Rechtsinformationen Bund DE

You can run the Rechtsinformationen Bund DE MCP Server to query official German federal legal information with authoritative citations. It connects to the German Federal Legal Information Portal and makes laws, court decisions, and legal references searchable and readable for your AI agents and end users.

How to use

You will use the MCP server through your chosen MCP client or integration. Start by querying for a German-law topic or a specific legal reference. The server provides full-text searches across federal laws, case law from major courts, and direct document access with readable HTML links.

Recommended usage pattern for most questions: first, perform an intelligent search with semantische_rechtssuche to translate English queries into German, correct common legal misconceptions, and extract legal references. If results are returned, use that information to compose your answer and include all relevant URLs in your sources. If no results are found, the system will attempt a fallback search and provide helpful suggestions.

Typical queries you can handle include: how long parental leave lasts, what a particular paragraph says, or what recent court decisions cover in a specific area. You’ll receive citations and URLs that point to the official HTML versions of legal texts for easy review.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js v18+ and npm installed on your machine.

Choose one of the installation paths below and follow the steps exactly.

Option A — Quick setup (recommended for fast start)

./quick-setup.sh

Then restart your MCP client (for example Claude Desktop or LibreChat) and test a sample query like: "Wie lange kann ich in Elternzeit gehen?"

Option B — Manual installation (for more control)

git clone <repo-url>
cd rechtsinformationen
npm install
npm run build
npm test  # Should show passing tests

Claude Desktop configuration example for local MCP server (stdio)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rechtsinformationen": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/rechtsinformationen/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

LibreChat agent configuration example (stdio, with a local path)

{
  "name": "German Legal Research Assistant",
  "model": "qwen2.5:72b",
  "provider": "ollama",
  "recursionLimit": 5,
  "temperature": 0.3,
  "instructions": "CRITICAL RULES:\n- MAXIMUM 2-3 tool calls per query\n- STOP searching after finding 3+ relevant documents\n- ALWAYS include URLs in 'Quellen' section\n- Use semantische_rechtssuche first\n\nCitation Format (MANDATORY):\n## Quellen\n1. [Law name] - [URL]\n2. [Law name] - [URL]",
  "tools": [
    "semantische_rechtssuche_mcp_rechtsinformationen",
    "deutsche_gesetze_suchen_mcp_rechtsinformationen",
    "rechtsprechung_suchen_mcp_rechtsinformationen"
  ]
}

Additional notes and helpful hints

This MCP server provides multi-source access to federal legislation and court decisions, with HTML URLs for end users and JSON endpoints for developers. If you run into issues, verify you have the correct runtime and that your MCP client is configured to invoke the local stdio server correctly.

If you need more control over searches, you can rely on the primary intelligent search tool semantische_rechtssuche to handle language translation, misconception correction, and extraction of legal references before returning results.

Security and reliability notes

Ensure you run the server in a trusted environment, since it queries official sources and returns links that point to government portals. Keep dependencies up to date by following the standard Node.js security practices and maintain regular dependency updates through npm.

Tools and endpoints overview

The MCP server exposes six specialized tools to perform legal research and document retrieval. Use them in the recommended order: start with intelligent semantic search, then look up related legislation or jurisprudence, and finally retrieve full documents when needed.

Available tools

semantische_rechtssuche

Intelligent Legal Search that translates English to German, corrects misconceptions, extracts legal references, and searches legislation and case law.

deutsche_gesetze_suchen

Search German federal legislation for laws, ordinances, and abbreviations.

rechtsprechung_suchen

Search German court decisions from major federal courts.

alle_rechtsdokumente_suchen

Comprehensive search across all document types for mixed results.

dokument_details_abrufen

Retrieve the full text of a selected document in HTML or XML format.

gesetz_per_eli_abrufen

Get legislation text by ELI identifier for exact versions and dates.