alexei-led/context7-cli

Context7 CLI Mechanics

Reference for driving the ctx7 CLI: resolve a library name to an ID, then query docs with that ID. This skill is tool mechanics only. The docs-lookup decision flow and tool fallback chain live in looking-up-docs; this skill is Tier 1 of that chain.

Scope

Use this skill for:

• The exact ctx7 library / ctx7 docs command workflow and selection rules.
• Library-ID resolution and version-specific docs queries.
• The npx / bunx fallback when ctx7 is not installed.

Do not use this skill for:

• Deciding when to fall back from Context7 to web search — that is looking-up-docs.
• Comparisons, recommendations, or broad research — that is researching-web.
• Queries that would send secrets, credentials, personal data, or proprietary code outside the project.

Required Workflow

You MUST follow these steps and SHOW the exact ctx7 commands you ran in the response. Claims like "I used Context7" without an emitted command do not satisfy this skill.

1. Identify the library and version from project files (package.json, go.mod, pyproject.toml, requirements.txt, lockfiles). State the identified version, or say version is unknown.

2. Build a query from the user's real topic. Do not use one-word placeholders.

3. If the user provided /org/project or /org/project/version, skip step 4 and call ctx7 docs directly with that ID.

4. Otherwise resolve the library ID first by running and showing:

   ctx7 library <name> "<specific query>"
   

5. Select the best library ID from the results and explain why.

6. Fetch docs by running and showing:

   ctx7 docs /org/project "<specific query>"
   

7. Ground the answer in the returned docs. Quote only the relevant parts.

8. If ctx7 is missing on PATH, retry with the npx (or bunx) fallback and say so:

   npx ctx7@latest library <name> "<specific query>"
   npx ctx7@latest docs /org/project "<specific query>"
   
   # or, if you use Bun:
   bunx ctx7@latest library <name> "<specific query>"
   bunx ctx7@latest docs /org/project "<specific query>"
   

9. If Context7 has no useful match after one rephrase and one alternate library name, report that Context7 was exhausted. Escalation to web tools is owned by looking-up-docs (Tier 2 onward), not this skill.

Hard Limits

• Do not include secrets, credentials, private payloads, personal data, or proprietary code in any query.
• Always pass a real query to both commands.
• Do not call ctx7 library more than 3 times for one user question.
• Do not call ctx7 docs more than 3 times for one user question.
• Prefer ctx7 docs --json when structured output will reduce ambiguity.
• If docs remain insufficient after the limit, report the gap and hand back to looking-up-docs for the next tier.

Response Contract

For ctx7 results, return:

1. Library/version identified, or say version is unknown.
2. Library ID selected and why.
3. Concise syntax or example guidance grounded in docs.
4. Whether the npx/bunx fallback was used.
5. Whether Context7 was exhausted (hand-off to looking-up-docs).

Failure Cases

• ctx7 library returns no match: try a shorter or alternate name once; if still no match, report Context7 exhausted and hand back to looking-up-docs.
• Docs returned are clearly outdated (version mismatch): note the discrepancy, state the version found vs the version needed, and hand back to looking-up-docs for the next tier.