novotnyllc/dotnet-artisan/dotnet-library-docs

dotnet-library-docs

Look up current documentation for a library when training-data knowledge may be stale (new major versions, renamed APIs, changed defaults). This replaces the Context7 MCP server the plugin used to start in every session: the same Context7 service, called with curl only when needed, so no Node process, no npx download, and no tool schemas in the startup context.

Scope

• Third-party and NuGet library docs: API usage, configuration, migration notes, code snippets.
• Checking how the current version of a package does something before writing code against it.
• Non-.NET libraries in the same repo (front-end packages, CLIs) - Context7 indexes those too.

Out of scope

• Official .NET, ASP.NET Core, EF Core, and Azure reference -> the microsoftdocs-mcp server (Microsoft Learn) shipped with this plugin; routing via [skill:dotnet-advisor].
• Generating XML doc comments, READMEs, or API docs for the user's own code -> [skill:dotnet-docs-generator].
• Choosing which package or architecture to use -> [skill:dotnet-advisor].

Workflow

Requires curl and network access. In a sandbox with network off (Codex workspace-write default, some Claude Code permission modes) the harness will ask to allow the request; that one approval covers the lookup.

1. Resolve the library id (skip if the user gave one like /app-vnext/polly):

``bash curl -fsS "https://context7.com/api/v1/search?query=polly" | python3 -c 'import json,sys; [print(r["id"], "|", r["title"], "| trust", r.get("trustScore"), "| snippets", r.get("totalSnippets")) for r in json.load(sys.stdin)["results"][:5]]' ``

Prefer the official repository id (/<org>/<repo>) with a high trust score over mirrors (/websites/..., DeepWiki). If nothing fits, say so rather than guessing.

1. Fetch docs for one topic, trimmed to what you need:

``bash curl -fsS "https://context7.com/api/v1/app-vnext/polly?type=txt&topic=retry&tokens=3000" ``

Drop the leading / of the id in the path. topic narrows the result; tokens caps its size (3000 is usually enough; raise to 8000-10000 only for broad questions). A version-specific id (/org/repo/v8.4.0, shown in search results when available) pins a release.

1. Cite the library id you used and say which version the docs cover when

the answer depends on it.

Use one search and one or two fetches per question; do not crawl.

API key (optional)

Anonymous requests work but are rate limited. If a CONTEXT7_API_KEY environment variable is set, send it - never print it or write it to a file:

curl -fsS -H "Authorization: Bearer $CONTEXT7_API_KEY" "https://context7.com/api/v1/search?query=polly"

On HTTP 429 without a key, tell the user the anonymous limit was hit and that a free key from context7.com raises it.

Restoring the MCP server

Prefer the MCP server instead (for example, a client that cannot run shell commands)? Add it to your own client config: npx -y @upstash/context7-mcp@<version> (Claude Code: claude mcp add context7 -s user -- npx -y @upstash/context7-mcp@<version>; Codex: codex mcp add context7 -- npx -y @upstash/context7-mcp@<version>).