Distillate — From Zotero through reMarkable to structured notes
Description: Automate your paper reading workflow: Zotero to reMarkable to structured notes with highlights and AI summaries.

v0.1.5 Research Preview — try it out and share feedback

# Distillate

The essence of every paper you read.

Save to Zotero. Read on reMarkable. Distillate does the rest.

PyPI v0.1.5 Python 3.10+ MIT License
$ distillate # turn papers into notes! save to Zotero ──> auto-syncs to reMarkable │ read & highlight on tablet just move to Read/ when done │ V paper: archived. notes: auto-saved. > done! next paper?
`$ pip install distillate $ distillate --init`

## How it works

1 Save a paper to Zotero

Use the Zotero browser connector or mobile app. Distillate automatically picks up new papers from your library.

2 PDF syncs to your reMarkable

Distillate uploads the PDF to your tablet. Optionally removes it from Zotero to save storage (300 MB free tier).

3 Read and highlight on your tablet

Highlight the passages that matter to you. When you're done, just move the document to the Read folder and Distillate does the rest.

4 Distillate extracts your highlights

Highlighted text is pulled from the reMarkable, cleaned up, and saved as a structured markdown note grouped by page.

5 Notes and PDFs are archived locally

Your highlights, reading log, and PDFs are saved to an Obsidian vault or a plain folder on your computer.

## Want more?

Scheduling launchd & cron Set it and forget it. Runs automatically on macOS or Linux.
Obsidian integration Obsidian vault Searchable database, reading stats, deep links from Zotero
AI summaries Anthropic API One-liner, key learnings, and a paragraph summary for each paper you read
Paper suggestions Anthropic API Pick what to read next from your queue, based on your reading history
Email digest Free Resend account Daily paper suggestions and weekly reading logs, delivered to your inbox
Citation data Semantic Scholar See how influential each paper is with citation counts from Semantic Scholar
Star on GitHub Questions or ideas? Start a discussion

## Commands

`distillate`Sync Zotero -> reMarkable -> notes (default)
`distillate --import`Import existing papers from Zotero
`distillate --status`Show queue health and reading stats
`distillate --suggest`Get paper suggestions for your queue
`distillate --digest`Show your reading digest
`distillate --schedule`Set up or manage automatic syncing
`distillate --init`Run the setup wizard

## What you need

Component |  | Notes
--- | --- | ---
Zotero account | Free | Manages your paper library
reMarkable tablet | Required | Where you read and highlight (uses rmapi)
Obsidian or output folder | Optional | Where notes are saved locally
Anthropic API key | Optional | For AI summaries and suggestions
Resend account | Optional | For weekly digest emails

Zotero reMarkable Obsidian Semantic Scholar Anthropic Resend
GitHub PyPI Install guide Documentation

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