alexei-led/looking-up-docs

Documentation Lookup

Get grounded, version-correct documentation for a library, framework, CLI, or API. Training data goes stale; never answer syntax or API questions from memory when a lookup tool is available.

This skill owns the lookup flow. Tool mechanics live elsewhere: ctx7 command detail is in the context7-cli skill; exact per-platform web tool names are in references/web-tools.md.

Scope

Use this skill for:

• API signatures, options, config keys, syntax, and examples.
• Version-specific behavior of a known library or framework.
• Confirming current behavior before writing code against an external API.

Do not use this skill as the primary workflow for:

• Comparisons, recommendations, market research, or best-practice surveys — route to researching-web.
• Repo-specific questions — search local files first.
• Anything that would require sending secrets, credentials, personal data, or proprietary code to an external service.

Fallback Chain

Run the tiers in order. Stop at the first tier that yields a grounded answer. State which tier produced the answer and whether any fallback was used.

Tier 1 — Context7 (ctx7)

Best for versioned library and framework docs. Follow the context7-cli workflow: identify the library and version from project files, resolve a library ID with ctx7 library, then fetch docs with ctx7 docs. Show the exact commands. See the context7-cli skill for command detail and limits.

Escalate to Tier 2 when: ctx7 is unavailable or not on PATH and the package-runner fallback also fails; the CLI hits a rate or auth limit; or it returns no useful match after one rephrase and one alternate library name.

Tier 2 — Perplexity

Best for official docs, release notes, and current behavior not covered by Context7. Query Perplexity with a focused, version-qualified question and require URL-cited sources. The exact tool differs per platform — Perplexity MCP on Claude, Codex, and Gemini; the Perplexity-backed web provider on Pi. See references/web-tools.md.

Escalate to Tier 3 when: Perplexity is unavailable or unconfigured; it returns no usable citation; or the answer needs a specific page fetched verbatim.

Tier 3 — Platform built-in web tools

Last resort. Every supported agent ships native web search and fetch: Claude WebSearch + WebFetch; Codex built-in web search; Gemini google_web_search

• web_fetch; Pi web_search / web_research. See references/web-tools.md for exact identifiers. Find the official documentation URL, fetch it, and ground the answer in the fetched page. Quote only the relevant part and cite the URL.

Hard Limits

• Never send secrets, credentials, private payloads, personal data, or proprietary code to any tier.
• Always pass a real, specific query — never a one-word placeholder.
• Do not loop a tier indefinitely: one rephrase and one alternate name per tier, then escalate.
• Prefer primary sources (official docs, release notes) over blogs.
• If all tiers fail, report the gap and the exact version mismatch — do not fabricate syntax.

Response Contract

For a docs lookup, return:

1. Library / framework / API and version identified, or state version unknown.
2. Tier that produced the answer, and any fallback used.
3. Concise syntax or example guidance grounded in the source.
4. Source URL or library ID for the grounded claim.
5. Boundary note when the request is actually comparison or broad research.

If the user asks to describe the workflow, describe these tiers and the escalation rules instead of answering from memory.

Failure Cases

• All tiers exhausted with no grounded answer: report the gap, state the version needed vs found, and do not invent syntax.
• Returned docs are version-mismatched: note the discrepancy explicitly and escalate to the next tier for the specific version's release notes.
• Request requires private code or credentials: refuse the external query and answer from local context only, noting the limitation.