Developer Guide

This guide covers how to set up the Context7 MCP server locally for development and testing.

Getting Started

Clone the project and install dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/upstash/context7.git
cd context7
pnpm i

Build:

pnpm run build

Run the server:

node packages/mcp/dist/index.js

CLI Arguments

context7-mcp accepts the following CLI flags:

Flag	Description	Default
`--transport <stdio\|http>`	Transport to use. Use `http` for remote HTTP server or `stdio` for local integration.	`stdio`
`--port <number>`	Port to listen on when using `http` transport.	`3000`
`--host <host>`	Interface to bind when using `http` transport.	`127.0.0.1`
`--api-key <key>`	API key for authentication (or set `CONTEXT7_API_KEY` env var).	-

Get your API key by creating an account at context7.com/dashboard.

Examples

HTTP transport on port 8080:

node packages/mcp/dist/index.js --transport http --port 8080

Stdio transport with API key:

node packages/mcp/dist/index.js --transport stdio --api-key YOUR_API_KEY

Environment Variables

You can use the CONTEXT7_API_KEY environment variable instead of passing the --api-key flag. This is useful for:

Storing API keys securely in .env files
Integration with MCP server setups that use dotenv
Tools that prefer environment variable configuration

The --api-key CLI flag takes precedence over the environment variable when both are provided.

Using .env File

# .env
CONTEXT7_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

HTTP deployments can set CONTEXT7_MCP_HOST to choose the bind interface and CONTEXT7_MCP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS to add exact, comma-separated browser origins. The --host flag takes precedence over CONTEXT7_MCP_HOST. Keep the default loopback bind for local use; set --host 0.0.0.0 only behind a trusted network boundary.

MCP Configuration with Environment Variable

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context7": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@upstash/context7-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "CONTEXT7_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local Development Configuration

When developing locally, use this configuration to run from source:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context7": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "/path/to/folder/context7/packages/mcp/src/index.ts", "--api-key", "YOUR_API_KEY"]
    }
  }
}

Testing with MCP Inspector

Test your setup using the MCP Inspector:

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx @upstash/context7-mcp

This opens an interactive inspector to verify Context7 tools are working correctly.

Overview

How To

Enterprise

Security

Clients

SDKs

Agentic Tools

API Reference

Integrations

Resources

Getting Started

CLI Arguments

Examples

Environment Variables

Using .env File

MCP Configuration with Environment Variable

Local Development Configuration

Testing with MCP Inspector

​Getting Started

​CLI Arguments

​Examples

​Environment Variables

​Using .env File

​MCP Configuration with Environment Variable

​Local Development Configuration

​Testing with MCP Inspector

Getting Started

CLI Arguments

Examples

Environment Variables

Using .env File

MCP Configuration with Environment Variable

Local Development Configuration

Testing with MCP Inspector