Shurbej

Self-hosted Zotero sync server with basic web UI.

Setup

rebar3 release
export SHURBEJ_COOKIE=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
./_build/default/rel/shurbej/bin/shurbej daemon
./_build/default/rel/shurbej/bin/shurbej eval 'shurbej_admin:create_user(<<"name">>, <<"pass">>, 1).'

Set SHURBEJ_COOKIE to a random secret — it gates eval/remote access to the running node. Default is change_me_in_production.

Point Zotero at http://localhost:8080 in Settings > Sync > Custom API URL.

• extensions.zotero.api.url - http://localhost:8080/
• extensions.zotero.streaming.url - ws://localhost:8080/stream

To match your Zotero.org identity (avoids "different account" warning), use your Zotero user ID as the third argument — find it at https://api.zotero.org/keys/<your-key>.

Web UI

cd web && npm install && npm run dev    # dev on :3000
cd web && npm run build                 # prod served by cowboy on :8080

Config (config/sys.config)

{http_port, 8080},
{db_path, "./data/shurbej.db"},
{file_storage_path, "./data/files"},
{base_url, "http://localhost:8080"}

What works

Everything needed for Zotero desktop sync: items, collections, searches, tags, settings, file upload/download (ZIP-compressed), full-text content, deletion tombstones, version-based sync, streaming WebSocket, batch writes, pagination, POST /keys login flow.

The web UI has a PDF viewer (pdf.js, multi-tab with LRU caching), customizable sortable columns, collection tree with drag-drop, multi-tag filtering, tag colors, and stale-while-revalidate caching.

What doesn't

OAuth 1.0a, export formats (bibtex/RIS/CSL), include parameter.

Group libraries are fully supported: server routes at /groups/:id/..., streaming on /groups/N topics, per-group API-key permissions (groups.all or groups.<id>) composed with Zotero's library_editing / library_reading / file_editing settings, and a sidebar library switcher in the web UI.

Publications (/users/:id/publications/items) are intentionally omitted.

Partial file upload (PATCH /items/:key/file?algorithm=xdelta|vcdiff|bsdiff) is also unimplemented, but the official Zotero desktop client does not use it — it always does a full-file upload. Only relevant for third-party clients.