context7

name

context7

description

Fetch up-to-date, version-specific documentation and code examples for libraries via the Context7 platform. Use when you need authoritative API references, current syntax, or to verify a library behavior beyond your training cutoff. Especially valuable for fast-moving libraries (React, Next.js, Tailwind, FastAPI, Pydantic, LangChain, LangGraph, Anthropic SDK, OpenAI SDK, Bun, Deno, Prisma, tRPC, OpenTelemetry SDKs, etc.).

Context7

Pull current docs for a library directly from the Context7 platform, with version-specific code examples. Counter to gh-grep (which finds real usage patterns), this skill returns curated official documentation.

Base directory for this skill: ~/.claude/skills/context7

When to Use

• User asks about a library API and you are uncertain about current syntax / versions
• You want to verify a claim against authoritative docs before recommending it
• Working with high-churn libraries that have evolved since the training cutoff
• Need a specific version's API (e.g. "Next.js 15 middleware", "Pydantic v2 validators")
• User explicitly says "use context7" or "fetch the docs"

Skip when the answer is trivial syntax (stdlib, well-known stable APIs) or the user is using gh-grep style "show me real usage" queries.

Two-step flow

1. Resolve the library ID — Context7 needs a canonical ID like /vercel/next.js or /anthropics/anthropic-sdk-python. Use resolve to map a library name to its ID. Skip this step if the user provided a /org/project slug directly.
2. Query the docs — Use docs with the resolved ID and a specific question.

Commands

# Step 1: resolve a library name to a Context7 ID
python3 ~/.claude/skills/context7/scripts/ctx7.py resolve "<libraryName>" "<query>"

# Step 2: fetch documentation by ID
python3 ~/.claude/skills/context7/scripts/ctx7.py docs "/org/project" "<specific question>"

Optional flags:

• -o text|json|raw — output format (default: text)
• -t <seconds> — timeout (default: 30)

Examples

# Look up the Anthropic SDK
python3 ~/.claude/skills/context7/scripts/ctx7.py resolve "Anthropic SDK Python" "prompt caching"

# Fetch specific docs from a known ID
python3 ~/.claude/skills/context7/scripts/ctx7.py docs "/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-python" "prompt caching basic usage"

# Specific version
python3 ~/.claude/skills/context7/scripts/ctx7.py docs "/vercel/next.js/v15.0.0" "middleware authentication"

Query quality tips

Good queries are specific and goal-shaped:

• "JWT auth middleware with cookies"
• "useEffect cleanup function with WebSocket"
• "prompt caching with system blocks"

Bad queries are too broad — they waste context budget:

• "auth"
• "hooks"
• "how to use"

Library ID format

• Standard: /org/project (e.g. /vercel/next.js)
• Versioned: /org/project/version (e.g. /vercel/next.js/v14.3.0-canary.87)

If the user includes a /org/project slug or asks for a specific version, you can skip the resolve step.

API key (optional)

The MCP endpoint works anonymously with per-IP rate limits. For higher limits, set:

set -gx CONTEXT7_API_KEY (your-key)

Get a free key at https://context7.com/dashboard. The script auto-uses it from the env var.

Resources

• scripts/ctx7.py - Python CLI calling Context7's MCP server (stdlib only)
• Context7 docs: https://context7.com/docs