c7 — Context7 CLI

Get up-to-date, version-specific library docs from your terminal. No MCP client needed.

Built on top of Context7 — the same docs that power Cursor, Claude, and other AI coding assistants, now available as a simple CLI.

Note: This package is published as @vedanth/context7 on npm. The unscoped context7 on npm is a different, unrelated project.

Why?

There's been a growing consensus that CLIs are better than MCP servers for developer tools. MCP locks you into specific editors. A CLI just gives you text — pipe it wherever you want.

Context7 has great docs data, but their MCP server only works inside Cursor and other MCP clients. c7 makes the same data available as plain stdout:

• Pipe into any LLM (Claude Code, Ollama, llama.cpp, whatever)
• Compose with grep, jq, less, pbcopy, or shell scripts
• Use in CI, automation, agent prompts — anywhere you can run a command

Install

npx @vedanth/context7               # Run directly (no install)
npm install -g @vedanth/context7     # Or install globally

Usage

# Find a library
c7 resolve nextjs

# Get docs (auto-resolves library name)
c7 docs nextjs "app router"
c7 docs react "server components" --tokens 10000

# Shorthand — skip the "docs" command
c7 react hooks
c7 express middleware
c7 tailwindcss "dark mode"

# Use exact Context7 ID (from resolve)
c7 docs /vercel/next.js "image optimization"

# Pipe into anything
c7 react hooks | pbcopy
c7 express middleware >> prompt.txt
c7 docs nextjs "api routes" | llm "summarize these docs"

Commands

Command	Description
c7 resolve <library>	Find Context7 library IDs for a search term
c7 docs <library> [topic]	Get docs (auto-resolves name to best match)
c7 <library> [topic]	Shorthand for c7 docs

Options

Flag	Description
--tokens <n>	Max tokens to return (default: 5000)
--api-key <key>	Context7 API key (or set CONTEXT7_API_KEY env)
--json	Raw JSON output (resolve only)

API Key (optional)

Works without an API key for basic usage. For higher rate limits:

1. Get a key at context7.com/dashboard
2. Set it: export CONTEXT7_API_KEY=your-key

Use Cases

Feed docs into coding agents:

DOCS=$(c7 nextjs "app router middleware" --tokens 8000)
claude "Build a Next.js middleware that redirects. Use these docs:\n$DOCS"

Quick API lookup:

c7 prisma "findMany" --tokens 3000

Compare versions:

c7 docs /vercel/next.js "image" --tokens 5000   # Latest
c7 docs /websites/nextjs_15 "image"              # v15 specific

Why CLI instead of MCP?

Developers have been saying it for months: MCP adds complexity where a simple CLI would do. An MCP server needs a compatible client, configuration files, and an editor that speaks the protocol. A CLI needs npx and a pipe.

c7 outputs plain text to stdout. That means it works with every tool that already exists:

# In a script
DOCS=$(c7 nextjs "app router" --tokens 8000)
echo "$DOCS" | your-llm-of-choice

# In CI
c7 your-library "migration guide" > context.txt

# Piped into local models
c7 react hooks | ollama run codellama "explain these patterns"

Use the MCP server in your editor. Use c7 everywhere else. They complement each other.

How it works

Two API calls:

1. Resolve — searches Context7's index for a library name, returns a library ID
2. Fetch — pulls documentation for that ID, filtered by topic and token limit

The CLI is 170 lines across two files (bin/c7.js + lib/api.js), uses only Node's built-in fetch, and has zero npm dependencies.

Credits

Powered by Context7 by Upstash.

c7 vs other Context7 packages

Package	What it is
@vedanth/context7 (this)	CLI tool — library docs in your terminal
@upstash/context7	Official MCP server for AI editors
context7 (unscoped)	Different project, not related

License

MIT