Connect research sources

Open Settings → Integrations to connect research services. Each tab shows the service’s own logo. These connections add sources and tools to your workflow; your manuscript and bibliography remain project files.

Zotero

Connect your Zotero account once, then import your whole library into any project’s bibliography.

1. Open Settings → Integrations → Zotero.
2. Follow the API key page link to your Zotero account settings.
3. Create a key with Allow library access turned on, and copy the numeric user ID shown on the same page.
4. Enter the user ID and the Zotero API key in Oleafly, then choose Connect.

Oleafly checks the key with Zotero before saving it. If Zotero refuses the key, the key can’t read your library, or it belongs to a different user ID, Oleafly says which and saves nothing. Once connected, the tab shows the account name. Disconnect removes the saved key.

To import:

1. Open a project and its References panel.
2. Choose Import reference library.
3. On the Zotero card, choose Import Zotero library.

Oleafly brings in up to 5,000 items as BibTeX and adds them to the project’s bibliography. As with file imports, a reference whose DOI is already in the bibliography is skipped, and the message says how many were added and how many were already there. If your library holds more than 5,000 items, Oleafly imports the first 5,000 and tells you so.

Before you connect, the same card offers Connect Zotero account, which opens this settings tab. For a one-time import without an API key, export Zotero RDF, BibTeX, RIS, or EndNote XML from your reference manager and use Import a whole reference library.

alphaXiv

alphaXiv connects as an MCP server, so the assistant can search papers, read them, and use your alphaXiv library.

1. Sign in at alphaxiv.org, open Settings > API Keys, and create a key.
2. Open Settings → Integrations → alphaXiv in Oleafly.
3. Paste the key into alphaXiv API key and choose Connect.

Oleafly connects to alphaXiv’s server with the key before saving it. A key alphaXiv refuses is not saved. Once connected, the server also appears as alphaXiv under AI Assistant → MCP.

The assistant asks you before every alphaXiv call. Try a request about a concrete topic:

Find papers about uncertainty estimation for regression. Compare what the methods measure and include a source link for each description.

Open the returned papers to check the evidence. Use Disconnect in the same settings tab when you no longer want the connection.

Citation Search services

The Citation Search settings tab holds the credentials used by individual indexes, each shown with its logo:

• OpenAlex API key is recommended. OpenAlex requires keys for regular access; without one, searches share a small daily pool. An OpenAlex contact email also places requests in OpenAlex’s polite pool. The card shows Connected once a key or an email is saved.
• Semantic Scholar API key is optional. Anonymous requests use its public limits.
• Google Scholar (Serper): a Serper API key adds Google Scholar as a source. Without a key, Citation Search leaves Google Scholar out of a search instead of listing it as a failed source.
• arXiv, Crossref, and PubMed don’t need credentials.

The OpenAlex key and contact email also apply to the assistant’s literature search. Credentials stay on this device and are sent only to the service they belong to. Remove a saved key from the same settings card when you no longer want Oleafly to use it.

Return to Citation Search, select the indexes you need, and run a topic query. You can use the built-in scholarly indexes without configuring every optional service.

Look up one known source

You do not need to connect Zotero or a search provider when you already have a reliable identifier. The reference tools can retrieve a DOI, arXiv ID, ISBN, or PubMed ID, then let you correct the fields before copying BibTeX or a formatted citation. Manual citation editing and formatting stay available offline; catalog lookup needs a connection.

More integrations

• GitHub connects project source control to a repository.
• External MCP servers add tools to Oleafly’s assistant.
• Oleafly’s MCP server gives an external client access to project tools.
• Model providers and CLI agents choose which assistant performs the work.