docs

name	docs
description	Access Claude Code documentation locally. Supports reading docs, viewing changes, and reading the changelog. Use when answering questions about Claude Code features, configuration, or usage.
allowed-tools	Read, Bash, Grep, Glob

Claude Code Documentation Access

This skill provides access to locally mirrored Claude Code documentation from the official docs site. Documentation is stored in the references/ directory and automatically syncs via GitHub Actions every 3 hours.

Documentation Location

All documentation files are in the references/ subdirectory of this skill:

• Documentation files: references/*.md (51 files total)
• Metadata manifest: docs_manifest.json

The manifest contains metadata for all documentation files including:

• Original URLs on code.claude.com
• Content hashes for change detection
• Last update timestamps

All file paths in this skill are relative to the skill directory.

Available Arguments

Process $ARGUMENTS to determine what action to take:

• (no arguments or empty): List all available documentation topics with descriptions
• <topic>: Read specific documentation file (e.g., hooks, mcp, skills, plugins)
• what's new or whats new: Show recent documentation changes from git history
• changelog: Read the official Claude Code changelog (release notes)
• uninstall: Show uninstall instructions

Available Documentation Topics

The following 51 topics are available (from docs_manifest.json):

Core Documentation:

• overview, quickstart, features-overview, how-claude-code-works
• setup, cli-reference, common-workflows, best-practices
• interactive-mode, headless

Configuration:

• settings, terminal-config, network-config, model-config
• output-styles, statusline

Features:

• skills, plugins, plugins-reference, discover-plugins, plugin-marketplaces
• hooks, hooks-guide
• mcp
• memory
• checkpointing
• sub-agents
• sandboxing

Integrations:

• vs-code, jetbrains, desktop, chrome
• github-actions, gitlab-ci-cd, devcontainer, slack
• claude-code-on-the-web

Cloud Providers:

• amazon-bedrock, google-vertex-ai, microsoft-foundry

Enterprise:

• third-party-integrations, llm-gateway
• iam, monitoring-usage, analytics
• security, data-usage, legal-and-compliance
• costs

Reference:

• troubleshooting
• changelog

Instructions for Each Request Type

1. List All Topics (No Arguments)

When $ARGUMENTS is empty or just whitespace:

1. Read docs_manifest.json (relative to skill directory)
2. Extract all file keys (51 total)
3. Display organized list with these sections:
   • Header with plugin info and source attribution
   • Topics grouped by category (use the categories from the list above)
   • Show total count: "51 topics available"
   • Show last sync info from fetch_metadata.last_fetch_completed
4. Include usage examples at the end

Example output format:

📚 Claude Code Documentation (Local Mirror)
🔗 Official Docs: https://code.claude.com/docs
🔗 Mirror Repo: https://github.com/mfreiwald/ccdocs

Available Topics (51 total):

Core Documentation:
  overview, quickstart, features-overview, how-claude-code-works
  setup, cli-reference, common-workflows, best-practices
  interactive-mode, headless

[... other categories ...]

Last synced: [timestamp from manifest]

Usage:
  /ccdocs:docs <topic>        - Read specific documentation
  /ccdocs:docs what's new     - Show recent changes
  /ccdocs:docs changelog      - Read Claude Code release notes

2. Read Specific Topic

When $ARGUMENTS contains a topic name (e.g., hooks, mcp, skills):

1. Sanitize the topic name:

   • Convert to lowercase
   • Remove any path separators or special characters
   • Ensure it's just a simple filename without extension

2. Check if file exists:

   • Look for references/<topic>.md (relative to skill directory)
   • If not found, suggest similar topics using fuzzy matching

3. Read and display the documentation:

   📚 Claude Code Documentation: <Title>
   🔗 Official: <URL from manifest>
   
   [Full markdown content of the doc]
   
   ---
   📖 Official page: <URL from manifest>
   🕐 Last updated: <timestamp from manifest>
   

3. What's New

When $ARGUMENTS contains "what's new" or "whats new":

1. Get recent changes from git log (from plugin root):

   Navigate to plugin root (2 levels up from skill directory):

    cd ../.. && git log --since="7 days ago" \
     --pretty=format:"%h|%ar|%s" --name-status -- skills/docs/references/ | head -50
   

2. Parse and format the output:

   📚 Recent Documentation Updates (Last 7 Days)
   
   • [time ago]:
     📎 Commit: https://github.com/mfreiwald/ccdocs/commit/[hash]
     📄 [filename]: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/[filename without .md]
        [Change description from commit message]
   
   [Repeat for each commit]
   
   ---
   📎 Full history: https://github.com/mfreiwald/ccdocs/commits/main/plugins/ccdocs/skills/docs/references
   🔄 Auto-updates run every 3 hours
   

3. If no changes in last 7 days:

   📚 No documentation updates in the last 7 days
   
   Last update: <most recent commit date>
   Check full history: https://github.com/mfreiwald/ccdocs/commits/main/plugins/ccdocs/skills/docs/references
   

4. Changelog

When $ARGUMENTS is "changelog":

1. Read the changelog file:

   • File: references/changelog.md

2. Display with proper attribution:

   📚 Claude Code Changelog (Official Release Notes)
   🔗 Source: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
   
   [Full changelog content]
   
   ---
   📖 This changelog is from the official claude-code repository
   🕐 Last synced: <timestamp from manifest for changelog.md>
   
   💡 Tip: Run `/ccdocs:docs what's new` to see documentation updates
   

5. Uninstall Instructions

When $ARGUMENTS is "uninstall":

Display:

🗑️  Uninstalling ccdocs Plugin

To remove this plugin:

1. Remove the plugin directory:
   rm -rf ~/.claude/plugins/ccdocs

2. Or if using --plugin-dir:
   Simply stop using the --plugin-dir flag

The plugin can be reinstalled anytime from:
https://github.com/mfreiwald/ccdocs

Error Handling

Topic Not Found

When a requested topic doesn't exist:

1. Search for similar topics (fuzzy match on topic name)
2. Display helpful error:

   ❌ Documentation topic not found: "<topic>"
   
   Did you mean one of these?
     • <similar-topic-1>
     • <similar-topic-2>
     • <similar-topic-3>
   
   Run `/ccdocs:docs` to see all available topics.
   

File Read Errors

If unable to read a documentation file:

❌ Unable to read documentation file: references/<topic>.md

This might indicate a plugin installation issue.
Try reinstalling the plugin or check the GitHub repository.

Git Operation Errors

If git commands fail (for what's new):

⚠️  Unable to check recent changes - git operation failed

This might happen if:
  • You're offline
  • The plugin directory is not a git repository
  • Git is not installed

The documentation is still available locally.

Best Practices

1. Always show source attribution: Include links to official docs and GitHub
2. Preserve formatting: Display markdown documentation as-is
3. Be helpful with errors: Suggest alternatives when topics aren't found
4. Show context: Include timestamps and update information
5. Link to originals: Always provide the official documentation URL

Technical Notes

• The manifest is the source of truth for all available topics
• Documentation syncs automatically via GitHub Actions (see .github/workflows/update-docs.yml at repository root)
• Repository maintenance scripts are in scripts/ at repository root (not part of the skill)
• The plugin works offline; "what's new" uses local git history
• Documentation updates are automatic via GitHub Actions (no manual refresh command)
• Git operations should be non-blocking and gracefully handle failures
• All 51 documentation files are available immediately without external fetches
• Documentation file paths are relative to the skill directory (references/<topic>.md)
• Git operations must run from plugin root (navigate up 2 levels: cd ../..)

Example Interactions

List topics:

User: /ccdocs:docs
Claude: [Shows categorized list of all 51 topics with descriptions]

Read specific doc:

User: /ccdocs:docs hooks
Claude: [Displays hooks.md content with official URL and timestamp]

See what changed:

User: /ccdocs:docs what's new
Claude: [Lists recent commits with changed files and links]

Read changelog:

User: /ccdocs:docs changelog
Claude: [Displays Claude Code release notes from changelog.md]

---

Implementation Notes for Claude

When executing this skill:

1. Parse $ARGUMENTS first to determine the action
2. Use the Read tool for documentation files and manifest (use relative paths from skill directory)
3. Use Bash tool sparingly - only for git operations (must cd to plugin root first)
4. Always attribute sources - show both mirror and official URLs
5. Handle errors gracefully - network/git failures shouldn't break the plugin
6. Be consistent with formatting - use the emoji and formatting conventions shown above

Path handling:

• Documentation files: references/<topic>.md (relative to skill directory)
• Manifest: docs_manifest.json (relative to skill directory)
• Git operations: Must run from plugin root (navigate up: cd ../.. from skill directory)