Context7 for Windsurf: Setup & Config

What you can do with Context7 in Windsurf

Ground coding assistance in targeted library documentation, including version-specific examples.

• Find examples for a particular framework or package version.
• Configure an agent to fetch documentation automatically for library questions.

Before you start: Context7 in Windsurf

• Node.js 18 or later for the setup CLI
• A compatible coding agent or MCP client

This is a setup command, not a persistent server launch. Choose MCP mode during setup. Manual HTTP configuration passes a key in the CONTEXT7_API_KEY header, not an environment variable. A free API key is recommended for higher limits.

Context7 Windsurf configuration

1. Choose Windsurf configuration scope

   For Context7, open macOS/Linux: ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codeium\windsurf\mcp_config.json. Merge into mcpServers; remote endpoints use serverUrl.

2. Add Context7 to Windsurf

   Use the context7-mcp entry below in mcpServers. Keep Context7's documented http connection fields and your other Windsurf entries.

3. Check Context7 in Windsurf

   Context7: Refresh MCP in Windsurf settings and inspect Cascade’s tools.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context7-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.context7.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Context7 tools available to Windsurf

Context7's stored tool list documents 2 tools; compare it with Windsurf's connected tool list, because the stored list is not a live check.

resolve-library-id

After refreshing Context7 in Windsurf settings, check Cascade's tool list for resolve-library-id.

query-docs

After refreshing Context7 in Windsurf settings, check Cascade's tool list for query-docs.

Retrieve task-relevant documentation for an exact Context7 library ID.

Context7: full stored tool descriptions

Troubleshooting Context7 in Windsurf

• For Context7, Windsurf reads serverUrl (mcp.context7.com), not url. Refresh the connection and check the tools exposed to Cascade.
• Context7: check http connectivity to mcp.context7.com from Windsurf; a stdio command is not a replacement for this endpoint.
• Transport mismatch: Context7's catalog lists stdio; the displayed Windsurf configuration uses http.
• Known limitation: Community-contributed documentation is not guaranteed accurate, complete, or secure.
• Known limitation: The backend, parsing engine, and crawler are not included in the repository.
• Known limitation: Higher rate limits are tied to using an API key.
• General Windsurf troubleshooting lives in the /clients/windsurf guide.

Frequently asked questions