Hexdocs Fetcher

What the source does

• FilesystemNone observedNo reads or writes in the source
• NetworkNone observedNo outbound calls in the source
• ShellNone observedNo commands run in the source
• DependenciesPinnedNothing floats
• SecretsNone foundNo keys in source

Five audit layers

Gates applied: no behavioural pass.

Audit 0.4.1 · source sha 492f17636999 · 18 Oct 2026Report an issue or request a re-scan

• Publisheroliver-kriska GitHub userOwner of the repository this skill is read from
• Source folderoliver-kriska/claude-elixir-phoenix/plugins/elixir-phoenix/skills/hexdocs-fetcherThe exact folder we audited
• LicenceMITAs the repository states it
• Commit pinned for this verdict492f17636999A new audit runs when the source changes
• Repository statusNot archivedLast push 2 days ago
• Sandboxed runNot runSkills are read, not executed; layer L4 is skipped

Its description: Fetch HexDocs for Elixir libraries with HTML-to-markdown conversion. Use when looking up docs on hexdocs.pm — modules, functions, guides, changelogs.

---
name: hexdocs-fetcher
description: "Fetch HexDocs for Elixir libraries with HTML-to-markdown conversion. Use when looking up docs on hexdocs.pm — modules, functions, guides, changelogs."
effort: low
---

# HexDocs Fetcher

Efficiently fetch Elixir library documentation from hexdocs.pm using Claude Code's native `WebFetch` tool.

## Usage

When researching libraries, use `WebFetch`:

```
# Fetch library overview
WebFetch(
  url: "https://hexdocs.pm/oban",
  prompt: "Extract the main documentation, including module overview, installation instructions, and key functions. Format as clean markdown."
)

# Fetch specific module docs
WebFetch(
  url: "https://hexdocs.pm/phoenix_live_view/Phoenix.LiveView.html",
  prompt: "Extract the module documentation including all public functions, their specs, and examples."
)

# Fetch getting started guide
WebFetch(
  url: "https://hexdocs.pm/ecto/getting-started.html",
  prompt: "Extract the complete getting started guide content."
)
```

## Token Efficiency

WebFetch automatically converts HTML to markdown and extracts relevant content:

| Source | Raw HTML | With WebFetch | Benefit |
|--------|----------|---------------|---------|
| HexDocs page | ~80k tokens | ~15k tokens | **80% reduction** |
| Phoenix docs | ~120k tokens | ~25k tokens | **79% reduction** |
| README | ~20k tokens | ~8k tokens | **60% reduction** |

## Integration with hex-library-researcher

When evaluating libraries, fetch docs efficiently:

```
# Get library overview with focused extraction
WebFetch(
  url: "https://hexdocs.pm/oban",
  prompt: "Extract: 1) Installation instructions 2) Main features 3) Basic usage example"
)
```

## Common HexDocs URLs

```
# Library overview
https://hexdocs.pm/{library}

# Module documentation
https://hexdocs.pm/{library}/{Module}.html
https://hexdocs.pm/{library}/{Module.Submodule}.html

# Guides
https://hexdocs.pm/{library}/guides.html
https://hexdocs.pm/{library}/{guide-name}.html

# API reference
https://hexdocs.pm/{library}/api-reference.html
```

## Prompt Strategies

Use focused prompts for better extraction:

```
# For API docs
prompt: "Extract all public function docs with @spec and examples"

# For guides
prompt: "Extract the complete guide content preserving code examples"

# For troubleshooting
prompt: "Extract any troubleshooting sections, common errors, and FAQs"

# For configuration
prompt: "Extract configuration options and their defaults"
```

## Caching

WebFetch includes automatic 15-minute caching. When fetching the same URL multiple times in a session, results are cached automatically.

For longer persistence, save to planning directory:

```
# After fetching, write the result to a file
Write(
  file_path: ".claude/plans/{slug}/research/docs/oban.md",
  content: "{extracted content}"
)
```

## Tidewave Alternative

If Tidewave MCP is available, prefer `mcp__tidewave__get_docs` for exact version-matched documentation:

```
mcp__tidewave__get_docs(module: "Oban.Worker")
```

This fetches docs for the exact version in your `mix.lock`.

## Iron Laws

1. **NEVER fetch entire HexDocs sites** — always target specific modules or guides
2. **Use focused prompts** — generic fetches waste tokens; specify what to extract
3. **Prefer Tidewave when available** — exact version match beats generic hexdocs.pm

Excerpt, first 3,315 characters of SKILL.md, verbatim from the audited commit. It is text from someone else’s repository, quoted so you can judge it before your agent reads it.

1. 2026-10-18
   ✓SAFE B 89 / 100

   first audit · source 492f17636999

Questions about Hexdocs Fetcher

• github.com/oliver-kriska/claude-elixir-phoenix/tree/main/plugins — the audited source at commit 492f17636999 and every finding aboveObserved · 18 Oct 2026

Spotted something wrong? Report a correction · Methodology