@ansvar/dutch-law-mcp

v1.2.1

Published

2 days ago

Production-grade Dutch legal research MCP server with comprehensive statute coverage and EU law cross-references

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ansvar

mcp model-context-protocol ai claude dutch-law netherlands legal compliance wetten bwb rechtspraak ansvar

Dutch Law MCP Server

Production-grade Model Context Protocol server for Dutch legal research. Provides AI assistants with structured access to 3,248 Dutch statutes, 903,000+ court decisions, 21,000+ kamerstukken, and 1,000+ EU cross-references.

Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version — zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://dutch-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp

| Client | How to Connect | | ------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Claude.ai | Settings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL | | Claude Code | claude mcp add dutch-law --transport http https://dutch-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp | | Claude Desktop | Add to config (see below) | | GitHub Copilot | Add to VS Code settings (see below) |

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dutch-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://dutch-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot — add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "dutch-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://dutch-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/dutch-law-mcp

Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dutch-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/dutch-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "dutch-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/dutch-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

| Tool | Description | | --------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | search_legislation | Full-text search across Dutch statutes and regulations (FTS5-indexed) | | get_provision | Retrieve a specific provision by BWB-ID, book, and article (e.g., Art. 6:162 BW) | | search_case_law | Search Dutch court decisions with filters for court, legal domain, and date range | | get_preparatory_works | Get kamerstukken (parliamentary documents) for a statute | | validate_citation | Validate Dutch legal citations and check database existence | | build_legal_stance | Build comprehensive research bundles combining statutes, case law, and travaux | | format_citation | Format citations to standard Dutch legal citation format | | check_currency | Check whether a statute or provision is currently in force (geldend recht) | | get_eu_basis | Get EU legal basis (directives/regulations) for a Dutch statute | | get_dutch_implementations | Find Dutch statutes implementing a given EU directive or regulation | | search_eu_implementations | Search EU instruments and their Dutch implementations | | get_provision_eu_basis | Get EU references for a specific provision | | validate_eu_compliance | Validate EU compliance for a Dutch statute or provision | | get_provision_at_date | Retrieve a specific provision as it was at a given date (historical versioning) |

Data Sources

| Source | Description | URL | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | | wetten.overheid.nl | Official BWB (Basiswettenbestand) for Dutch statutes and regulations | https://wetten.overheid.nl | | rechtspraak.nl | Open data portal for Dutch court decisions | https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl | | EUR-Lex | Official EU legislation database | https://eur-lex.europa.eu |

All data is sourced from official open data portals and stored locally in a SQLite database for fast, offline-capable lookups.

Data Coverage

| Metric | Count | | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | Statutes | 3,248 (wetten, AMvBs, ministerial regulations) | | Provisions | 79,967 individual articles | | Case law | 903,000+ court decisions (ECLI-indexed) | | Kamerstukken | 21,891 parliamentary documents | | EU documents | 1,008 directives and regulations | | Definitions | 64 extracted legal terms |

Supported Citation Formats

Statute articles: Art. 6:162 BW, art. 287 Sr, art. 8:1 Awb
ECLI references: ECLI:NL:HR:2019:376
Kamerstukken: Kamerstukken II 2020/21, 35815, nr. 2
EU instruments: Verordening (EU) 2016/679, Richtlijn 95/46/EG

Development

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 18
npm

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Dutch-law-mcp.git
cd Dutch-law-mcp
npm install

Building

npm run build

Testing

npm test                # Run all tests
npm run test:watch      # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage   # With coverage report

Linting and Formatting

npm run lint           # Check for lint errors
npm run lint:fix       # Auto-fix lint errors
npm run format         # Format all files
npm run format:check   # Check formatting

Pre-commit hooks via Husky and lint-staged automatically run ESLint and Prettier on staged files.

