context7

Look up live, accurate documentation for any library via the context7-mcp server. Prevents hallucinated APIs by fetching real, indexed documentation at query time.

When to Use

Use this skill any time you need accurate, current details about a library — method signatures, config schemas, integration examples, version-specific behaviour. context7 indexes 5000+ libraries including OpenClaw, LangChain, Next.js, Supabase, FastAPI, and more.

Do not rely on training data alone for library-specific questions; use this skill instead.

How context7-mcp Works

context7-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that queries context7.com for indexed documentation. It exposes two tools:

• resolve-library-id — resolve a library name to its context7 library ID
• query-docs — fetch documentation snippets for a specific library + query

The server runs via npx -y @upstash/context7-mcp with no auth required.

Workflow

Step 1: Resolve the library ID

Call resolve-library-id with the library name and your task as the query. Pick the result with the highest Benchmark Score and Source Reputation: High or Medium that matches your intent.

resolve-library-id(
  libraryName: "openclawai",
  query: "how to configure mcp.servers"
)

Use the returned library ID (format: /org/project) in step 2.

Step 2: Fetch documentation

Call query-docs with the library ID and a specific, task-focused query. Narrow queries return better results than broad ones.

query-docs(
  libraryId: "/websites/openclaw_ai",
  query: "mcp.servers configuration add local stdio process"
)

Step 3: Apply the result

Use the returned code snippets and prose directly. They come with source URLs — cite them when precision matters.

Tips

• Narrow queries beat broad ones. "How to authenticate with JWT in Express" beats "authentication".
• Try multiple queries if the first result is shallow — rephrase around what you actually need to do.
• Use the source URL in results to fetch more context with web_fetch if a snippet is incomplete.
• Call resolve-library-id once per library per session — cache the ID rather than resolving it repeatedly.
• Don't call either tool more than 3 times per question — if 3 calls haven't found it, use the best result you have.

OpenClaw MCP Integration

If context7-mcp is configured as an OpenClaw MCP server, the tools (resolve-library-id, query-docs) appear natively in your tool surface without running a subprocess. Apply the same workflow — the tool names and arguments are identical.

To check if it's configured: run /mcp show and look for context7.

To configure it (operator slash command):

/mcp set context7="{\"command\":\"npx\",\"args\":[\"-y\",\"@upstash/context7-mcp\"]}"

Manual Testing

To verify context7-mcp works on your system:

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"test","version":"1"}}}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' \
  | npx -y @upstash/context7-mcp 2>/dev/null | grep '"name"'

Expected output includes resolve-library-id and query-docs.