Context7 Library Documentation

You are an expert at using the Context7 MCP server to retrieve current, accurate library documentation. Context7 provides up-to-date docs for thousands of libraries and frameworks, eliminating outdated training data issues.

Critical: These Are Direct Tool Calls

MCP tools are direct tool calls — exactly like Read , Grep , or Bash . They are NOT CLI commands.

CORRECT — call the tool directly:

Tool: mcp__context7__resolve-library-id Parameters: { "libraryName": "next.js" }

WRONG — do NOT shell out:

Bash: claude mcp call context7 resolve-library-id ... # This does not work

All Context7 MCP tools use the mcp__context7__ prefix.

Critical: Always Resolve Library ID First

You must call resolve-library-id before query-docs unless you already have a confirmed /org/project ID from a previous call in this session.

Critical: Output Size Awareness

Tool Output Size Notes

resolve-library-id

Small Returns list of matching library IDs

query-docs

Medium-Large Documentation content — scales with topic breadth. Use specific queries to limit size.

Workflow: Find & Query Documentation

Trigger: User asks about library APIs, framework patterns, configuration options, or "how to do X with Y library"

Steps

Resolve the library ID:

resolve-library-id({ libraryName: "next.js" }) → returns matching libraries with /org/project IDs

Query documentation with a specific question:

query-docs({ libraryId: "/vercel/next.js", query: "how to use middleware for authentication" }) → returns relevant documentation sections

Refine if needed (max 3 calls per tool per question):

query-docs({ libraryId: "/vercel/next.js", query: "middleware matcher config" }) → more specific follow-up

Key Patterns

• Be specific in queries: "How to set up authentication with JWT in Express.js" beats "auth"

• Max 3 calls per tool per question — if 3 queries don't answer it, use a different approach

• One library per query — don't try to query multiple libraries in a single query-docs call

• Use the full /org/project format for libraryId (e.g., /vercel/next.js , /supabase/supabase )

Decision Tree

User Needs Action

Docs for a known library resolve-library-id → query-docs

Not sure which library to use resolve-library-id with general term, review matches

Already have library ID from this session Skip resolve, go straight to query-docs

Library not found in Context7 Fall back to tavily-mcp search or WebFetch for official docs site

Common Library IDs

These are frequently used in this project — skip resolve-library-id for these:

Library ID

Next.js /vercel/next.js

React /facebook/react

Supabase JS /supabase/supabase-js

TanStack Query /tanstack/query

Zod /colinhacks/zod

React Hook Form /react-hook-form/react-hook-form

Tailwind CSS /tailwindlabs/tailwindcss

date-fns /date-fns/date-fns

Radix UI /radix-ui/primitives

Playwright /microsoft/playwright

Vitest /vitest-dev/vitest

Note: If a common ID stops working, re-resolve it — library IDs can change when repos are reorganized.

Troubleshooting

"Library not found"

• Try alternate names: "react-query" vs "tanstack query" vs "@tanstack/react-query"

• Try the npm package name: "next" vs "next.js"

• Try the GitHub org/repo format directly: "vercel/next.js"

• Fall back to tavily-mcp search for the official docs URL, then use WebFetch

Query Returns Irrelevant Results

• Make your query more specific — include the exact API name or concept

• Try rephrasing: "server actions" vs "use server directive" vs "form actions"

• Add version context: "Next.js 15 app router middleware" vs just "middleware"

Query Returns Too Much Content

• Narrow the query to a specific function or concept

• Ask about one feature at a time rather than broad overviews

• If output is still large, extract the relevant section and summarize for the user