Austrian Law MCP Server

Production-oriented MCP server for Austrian federal legislation based on RIS OGD source data.

What This Server Provides

• Full-text provision search over a local SQLite database (FTS5).
• Provision retrieval by statute + section/provision reference.
• Citation validation and formatting for Austrian citation patterns.
• EU cross-reference lookup (Austrian law <-> EU directives/regulations).
• Streamable HTTP transport for hosted usage and stdio transport for local usage.

Quick Start

Run Locally (stdio MCP)

npm install
npm run build
npx @ansvar/austrian-law-mcp

Run Locally in Dev Mode

npm install
npm run dev

Use Hosted Endpoint

When deployed to Vercel, connect clients to:

• https://<your-domain>/mcp
• Health: https://<your-domain>/health
• Version: https://<your-domain>/version

Database and Ingestion

Build Database from Seed Files

npm run build:db

Ingest from RIS OGD

# Full ingestion (slow)
npm run ingest

# Single law refresh
npm run ingest -- --law 10001622

Testing

Standard Tests

npm test

Contract/Golden Tests

npm run test:contract

Coverage

npm run test:coverage

Nightly Contract Mode (enables network assertions)

CONTRACT_MODE=nightly npm run test:contract

Drift and Freshness Automation

Check Upstream Freshness

npm run check-updates

This checks configured anchor statutes against RIS “Fassung vom” dates and exits non-zero when updates are detected. In restricted/offline environments you can run:

npm run check-updates -- --allow-errors

Drift Detection Against Anchored Upstream Pages

npm run drift:detect

Initialize/update expected hashes:

npm run drift:detect -- --update

Anchors are defined in fixtures/golden-hashes.json. If outbound access is restricted, use:

npm run drift:detect -- --allow-errors

Apply Refreshed Seed Files to Existing Database

# Update DB using all local seed files
npm run db:update-seed

# Update only specific laws
npm run db:update-seed -- --laws "gesetz-10001622 gesetz-10003940"

Vercel Deployment

This repository includes vercel.json with:

• Rewrites for /mcp, /health, /version.
• Build command: bash scripts/download-db.sh && npm run build.
• Bundled database + node-sqlite3-wasm.wasm in function artifacts.

Deploy

1. Import the repository in Vercel.
2. Ensure the tagged release contains database.db.gz for the current package.json version.
3. Deploy. Verify:
   • /health returns status JSON
   • /version returns version metadata
   • /mcp accepts MCP Streamable HTTP requests

GitHub Actions

The repo includes:

• CI workflow: build, tests, contract tests, coverage.
• Data Freshness Check: scheduled update checks, optional auto-refresh mode.
• Drift Detection: scheduled upstream drift checks with issue creation on mismatch.

Data Provenance

• Primary source: RIS OGD (https://www.ris.bka.gv.at).
• Source metadata: sources.yml.
• Server code license: Apache-2.0.

Disclaimer

This server is a legal research tool, not legal advice. Verify critical legal conclusions against official publications.