ANZ Legislation

Search, retrieve, and cite New Zealand legislation, with Australian support now in prerelease.

A fast, friendly command-line tool for researchers, legal professionals, and anyone working with legislation across New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand support remains the most complete path today, while Australian providers are being rolled out in staged prerelease form. Get your research done faster with less copying and pasting.

The product is now presented publicly as ANZ Legislation. The published npm package remains nz-legislation-tool for compatibility during the transition, while the package exposes both the legacy and ANZ CLI binaries: nzlegislation, anzlegislation, nzlegislation-mcp, and anzlegislation-mcp.

Package links: npm package · GitHub repository

📦 Package Registries

• Primary npm package: nz-legislation-tool
• GitHub Packages mirror: @edithatogo/nz-legislation-tool

The GitHub repository "Packages" area is populated by GitHub Packages publishes, not by the public npmjs.com listing. This repository includes a workflow to publish a scoped GitHub Packages mirror so the repo can show a package entry there as well.

🚪 Choose Your Interface

CLI

Use the CLI if you want direct terminal access for search, retrieval, export, and citation.

npm install -g anz-legislation
anzlegislation search --query "health act"
# Supported legacy path:
# npm install -g nz-legislation-tool
# nzlegislation search --query "health act"

MCP Server

Use the MCP server if you want to connect the tool to an AI assistant or tool-calling environment.

npm install -g anz-legislation
anzlegislation-mcp
# Supported legacy path:
# npm install -g nz-legislation-tool
# nzlegislation-mcp

Example MCP command configuration:

{
  "command": "nzlegislation-mcp",
  "env": {
    "NZ_LEGISLATION_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
  }
}

The current package exposes both the legacy binaries and the new ANZ aliases: nzlegislation, anzlegislation, nzlegislation-mcp, and anzlegislation-mcp.

✨ What You Can Do

• 🔍 Search - Find legislation by keyword, type, status, or date range
• 📄 Retrieve - Get full details and version history by ID
• 📤 Export - Download to CSV or JSON for analysis
• 📚 Cite - Generate citations in NZMJ, BibTeX, RIS, or APA style
• 🤖 AI Integration - Connect to AI assistants for automated research
• 🎨 Beautiful Output - Clean tables, formatted JSON, ready-to-use CSV
• 🔒 Secure - Your API key stays safe on your machine
• 📊 Research-Ready - Reproducible exports with full metadata
• 🧪 Battle-Tested - 43+ automated tests catch issues before you do

🚀 Quick Start (5 Minutes)

Step 1: Get Your API Key (2 minutes)

1. Visit https://api.legislation.govt.nz/docs/
2. Sign up for a free API key
3. Copy the key from your email

Step 2: Install the Tool (1 minute)

Option A: Try without installing (recommended for first time)

npx anz-legislation search --query "health"
# Supported legacy path: npx nz-legislation-tool search --query "health"

Option B: Install globally (recommended for regular use)

npm install -g anz-legislation

Step 3: Set Your API Key (1 minute)

anzlegislation config --key YOUR_API_KEY_HERE

Step 4: Your First Search (30 seconds)

anzlegislation search --query "health act"

You should see:

┌────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┬────────┬──────────┬────────────┐
│ ID                 │ Title                                    │ Type   │ Status   │ Date       │
├────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┼────────┼──────────┼────────────┤
│ act/2020/67        │ Health Act 2020                          │ act    │ in-force │ 2020-11-15 │
│ act/1956/65        │ Health Act 1956                          │ act    │ repealed │ 1956-10-01 │
└────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┴────────┴──────────┴────────────┘

Total: 42 results (showing 25)

🎉 That's it! You're ready to go.

📋 What You Need

• Node.js 18.0 or later (Download here)
• NZ Legislation API Key (Free - get yours)

📖 Commands (With Examples)

search - Find Legislation

Search the entire NZ legislation database.

