context7

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)