German Law MCP Server

The gesetze-im-internet.de alternative for the AI age.

Query 6,870 German federal statutes -- from the BGB and StGB to the GG, BDSG, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing German legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

Why This Exists

German legal research is scattered across gesetze-im-internet.de, dejure.org, rechtsprechung-im-internet.de, and DIP Bundestag. Whether you're:

• A Rechtsanwalt validating citations in a Schriftsatz or contract
• A compliance officer checking if a statute is still in force
• A legal tech developer building tools on German law
• A researcher tracing legislative history from Drucksache to statute

...you shouldn't need 47 browser tabs and manual PDF cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes German law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

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

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

| Client | How to Connect | |--------|---------------| | Claude.ai | Settings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL | | Claude Code | claude mcp add german-law --transport http https://german-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": {
    "german-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://german-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

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

Use Locally (npm)

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

Cursor / VS Code:

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

Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

• "Was sagt § 823 Abs. 1 BGB über Schadensersatz?"
• "Ist das BDSG 2018 noch in Kraft?"
• "Find provisions about Datenschutz in German law"
• "What EU directives does the BDSG implement?"
• "Which German laws implement the GDPR?"
• "Get the preparatory works for the IT-Sicherheitsgesetz"
• "Validate the citation § 433 BGB"
• "Search for Kündigungsschutz in case law"
• "Compare DSGVO implementation across German statutes"

What's Included

| Category | Count | Details | |----------|-------|---------| | Statutes | 6,870 laws | Complete German federal legislation | | Provisions | 91,843 sections | Full-text searchable with FTS5 | | Case Law | 5,000 decisions | BVerfG, BGH, BVerwG, BAG, BSG, BFH, BPatG | | Preparatory Works | 89,423 records | Drucksachen + Plenarprotokolle (WP 19 + 20) | | Database Size | ~300 MB | Runtime download on cold start (Strategy B) | | Daily Updates | Automated | Freshness checks against gesetze-im-internet.de |

Verified data only -- every provision is ingested from official government sources. Zero LLM-generated content.

See It In Action

Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from gesetze-im-internet.de official XML exports
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains regulation text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Three-tier search strategy: exact citation match → FTS5 full-text → LIKE fallback
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

gesetze-im-internet.de → Parse XML → SQLite → FTS5 snippet() → MCP response
                  ↑                          ↑
           Provision parser           Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

| Traditional Approach | This MCP Server | |---------------------|-----------------| | Search gesetze-im-internet.de by law name | Search by plain German: "Datenschutz Arbeitnehmer" | | Navigate multi-section statutes manually | Get the exact provision with context | | Manual cross-referencing between laws | build_legal_stance aggregates across sources | | "Is this statute still in force?" → check manually | check_currency → answer in seconds | | Find EU basis → dig through EUR-Lex | get_eu_basis → linked EU directives instantly | | Check DIP Bundestag for legislative history | get_preparatory_works → structured results | | No API, no integration | MCP protocol → AI-native |

Traditional: Search gesetze-im-internet.de → Download XML → Ctrl+F → Cross-reference with Drucksache → Check EUR-Lex for EU basis → Repeat

This MCP: "What EU law is the basis for § 1 BDSG?" → Done.

Available Tools (19)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | search_legislation | FTS5 search on 91,843 provisions with BM25 ranking | | get_provision | Retrieve specific provision by document ID | | search_case_law | Search 5,000 federal court decisions with court/date filters | | get_preparatory_works | Get Drucksachen and Plenarprotokolle for a statute | | validate_citation | Validate citation against database (zero-hallucination check) | | build_legal_stance | Aggregate citations from statutes, case law, prep works | | format_citation | Format citations per German conventions (default/short/pinpoint) | | check_currency | Check if statute is in force in the ingested corpus |

Citation Tools (2)

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | parse_citation | Parse § 823 Abs. 1 BGB or Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG into structured components | | validate_citation | Check if a citation exists in the database |

EU Law Integration Tools (5)

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | get_eu_basis | Get EU directives/regulations for a German statute | | get_german_implementations | Find German laws implementing an EU act | | search_eu_implementations | Search EU documents with German implementation counts | | get_provision_eu_basis | Get EU law references for specific provision | | validate_eu_compliance | Check implementation status |

Discovery & Metadata Tools (2)

| Tool | Description | |------|-------------| | list_sources | Data provenance and source metadata | | about | Server version, tier, statistics, and freshness |

Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative German legal databases:

• gesetze-im-internet.de -- Federal Ministry of Justice, all consolidated federal statutes
• rechtsprechung-im-internet.de -- Federal court decisions (BVerfG, BGH, BVerwG, BAG, BSG, BFH, BPatG)
• DIP Bundestag -- Legislative preparatory works (Drucksachen, Plenarprotokolle)
• EUR-Lex -- EU cross-reference metadata

Automated Freshness Checks (Daily)

