Matlab Docs

MATLAB Documentation Lookup

Resolve a function name, mathworks.com URL, or local help-HTML path to clean documentation text.

Why this skill exists

MathWorks fronts its docs with a WAF that returns HTTP 403 to Claude's WebFetch tool. So whenever you need MathWorks docs, route through this skill instead of WebFetch.

A second reason: MATLAB ships substantial documentation locally, and the user may have the Support Packages installed. Local lookups are faster, work offline, and match the exact MATLAB release the user has -- so the skill checks local first and only falls back to the network when the function is not present locally.

Usage

${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/extract_matlab_doc.py <target>

<target> is one of:

• A function name. Bare (profile, lsqnonlin) or namespaced (compiler.runtime.createDockerImage). Case-insensitive.
• A mathworks.com URL, with or without an #anchor fragment.
• A path to a local .html file.

The script writes markdown-flavoured text to stdout (# headings, fenced code blocks for syntax and examples). Exit status is non-zero with a stderr message if the function cannot be resolved.

When to use this skill

Reach for it whenever you need to know what a MATLAB function does, what arguments or name-value pairs it accepts, or whether a better alternative exists. Common situations:

• An unfamiliar function appears in a profile hotspot list and you need to decide whether it is the cause of slowness or merely incidental.
• Someone else's MATLAB code uses a function you do not have memorized and you want the spec before suggesting changes.
• The user pastes a mathworks.com URL and asks about it.
• You are about to recommend an alternative (e.g. griddedInterpolant instead of repeated interp1) and want to confirm the alternative actually has the option you are about to cite.

When the user gives you a function name, just run the script with the name. When they give you a URL, run the script with the URL. There is no need to download the page yourself first.

When not to use this skill

• When you already have the function spec in your head and the user is not going to act on the recommendation. Don't burn a tool call to confirm something obvious.
• When the question is about MATLAB language semantics, not a specific function (e.g. "how does broadcasting work in MATLAB?") -- those are better answered from training knowledge or by directing the user to the relevant Mathworks user guide page (and if you do that, you can pass the user-guide URL to this skill).
• When the user has asked you not to consult docs.

When the script can't resolve a target

The script writes a clear message to stderr (e.g. Could not find documentation for: foo) and exits non-zero. The correct response is to retry with a different target through the same script — never to bypass it.

Things to try, in order:

• A different spelling: lsqnonlin vs lsqNonlin, etc. (the script is case-insensitive but exact-token).
• A more- or less-namespaced form: createDockerImage vs compiler.runtime.createDockerImage.
• A topic URL on mathworks.com (e.g. an "Install and Configure ..." page) instead of a function name.
• A direct path to a local help HTML file under ~/Documents/MATLAB/SupportPackages/<release>/help/ or under the MATLAB application bundle, if you can identify one. The script accepts an absolute file path as a target.

If none of those resolve, accept that the doc isn't easily findable and say so to the user. The script's not-found result is information, not a prompt to circumvent it.

Constraints

• Do not modify the script for project-specific function names or paths. The locality of ~/Documents/MATLAB is a user-environment fact, not a project convention.
• This skill is the only route to MATLAB docs. Once it returns a not-found message, do not fall back to:
  • WebFetch against any mathworks.com URL (HTTP 403 from the MathWorks WAF — that's exactly why this skill exists).
  • curl against mathworks.com (the script already does this internally with the right headers; rolling your own bypasses the skill's request hygiene).
  • find / grep / ls against ~/Documents/MATLAB/, the MATLAB application bundle, or any other local doc store. The script already consults these. Searching them yourself produces user-visible noise (permission prompts, raw Bash(find ...) calls in the transcript) the user installed this skill to avoid. Each of these is a "fallback" that defeats the skill's purpose. Use the script with a different target instead.
• The script's output can be large for long doc pages. Quote the relevant section back to the user, do not paste the whole thing unless they ask.