PR 3548

context7 Pro integration: zero config was only ever true for the free tier

Verifying context7 is a trap. tools/list answers HTTP 200 for every auth state, so "it connected" proves nothing about whether your key is in use. Pick a configuration on the left and watch which operation actually discriminates.

Auth-state explorer

https://mcp.context7.com/mcp

The whole tools/list column is green. That is the point.

Four auth states crossed with two operations. Only one column tells you anything.
Auth statetools/listtools/call (query-docs)
A connection check reads the middle column, which is green four times out of four. Only tools/call discriminates.

Transport cost

Legacy: npx stdio

npx spawn, one child process per session
0 child processes
  • Cost scales with how many sessions you keep open.
  • This is why ork does not make it a plugin-wide default.
  • What setup, configure, and the verification rule used to teach.

Recommended: hosted HTTP

https://mcp.context7.com/mcp
0 child processes
  • No local process, at any session count.
  • Carries the bearer token, so an unset variable hard fails.
  • Package 3.0.0 and 4.0.2 expose the identical two tool names.

Tool names that grant nothing

context7 exposes exactly two tools. Every other spelling in this repo's history was a permission that authorized no tool at all.
Pick a spelling.

Three measured gaps

Flip the switch to compare what the docs said against what was measured.

The prerequisite nobody documented

The plugin authorizes a server it never provides. Agents that advertise context7 in prose degrade silently to WebSearch.
37
agent files in the repo
27
mention the context7 tool prefix
22
actually grant it in frontmatter
The 5 file gap was agents advertising context7 in prose while scoped to mcpServers: [tavily]. Prose is not a grant.

Decision: ork ships no mcpServers definition

Documented as a prerequisite instead. Three reasons, none of them negotiable by a version bump.
Ownership
The project MCP config file is user owned, project scoped, gitignored, and holds entries unrelated to ork. A plugin writing it edits a file it does not own.
Secrets
A Pro key cannot be shipped. Free is 1000 requests and public repos only; Pro is $10 per seat per month, 5000 requests per seat, private repo parsing, and $10 per additional 1000 requests.
Process cost
stdio costs one child process per session. A plugin-wide default multiplies that across every project (see the transport panel).
Also fixed
The setup rule assigned hosted_reachable and never read it, so an unreachable hosted endpoint still reported "ready", contradicting the file's own stated rule that unreachable servers are marked skipped.