# Basic search
nzlegislation search --query "health"

# Filter by type (act, bill, regulation, instrument)
nzlegislation search --query "health" --type act

# Filter by status (in-force, repealed, etc.)
nzlegislation search --query "mental health" --status in-force

# Search by date range
nzlegislation search --query "health" --from 2020-01-01 --to 2024-12-31

# Export results to CSV
nzlegislation search --query "health" --format csv --output results.csv

All options:

| Option | Short | Description | Default | | ---------- | ----- | ----------------------------------------- | ------- | | --query | -q | Search query (required) | - | | --type | -t | Filter: act, bill, regulation, instrument | - | | --status | -s | Filter: in-force, repealed, etc. | - | | --from | - | From date (YYYY-MM-DD) | - | | --to | - | To date (YYYY-MM-DD) | - | | --limit | -l | Max results (1-100) | 25 | | --offset | -o | For pagination | 0 | | --format | -f | Output: table, json, csv | table |

👉 Pro tip: Use quotes for multi-word searches: "Mental Health Act"

get - View Specific Legislation

Get full details for a specific Act or regulation.

# Get details by ID
nzlegislation get "act/2020/67"

# Include version history
nzlegislation get "act/2020/67" --versions

# Output as JSON
nzlegislation get "act/2020/67" --format json

Where do I find the ID?

Run a search first, then copy the ID from the results:

nzlegislation search --query "health act"
# Copy "act/2020/67" from the results

export - Download Results to File

Perfect for analysis in Excel, R, or Python.

# Export to CSV (most common)
nzlegislation export --query "health" --output health.csv

# Export to JSON (for developers)
nzlegislation export --query "health" --format json --output health.json

# Filtered export (e.g., only active Acts)
nzlegislation export --query "mental health" --type act --status in-force --output mental_health_acts.csv

# Include metadata for reproducibility
nzlegislation export --query "health" --output health.csv --include-metadata

All options:

| Option | Short | Description | Default | | -------------------- | ----- | --------------------------- | ------- | | --query | -q | Search query (required) | - | | --output | -o | Output file path (required) | - | | --format | -f | Output: csv, json | csv | | --type | -t | Filter by type | - | | --status | -s | Filter by status | - | | --from | - | From date | - | | --to | - | To date | - | | --limit | -l | Max results | 100 | | --include-metadata | - | Add export metadata | false |

cite - Generate Citations

Create citations for papers, theses, or reports.

# NZMJ style (default - for New Zealand Medical Journal)
nzlegislation cite "act/2020/67"

# BibTeX (for LaTeX papers)
nzlegislation cite "act/2020/67" --style bibtex

# RIS (for EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero)
nzlegislation cite "act/2020/67" --style ris

# APA style
nzlegislation cite "act/2020/67" --style apa

Build a bibliography:

# Append multiple citations to a .bib file
nzlegislation cite "act/1981/118" --style bibtex >> references.bib
nzlegislation cite "act/2020/67" --style bibtex >> references.bib

config - Manage Settings

View and update your configuration.

# Show current settings
nzlegislation config --show

# Update API key
nzlegislation config --key YOUR_NEW_KEY

# Clear all settings (start fresh)
nzlegislation config --clear

🎯 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Researcher Rachel's Workflow

Rachel is writing a paper on health policy reform.

# 1. Find all active health Acts
nzlegislation search --query "health" --type act --status in-force

# 2. Export for analysis in Excel
nzlegislation export --query "health" --type act --output health_acts.csv

# 3. Get details on a specific Act
nzlegislation get "act/2020/67"

# 4. Generate citation for her paper
nzlegislation cite "act/2020/67" --style nzmj

Example 2: Developer Dan's Integration

Dan is building a research dashboard.

# Get data in JSON format for his app
nzlegislation search --query "health" --format json --limit 100

# Parse in Node.js:
const results = JSON.parse(output);
console.log(`Found ${results.total} results`);

Example 3: Student Sam's Assignment

Sam needs legislation for a coursework essay.

# Search for the Mental Health Act
nzlegislation search --query "Mental Health Act" --type act

# Get the full details
nzlegislation get "act/1992/100"

# Generate APA citation for the bibliography
nzlegislation cite "act/1992/100" --style apa

Example 4: Administrator Alex's Team Setup

Alex is deploying for a research team.