Ingestion Scripts

npm run ingest              # Ingest statutes from wetten.overheid.nl (BWB)
npm run ingest:all          # Comprehensive ingestion of ALL Dutch statutes
npm run ingest:cases        # Ingest case law from rechtspraak.nl
npm run ingest:prep-works   # Ingest kamerstukken (parliamentary documents)
npm run build:db            # Build the SQLite database from seed files
npm run audit:seeds         # Validate seed file schema compliance
npm run check-updates       # Check for legal data updates
npm run extract:definitions # Extract legal term definitions from statutes
npm run fetch:eurlex        # Fetch EU document metadata from EUR-Lex
npm run import:eurlex-documents  # Import EU law references into database

Project Structure

src/
  index.ts              # MCP server entry point (stdio)
  http-server.ts        # HTTP server entry point (Streamable HTTP)
  tools/
    registry.ts         # Shared tool definitions and handler registration
    ...                 # 14 MCP tool implementations
  parsers/              # BWB XML parser, EU reference parser, amendment parser, cross-ref extractor
  citation/             # Citation parsing and formatting
  types/                # TypeScript type definitions
  utils/
    ensure-database.ts  # Download-on-first-run database management
    ...                 # Other shared utilities
scripts/                # Ingestion and build scripts
tests/                  # Vitest test suites
docs/                   # EU integration guide, coverage limitations
data/
  seed/                 # JSON seed files (one per statute/batch)
  database.db           # SQLite database (built from seeds)

Docker

Build and run (stdio mode, default)

docker build -t dutch-law-mcp .
docker run --rm -i dutch-law-mcp

HTTP mode

docker run --rm -e MODE=http -p 3000:3000 dutch-law-mcp

Verify with:

curl http://localhost:3000/health

Docker Compose

docker compose up -d

The Docker image uses a multi-stage build with a non-root user for security. The database is baked into the image at build time.

Deployment

Railway

railway init
railway up

Set environment variables:

MODE=http
PORT is set automatically by Railway

Fly.io

fly launch
fly deploy

In fly.toml:

[env]
  MODE = "http"

[[services]]
  internal_port = 3000

Vercel (Serverless)

Deploy as a serverless function — no long-running server needed:

npm i -g vercel    # Install Vercel CLI (once)
vercel deploy      # Deploy to preview
vercel --prod      # Deploy to production

The serverless handler at api/mcp.ts downloads the ~1 GB SQLite database from GitHub Releases on cold start, decompresses it to /tmp, and caches it across warm invocations. The WASM-based SQLite driver (node-sqlite3-wasm) works on Vercel without native compilation.

Note: Requires Vercel Pro plan (1 GB /tmp storage) and maxDuration >= 60 for cold-start downloads. Override the download URL with DUTCH_LAW_DB_URL if needed.

| Endpoint | Method | Description | | --------- | ------ | ---------------------------------------- | | /health | GET | Health check ({ "status": "ok" }) | | /mcp | GET | Server metadata JSON | | /mcp | POST | MCP protocol (stateless Streamable HTTP) |

Releasing

To prepare a new release with the database artifact:

npm run prepare-release   # Creates data/database.db.gz
gh release create v1.0.0
gh release upload v1.0.0 data/database.db.gz
npm publish

The gzipped database is uploaded to GitHub Releases. When users install via npx, the database is automatically downloaded and cached on first run.

Directory Review Notes

Testing Account and Sample Data

This server is read-only and does not require a login account for functional review. For directory review, use the bundled dataset and these sample prompts:

"Search Dutch legislation for persoonsgegevens verwerking"
"Get BWBR0005289 provision 6:162"
"Which Dutch statutes implement GDPR?"

Remote Authentication (OAuth 2.0)

When deployed over Streamable HTTP, this server can run in read-only unauthenticated mode. If authentication is required in your deployment, configure OAuth 2.0 over TLS with certificates from recognized authorities.

Privacy

See PRIVACY.md for data handling, retention, and security disclosures.

Troubleshooting

If startup fails, confirm the database path via DUTCH_LAW_DB_PATH.
If HTTP clients fail, verify /mcp POST routing and session headers.
If results are empty, call list_regulations first to confirm dataset load.

Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Statute text is sourced from official wetten.overheid.nl publications. However:
This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
Court case coverage is limited -- do not rely solely on this for case law research
Verify critical citations against primary sources for court filings
EU cross-references are extracted from Dutch statute text, not EUR-Lex full text

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. Lawyers should consider Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten (Dutch Bar Association) confidentiality obligations when using cloud-based AI tools.

Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp