Context7

Use Context7 for version-specific docs and code examples. Prefer direct HTTP via curl

Required shell helper

Source the bash helper from this skill once per shell:

source "${SKILLS_DIR:-skills}/context7/scripts/context7.sh"

If SKILLS_DIR is unavailable, source the same file from your local skills/ checkout.

Then use context7 <subcommand> everywhere below.

Credential check policy: do not stop at echo $CONTEXT7_API_KEY in the parent shell. Always run the documented helper entrypoint first; it auto-loads a skill-local .env using the lookup order below. The API key is optional for basic usage, so only report a credential problem if the real command still fails or the user specifically needs higher-rate access.

Workflow

1. If you do not know the library ID, search first.
2. Inspect the top matches by title, description, and totalSnippets.
3. Fetch docs with context7 docs <library-id> <query>.
4. Use context7 json ... only when structured parsing is needed.

Quick start

# Find likely matches
context7 search react "hooks useState" \
  | jq '.results[:5] | map({id, title, description, totalSnippets})'

# Grab the top library ID directly
context7 id react "hooks useState"

# Fetch readable docs
context7 docs /vercel/next.js "app router server actions"

# Fetch structured JSON when you need metadata/snippets
context7 json /fastapi/fastapi "dependency injection"

Credentials

• API key is optional but recommended for higher rate limits.
• Keep .env beside this skill.
• Helper lookup order:
  • CONTEXT7_ENV_FILE
  • $SKILLS_DIR/context7/.env
  • nearest ancestor skills/context7/.env
• Tracked template: .env.example
• Header used when present: CONTEXT7_API_KEY: <key>

Notes

• If you already know the library ID (/org/project, /org/project/version, or /websites/...), skip search.
• Prefer exact title/source matches; use higher totalSnippets as a tiebreaker, not the only signal.
• docs uses type=txt because it is easier to read in agent output.
• Public endpoint works without an API key for basic usage; expect lower rate limits.
• Override CONTEXT7_BASE_URL if you need to point at a different host.
• The shell helper uses --data-urlencode to avoid broken queries from spaces or special characters.
• id uses jq; if jq is unavailable, inspect search output manually.

Common examples

# React hooks
context7 id react "hooks useState"
context7 docs /websites/react_dev "useState"

# Next.js routing
context7 id nextjs "routing app router"
context7 docs /vercel/next.js "app router"

# FastAPI dependencies
context7 id fastapi "dependencies dependency injection"
context7 docs /fastapi/fastapi "dependency injection"

Validation

./scripts/test-context7-http.sh

Query templates

See assets/query-templates.json.