A daily GitHub Actions workflow monitors all data sources:

| Source | Check | Method | |--------|-------|--------| | Statute amendments | gesetze-im-internet.de XML index | All 6,870 statutes checked | | New statutes | New entries in federal gazette | Diffed against database | | Case law | rechtsprechung-im-internet.de feed | Compared to database | | Preparatory works | DIP API query (30-day window) | New records detected |

Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

| Scanner | What It Does | Schedule | |---------|-------------|----------| | CodeQL | Static analysis for security vulnerabilities | Weekly + PRs | | Semgrep | SAST scanning (OWASP top 10, secrets, TypeScript) | Every push | | Gitleaks | Secret detection across git history | Every push | | Trivy | CVE scanning on filesystem and npm dependencies | Daily | | Docker Security | Container image scanning + SBOM generation | Daily | | Socket.dev | Supply chain attack detection | PRs | | OSSF Scorecard | OpenSSF best practices scoring | Weekly |

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from official gesetze-im-internet.de publications. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Court case coverage is limited (5,000 decisions) -- 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 German statute text, not EUR-Lex full text

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | PRIVACY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment. Lawyers should consider Bundesrechtsanwaltskammer (BRAK) confidentiality obligations when using cloud-based AI tools. See PRIVACY.md for compliance guidance.

Documentation

• Architecture -- Multi-country adapter architecture
• Accuracy Plan -- Roadmap to production accuracy
• Auto Update -- Automated data freshness system
• Security Policy -- Vulnerability reporting and scanning details
• Disclaimer -- Legal disclaimers and professional use notices
• Privacy -- Client confidentiality and data handling

Development

Branching Strategy

This repository uses a dev integration branch. Do not push directly to main.

feature-branch → PR to dev → verify on dev → PR to main → deploy

• main is production-ready. Only receives merges from dev via PR.
• dev is the integration branch. All changes land here first.
• Feature branches are created from dev.

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/German-law-mcp
cd German-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/src/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

npm run ingest                    # Ingest statutes from gesetze-im-internet.de
npm run ingest:cases              # Ingest case law from rechtsprechung-im-internet.de
npm run ingest:prep               # Ingest preparatory works from DIP Bundestag
npm run auto-update               # Run full update cycle
npm run auto-update:dry-run       # Preview what would be updated
npm run drift:detect              # Detect schema/data drift

Performance

• Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: ~300 MB (runtime download, Strategy B)
• Ingestion Coverage: 6,870/6,870 statutes (100% TOC coverage)

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

@ansvar/german-law-mcp (This Project)

Query 6,870 German statutes directly from Claude -- BGB, StGB, GG, BDSG, and more. Full provision text with EU cross-references. npx @ansvar/german-law-mcp

@ansvar/dutch-law-mcp

Query 3,248 Dutch statutes directly from Claude -- BW, Sr, Awb, and more. Full provision text with EU cross-references. npx @ansvar/dutch-law-mcp

@ansvar/swedish-law-mcp

Query 717 Swedish statutes directly from Claude -- DSL, BrB, ABL, MB, and more. Full provision text with EU cross-references. npx @ansvar/swedish-law-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws -- HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/automotive-cybersecurity-mcp

Query UNECE R155/R156 and ISO 21434 -- Automotive cybersecurity compliance. npx @ansvar/automotive-cybersecurity-mcp

Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Lower court decisions (Landesgerichte, Oberlandesgerichte)
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking (Fassungsvergleich)
• Expanded case law coverage (currently 5,000 of ~50,000+ published decisions)
• State law (Landesrecht) for major Bundesländer

Roadmap

• [x] Full statute coverage -- 6,870 federal statutes, 91,843 provisions
• [x] Case law -- 5,000 federal court decisions
• [x] Preparatory works -- 89,423 DIP records (WP 19 + 20)
• [x] EU cross-references -- Extracted from statute text
• [x] Citation parsing -- § 823 Abs. 1 BGB and Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG formats
• [x] Free/Professional tier gating -- Honest messaging for tier limitations
• [ ] Expanded case law (full archive, ~50,000+ decisions)
• [ ] Lower court coverage (Landesgerichte)
• [ ] Historical statute versions (Fassungsvergleich)
• [ ] State law (Landesrecht)
• [ ] English translations for key statutes

Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{german_law_mcp_2025,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {German Law MCP Server: Production-Grade Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/German-law-mcp},
  note = {Comprehensive German legal database with 6,870 statutes, 91,843 provisions, and EU cross-references}
}

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes & Regulations: gesetze-im-internet.de (public domain, German federal government)
• Case Law: rechtsprechung-im-internet.de (public domain)
• Preparatory Works: DIP Bundestag (public domain)
• EU Metadata: EUR-Lex (EU public domain)

About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the European market. This MCP server started as our internal reference tool for German law -- turns out everyone building for the DACH market has the same research frustrations.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating 6,870 statutes shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden