deepwiki-usage

name	deepwiki-usage
description	Use when researching external open-source projects, understanding unfamiliar libraries, or getting high-level architecture overviews of public repos. Examples: 'How does Next.js routing work?', 'Explain the architecture of langchain', 'What does this repo do?'

DeepWiki — External Repo Research

When to Use

• "How does [external library] work?"
• "Explain the architecture of [public repo]"
• "What are the main components of [framework]?"
• Researching a new dependency before adopting it
• Getting oriented in an unfamiliar open-source project

When NOT to Use

• Questions about the local Lab repository (use OpenViking + GitNexus)
• Symbol-level analysis (use GitNexus after cloning)
• Code quality metrics (use CGC)

MCP Tools

read_wiki_structure — get the documentation topic tree:

mcp__deepwiki__read_wiki_structure({repo: "owner/repo"})
→ Returns structured topic tree with sections and pages

read_wiki_contents — get documentation content:

mcp__deepwiki__read_wiki_contents({repo: "owner/repo"})
→ Returns markdown documentation with Mermaid diagrams

ask_question — conversational Q&A:

mcp__deepwiki__ask_question({
  repo: "owner/repo",
  question: "How does the middleware system work?"
})
→ Returns answer grounded in the repo's actual code

Workflow: Researching a New Library

1. read_wiki_structure → Understand what topics are documented
2. ask_question → Ask specific questions about architecture/design
3. read_wiki_contents → Read detailed documentation on specific topics
4. If deeper analysis needed:
   - Clone the repo locally
   - Index with GitNexus: `npx gitnexus analyze`
   - Use gitnexus_query/context for symbol-level analysis

Checklist

- [ ] Confirm the target is a public repository (DeepWiki only works with public repos)
- [ ] Use read_wiki_structure first to understand available documentation
- [ ] Ask focused questions — one concept at a time
- [ ] Cross-reference with actual source code for implementation details
- [ ] If you need precise call graphs or impact analysis, clone and use GitNexus

Supported Platforms

• GitHub: owner/repo (e.g., vercel/next.js)
• GitLab: gitlab:owner/repo
• Bitbucket: bitbucket:owner/repo