Supercharge Your Workflow: The Context 7 MCP Server Explained in 5 Minutes

In this quick article, I'm going to introduce an MCP server that is incredibly useful, powerful, and will save you a significant amount of time: Context 7.

If you've read any of my previous articles, you'll know that one of the first steps I always recommend is downloading the latest documentation. This can be done in several ways, such as using Gitest, manually copying and pasting, or employing a tool like crawl for AI. However, Context 7 makes this process much faster and more efficient.

How Context 7 Works

First, let's look at the core functionality. The tool aggregates the latest documentation from various sources, and you can even add more documentation repositories to it. For example, when working with the cal.com MCP server, a quick check shows that it's updated continuously, often multiple times a day.

While some tools, like Cursor, have built-in documentation features, they don't always work reliably. This often leads to manually fetching documentation, a task that Context 7 handles far more efficiently. A great feature is that if you find documentation that hasn't been updated recently, you can simply click to refresh it, and the tool will pull the latest version. You also have the option to copy the content yourself.

A Practical Example

Let's see it in action. In a client like Windsurf, you can run a prompt like the following:

Get me the latest booking API information for cal.com using context 7

This command calls the Context 7 MCP server. The server first finds the proper ID by searching for cal.com and quickly retrieves the latest documentation. It's remarkably fast.

If you use clients like Windsurf, Cursor, VS Code, Cloud Code, or others, this tool will be incredibly powerful for your workflow. It ensures you always have the most current context and documentation. When working with APIs, which change frequently, having the latest documentation is crucial. This MCP server automates that process for you.

Setting Up Context 7

The setup process is straightforward and similar to other MCP clients. You simply add a JSON configuration to your client's settings file. For instance, to add it to Windsurf, you would copy the JSON snippet, navigate to the MCP servers configuration, and paste it in. If you already have other MCP servers configured, you just need to add a comma before pasting the new entry.

This method applies to most clients, including Cursor, VS Code, Cloud Code, and others. The process is nearly identical across these platforms.

Note: VS Code has a slightly different method for adding MCP servers.

Adding Context 7 to VS Code

Here are the steps to add the server in VS Code: 1. Open the command palette with Cmd+Shift+P (or Ctrl+Shift+P). 2. Type MCP and select the option to add a server. 3. Choose stdio as the server type. 4. In the command input, enter the following: bash mpx -y @context-7/mcp-server 5. Give it a name, such as Context 7, and press Enter.

After restarting VS Code, you will see the Context 7 MCP server available in your agent.

VS Code also has a fantastic feature that automatically detects other MCP servers installed on your system. If you have servers set up for clients like Cloud Desktop, Windsurf, or Cursor, VS Code will prompt you to trust and enable them with a single click.

This can lead to having a large number of tools available—in some cases, well over 150+ tools—as each MCP server and its associated tools are installed for each IDE or client.

Managing Your Tools in VS Code

Another advantage of VS Code's implementation is the ability to manage these tools effectively. If you have duplicate servers (for example, Context 7 appearing from Cloud Desktop, Windsurf, and its own installation), you can easily disable the redundant ones. You can also turn off specific tools within a server, giving you granular control.

As developers accumulate more and more tools, managing them becomes a new challenge. VS Code provides one of the best solutions by allowing you to toggle entire MCP servers or individual tools on and off.

This MCP server is a fantastic, time-saving utility that can significantly improve your development efficiency.