Silent failure on Apple Silicon (M-series) with Zotero 8 - no note created, no console output

[Kaxdih]

Environment

• macOS: Apple Silicon (M-series)
• Obsidian: 1.8.5 (Installer 1.8.4)
• Zotero: 8.0.4
• Better BibTeX: 9.0.7
• Zotero Integration: 3.2.1
• Vault location: iCloud Drive (via symlink for PDF storage)

Description

When trying to create a literature note via Zotero Integration, the Zotero
reference picker opens normally, a reference can be selected, a brief loading
spinner appears, but no note is ever created. There is no error message of any
kind — neither in the Obsidian developer console nor as a notification.

This workflow was previously working on an Intel Mac with the same Zotero 8
setup, suggesting the issue is specific to Apple Silicon.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Zotero 8.0.4 with Better BibTeX 9.0.7 installed and enabled
2. Open Obsidian 1.8.5 on Apple Silicon Mac
3. Run command Zotero Integration: [import format name] from the command palette
4. Search for and select a reference in the Zotero picker
5. A brief spinner appears, then nothing happens

Troubleshooting already performed

• ✅ Confirmed extensions.zotero.httpServer.localAPI.enabled = true in
  Zotero config editor (was false by default after Zotero 8 update)
• ✅ Confirmed extensions.zotero.httpServer.enabled = true
• ✅ http://127.0.0.1:23119/connector/ping returns "Zotero is running"
• ✅ Data Explorer can search and select references (but shows "No data
  retrieved" — possibly a separate issue)
• ✅ pdfannots2json-darwin-arm64 binary is present, executable, and returns
  v1.0.15 when run directly from Terminal
• ✅ chmod +x applied to pdfannots2json-darwin-arm64
• ✅ Quarantine attribute (com.apple.quarantine) was not present on binary
• ✅ Tested with a minimal template (citekey + title only) — same result
• ✅ Tested with a brand new vault on the Desktop (outside iCloud) — same result
• ✅ Tested with only Zotero Integration enabled (all other plugins disabled)
  — same result
• ✅ Monitored file system with fswatch during import attempt — no file
  creation detected at all
• ✅ Developer console shows no output whatsoever during or after the import
  attempt (all log levels enabled including Verbose)
• ❌ Plugin previously tried to download pdfannots2json.Mac.M1.tar.gz from
  GitHub on first use in new vault, suggesting binary was missing or
  unrecognized

Expected behavior

A markdown note should be created at the configured output path
(Références/{{citekey}}.md) using the configured template.

Actual behavior

Nothing happens. No file is created, no error is shown, no console output is
generated. fswatch confirms zero file system activity during the import
attempt.

Additional notes

• The same setup (Zotero 8 + BBT 9 + Zotero Integration 3.2.1) reportedly
  works on an Intel Mac, suggesting an Apple Silicon-specific issue
• The issue appeared after updating from Zotero 7 to Zotero 8
• extensions.zotero.httpServer.localAPI.enabled was false by default after
  the Zotero 8 update — enabling it resolved the "Cannot connect to Zotero"
  error but did not fix note creation

[yinhanyan]

same issue

[egypationgodbill]

samw issue

[macaaaron]

Same issue.

[JinghanWu817]

same issue

[yinhanyan]

I found that this was due to the missing citation key field in the corresponding paper's meta information in Zotero. After manually filling it in, the import works normally.

[JinghanWu817]

I found that this was due to the missing citation key field in the corresponding paper's meta information in Zotero. After manually filling it in, the import works normally.

Steps
1. Open Zotero.
2. In My Library, select the affected reference(s), or press Cmd + A / Ctrl + A to select all items if needed.
3. Right-click the selected item(s).
4. Go to Better BibTeX.
5. Click Regenerate BibTeX key.
6. Return to Obsidian and run the import again.

[Dalishimin]

I found that this was due to the missing citation key field in the corresponding paper's meta information in Zotero. After manually filling it in, the import works normally.

Steps 1. Open Zotero. 2. In My Library, select the affected reference(s), or press Cmd + A / Ctrl + A to select all items if needed. 3. Right-click the selected item(s). 4. Go to Better BibTeX. 5. Click Regenerate BibTeX key. 6. Return to Obsidian and run the import again.

Yes, following this did work. One more new question, for standalone notes in zotero, it is not possible to regenerate the keywords, how do I fix this, thanks!