# Ref

> Use this tool when you need to access technical documentation for development workflows, providing AI assistants with contextual search capabilities for APIs, frameworks, and libraries. It solves problems of outdated or hard-to-find documentation by offering a specialized search service with curated results. With inputs of search queries and API keys, and outputs of relevant documentation in markdown format, it is ideal for developers and AI coding assistants requiring efficient access to technical resources.

Canonical page: https://skillsregistry.net/skills/ref  
JSON: https://api.skillsregistry.net/v1/skills/ref

## Description

This MCP server provides AI assistants with access to technical documentation through Ref.tools, a specialized documentation search service that indexes APIs, frameworks, libraries, and other technical resources. Built with TypeScript using the Model Context Protocol SDK and axios, it offers three core tools: documentation search that queries curated technical docs with contextual relevance, web search as a fallback for broader queries, and URL reading that converts web pages to markdown for easy consumption. The implementation supports both legacy stdio transport and experimental streamable HTTP modes, requires a Ref API key for authentication, and can be configured to disable web search if users prefer alternative search providers, making it valuable for developers and AI coding assistants that need up-to-date, token-efficient access to technical documentation during development workflows.

## Trust

- **Trust score (0–1):** 0.50
- **Verification tier:** unverified

## Facts

- **Version:** 1.0.0
- **Skill type:** atomic
- **Execution layer:** mcp-remote
- **Runtime environment:** api
- **Category:** security
- **Updated:** 2026-04-29

## Source

- **Source listing:** [PulseMCP](https://www.pulsemcp.com/servers/ref)
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/ref-tools/ref-tools-mcp>

## Use it

Resolve this record through the SkillsRegistry MCP server (no auth, read-only):

```
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user skillsregistry https://api.skillsregistry.net/mcp
```

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_skill",
    "arguments": {
      "slug": "ref"
    }
  }
}
```

REST: `GET https://api.skillsregistry.net/v1/skills/ref` · pull for local use: `GET https://api.skillsregistry.net/v1/skills/ref/pull`

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SkillsRegistry indexes agent skills from public registries and GitHub. Skills we have analysed are scanned with Circle-IR and scored on six dimensions; each listing states its scan coverage. More: https://skillsregistry.net/llms.txt