OpenCaseLaw MCP
OpenCaseLaw gives an agent search over 1 million Swiss court decisions and laws of all cantons: keyless MCP, REST and the ocl CLI.
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- Last commit
Minimal access
Why this level
- Queries to the database go to the public server `mcp.opencaselaw.ch`, read-only access.
Install
- Works in
Manual install
{"mcpServers":{"opencaselaw":{"url":"https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/mcp"}}}No sign-up or keys, read-only. For citation checks: `pipx install opencaselaw-cli`.
Access and checks
How we reviewMinimal accessThe tool runs nothing and makes no network calls.
- Queries to the database go to the public server `mcp.opencaselaw.ch`, read-only access.
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
OpenCaseLaw is an open database of Swiss case law and legislation for legal research and AI. It holds more than a million decisions of federal and cantonal courts since 1875 in German, French and Italian, 5,546 federal and 16,400 cantonal laws and a citation graph between cases. To connect an MCP client use the address `https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/mcp` with no sign-up and no keys, read-only, 42 tools. The agent searches decisions, traces citations, finds leading cases on a question and reads statute articles. The `ocl` client from the `opencaselaw-cli` package checks whether cited decisions exist and builds an evidence folder with an `INDEX.md` and a hashed manifest. The data is published under CC0 as Parquet files.
Who it is for. Lawyers, students and researchers of Swiss law who need links to real decisions and statute articles from AI answers.
Good fit when
- You need leading decisions on a retaliatory dismissal dispute under Article 336 OR.
- A draft opinion cites BGE and case numbers and they must be verified to exist.
- You must trace a citation chain from a decision down through instances.
- You need the full text of a cantonal law article instead of a summary.
- Research needs a decision corpus in Parquet under CC0.
Not a fit when
- You need decisions from outside Switzerland: the corpus covers Swiss courts and the ECtHR.
- A citation check must confirm a court supports a proposition: the tool checks only existence.
- You need legal advice, and a reference search is not enough.
Example request
Find leading Federal Supreme Court decisions on retaliatory dismissal under Article 336 OR and check through `ocl citations resolve` that BGE 136 III 513 exists.MCP
- Transport
- http
- Authentication
- not required
Limitations
The service runs on the author's side and queries go to `mcp.opencaselaw.ch`, so do not pass confidential material there. Coverage is incomplete where courts restrict access, and such sources are documented separately. The citation graph resolves 93.8 percent, which measures coverage and is no precision estimate, and a manual audit is in preparation. Some cantonal decisions may be published by courts without anonymization and the author inherits that pseudonymization. A citation check confirms a decision exists but not that it supports a proposition. A local MCP server takes about 65 GB.
How to disable. Remove the `opencaselaw` block from `mcpServers` in the client config. The `ocl` client is removed with `pipx uninstall opencaselaw-cli` and evidence folders are deleted by hand.
FAQ
How do I connect OpenCaseLaw to a client?
Add an `opencaselaw` entry with the address `https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch/mcp` to `mcpServers`. No sign-up or key is needed and access is read-only.
What does the ocl client do?
Two jobs. `ocl citations resolve` shows per reference whether the decision exists, and `ocl bundle create` saves chosen decisions, passages and articles into a folder with `INDEX.md` and `manifest.json`.
How do I install ocl?
With `pipx install opencaselaw-cli` or `uv tool install opencaselaw-cli`. The client works over the public research API.
Can I work offline?
Yes, a local MCP server gives all 44 tools including two local-only update tools but takes about 65 GB of disk. Public mode gives 42 tools.
What does coverage include?
More than 1,040,000 decisions from 137 court sources since 1875, federal and cantonal laws and a graph of about 10 million decision to decision edges. Texts are in German, French and Italian, with ECtHR judgments partly in English.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
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README in short
Data is open under CC0 and code under MIT. There is a website, MCP, REST, a research CLI, a Word add-in that inserts formatted citations and daily Parquet exports.