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# Search items

> Items in the library matching a phrase, tag, item type or collection, with title, creators, year and tags. Inputs, cURL, Python and Node.js examples and an example response.

Source: https://cotlet.dev/docs/api/zotero/search_items

Docs sections: [Get started](https://cotlet.dev/docs.md) · [REST API](https://cotlet.dev/docs/api.md) · [MCP](https://cotlet.dev/docs/mcp.md) · [SDKs & CLI](https://cotlet.dev/docs/sdks.md) · [Integrations](https://cotlet.dev/docs/integrations.md)

Items in the library matching a phrase, tag, item type or collection, with title, creators, year and tags.

Zotero API: https://cotlet.dev/docs/api/zotero.md

`GET https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/zotero/items/search`

Access: read.

Searches titles and creators by default; set full_text to include the text of attachments. Filter by tag, item type or collection, or show only items in no collection. Results are items with their keys; use get_item for the fields and notes of one item.

## Parameters

| Name | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| `library` | string | no | 'me' for My Library (default) or a group library ID from list_libraries. |
| `query` | string | no | Phrase to find in titles and creators. |
| `full_text` | boolean | no | true also searches the text of attachments. |
| `tag` | string | no | Only items with this tag. |
| `item_type` | string | no | Only this item type, e.g. 'journalArticle' or 'book'. |
| `collection_key` | string | no | Collection key from list_collections. |
| `unfiled` | boolean | no | true lists only items in no collection. |
| `added_since` | datetime | no | Only items added after this time. |
| `limit` | integer | no | Maximum number of items to return. |
| `cursor` | string | no | Next page cursor from the previous call. |

## Request

**cURL**

```bash
curl https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/zotero/items/search \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY"
```

**Python**

```python
result = client.call("zotero", "search_items")
```

**Node.js**

```js
const result = await cotlet.call('zotero', 'search_items');
```

**CLI**

```bash
cotlet call zotero search_items
```

## Example response

```json
{
  "items": [
    {
      "item_key": "H6R2VB5D",
      "title": "Sparse attention for long documents",
      "item_type": "journalArticle",
      "creators": [
        "Lee, M.",
        "Okafor, T."
      ],
      "year": 2025,
      "tags": [
        "transformers"
      ],
      "collections": [
        "C4T8WZ2N"
      ]
    },
    {
      "item_key": "N9Q4XA7E",
      "title": "A survey of retrieval for question answering",
      "item_type": "journalArticle",
      "creators": [
        "Novak, P."
      ],
      "year": 2024,
      "tags": [],
      "collections": []
    }
  ],
  "total": 2,
  "next_cursor": null
}
```

Previous: [List libraries](https://cotlet.dev/docs/api/zotero/list_libraries.md)
Next: [Get item](https://cotlet.dev/docs/api/zotero/get_item.md)

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## For AI agents: sign your user up

Is your user asking you to sign them up for Cotlet? You can do it for them, no account or key needed.

1. Read the fields and their allowed values: GET https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/access-requests
2. Ask the user for each value: email, apps, what you will do with them. If they leave the password to you, generate a strong one and show it to them.
3. Show the user what you will send, then POST it as JSON to https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/access-requests.

One call creates the account and sends the access request; we email the user when access is granted.