context7

name	context7
description	Retrieve up-to-date documentation for software libraries, frameworks, and components via the Context7 API. This skill should be used when looking up documentation for any programming library or framework, finding code examples for specific APIs or features, verifying correct usage of library functions, or obtaining current information about library APIs that may have changed since training.

Context7

Overview

This skill enables retrieval of current documentation for software libraries and components. Prefer the Context7 MCP tools (mcp__plugin_compound-engineering_context7__resolve-library-id and mcp__plugin_compound-engineering_context7__query-docs) when they are available — they handle auth, rate limits, and error handling natively. Use the curl workflow below only when the MCP tools are not loaded.

Workflow

Step 1: Search for the Library

To find the Context7 library ID, query the search endpoint:

curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/libs/search?libraryName=LIBRARY_NAME&query=TOPIC" | jq '.results[0]'

Parameters:

• libraryName (required): The library name to search for (e.g., "react", "nextjs", "fastapi", "axios")
• query (required): A description of the topic for relevance ranking

Response fields:

• id: Library identifier for the context endpoint (e.g., /websites/react_dev_reference)
• title: Human-readable library name
• description: Brief description of the library
• totalSnippets: Number of documentation snippets available

After step 1: verify the results array is non-empty before proceeding. If jq '.results' returns [] or null, the library was not found — try a different libraryName or broader query instead of proceeding with a null ID.

Step 2: Fetch Documentation

To retrieve documentation, use the library ID from step 1:

curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/context?libraryId=LIBRARY_ID&query=TOPIC&type=txt"

Parameters:

• libraryId (required): The library ID from search results
• query (required): The specific topic to retrieve documentation for
• type (optional): Response format - json (default) or txt (plain text, more readable)

Examples

React hooks documentation

# Find React library ID
curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/libs/search?libraryName=react&query=hooks" | jq '.results[0].id'
# Returns: "/websites/react_dev_reference"

# Fetch useState documentation
curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/context?libraryId=/websites/react_dev_reference&query=useState&type=txt"

Next.js routing documentation

# Find Next.js library ID
curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/libs/search?libraryName=nextjs&query=routing" | jq '.results[0].id'

# Fetch app router documentation
curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/context?libraryId=/vercel/next.js&query=app+router&type=txt"

FastAPI dependency injection

# Find FastAPI library ID
curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/libs/search?libraryName=fastapi&query=dependencies" | jq '.results[0].id'

# Fetch dependency injection documentation
curl -s "https://context7.com/api/v2/context?libraryId=/fastapi/fastapi&query=dependency+injection&type=txt"

Tips

• Use type=txt for more readable output
• Use jq to filter and format JSON responses
• Be specific with the query parameter to improve relevance ranking
• If the first search result is not correct, check additional results in the array
• URL-encode query parameters containing spaces (use + or %20)
• No API key is required for basic usage (rate-limited)