"conflict",...} — the item changed in Zotero between scan and PATCH. Refetch and ask the user whether to retry with the latest data.

Step 4: Report

After all candidates, summarize: N attempted, M enriched, C conflicts, S skipped. List the keys that received the claude-enriched-YYYY-MM-DD tag.

Common Mistakes

Inventing abstracts from training data instead of web-searching for sourced text. Every proposed abstract must be attributable to a URL.
Running with --dry-run for production usage. Dry-run is for verifying the payload only.
Bulk-applying without per-item user approval. The user must consent to each enrichment.
Forgetting that ZOTERO_API_KEY needs write scope; a read-scope key fails on PATCH.

Verification After Run

After enrichment, the user should see in Zotero (web or desktop):

Updated abstractNote field on each enriched item.
New tag claude-enriched-YYYY-MM-DD on each enriched item.
No changes to other fields.