# Install on shared server
npm install -g anz-legislation

# Configure API key for the team
anzlegislation config --key $TEAM_API_KEY

# Test it works
anzlegislation search --query "test" --limit 1

# Set up monitoring (check rate limits)
anzlegislation config --show

🎨 Output Formats

Table Format (Default)

Beautiful, readable tables right in your terminal:

┌────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┬────────┬──────────┬────────────┐
│ ID                 │ Title                                    │ Type   │ Status   │ Date       │
├────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────┼────────┼──────────┼────────────┤
│ act/2020/67        │ Health Act 2020                          │ act    │ in-force │ 2020-11-15 │
│ act/1956/65        │ Health Act 1956                          │ act    │ repealed │ 1956-10-01 │
└────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┴────────┴──────────┴────────────┘

JSON Format

For developers and automation:

{
  "total": 42,
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 25,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "act/2020/67",
      "title": "Health Act 2020",
      "type": "act",
      "status": "in-force",
      "date": "2020-11-15"
    }
  ]
}

CSV Format

Ready for Excel, R, Python, or SPSS:

id,title,shortTitle,type,status,date,url,versionCount
act/2020/67,Health Act 2020,Health Act 2020,act,in-force,2020-11-15,https://api.legislation.govt.nz/v0/works/act/2020/67,5

⚠️ Rate Limits

The NZ Legislation API has fair use limits:

| Limit | Value | Reset | | --------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------- | | Daily | 10,000 requests | Midnight local time | | Burst | 2,000 requests per 5 minutes | Rolling window |

Don't worry—the CLI automatically handles rate limiting. If you hit a limit, you'll see a friendly message telling you when to try again.

🐛 Troubleshooting

"API key not configured"

Quick fix:

nzlegislation config --key YOUR_API_KEY

Still not working? Check if it's set correctly:

nzlegislation config --show

"Authentication failed"

Common causes:

• Typo in the API key
• API key expired
• Wrong key copied

Fix it:

1. Check your email for the original API key
2. Re-run: nzlegislation config --key YOUR_KEY
3. Test: nzlegislation search --query "test"

"Rate limit exceeded"

What happened: You've made too many requests too quickly.

Fix it:

• Wait 5 minutes for the burst limit to reset
• Or wait until midnight for the daily limit to reset

Prevent it:

• Add pauses between bulk requests
• Use --limit to reduce batch sizes

"Resource not found"

Common causes:

• Wrong ID format (should be like act/2020/67)
• The legislation doesn't exist

Fix it:

1. Search first to find the correct ID:

   nzlegislation search --query "health"

2. Copy the exact ID from results
3. Try again with the correct ID

"Network error" or "Timeout"

What happened: Can't connect to the API.

Fix it:

1. Check your internet connection
2. Try the API website directly: https://api.legislation.govt.nz
3. If the API is down, wait and try again later

Still stuck? Check the API status or contact support.

📦 Installation Options

Option 1: npm (Recommended for regular use)

npm install -g anz-legislation

Supported legacy path:

npm install -g nz-legislation-tool

Pros: Use anywhere, no need to type npx
Cons: Takes up disk space (~50MB)

Option 2: npx (Try before installing)

npx anz-legislation search --query "health"

Supported legacy path:

npx nz-legislation-tool search --query "health"

Pros: No installation, try before committing
Cons: Slower (downloads each time), need to type npx

Option 3: From Source (For contributors)

git clone https://github.com/edithatogo/anz-legislation
cd nz-legislation
npm install
npm run build
npm link  # Install globally

Pros: Latest features, can contribute changes
Cons: Requires build step, for advanced users

🤝 Contributing

We'd love your help! This project is open source and welcomes contributions from everyone.

Ways to contribute:

• 🐛 Report bugs
• 💡 Suggest features
• 📝 Improve documentation
• 💻 Submit code fixes

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to get started.

Quick Development Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/edithatogo/anz-legislation
cd nz-legislation

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev -- search --query "health"

# Run tests
npm test

📚 Documentation

Need more help? Check out these guides:

• User Guide - Detailed command reference
• FAQ - Common questions answered
• Troubleshooting - Step-by-step fixes
• Developer Guide - For contributors
• API Reference - Technical details

🤖 Automation & Maintenance

This repository runs itself with minimal manual intervention:

| Automation | Frequency | What It Does | | ------------------------- | ------------ | -------------------------- | | 🔒 Security Audit | Weekly | Scans for vulnerabilities | | ✨ Code Quality | Every commit | Linting, type checking | | 📦 Dependency Updates | Weekly | Auto-updates safe packages | | 🧪 Tests | Every commit | 43+ automated tests | | ⚡ Benchmarks | Weekly | Performance tracking | | 🗑️ Stale Cleanup | Daily | Closes inactive issues |

Manual maintenance: ~0 hours/month ✅

See MAINTENANCE_GUIDE.md for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• NZ Legislation API team (Parliamentary Counsel Office) for providing the API
• Victoria University of Wellington for research support
• All contributors who make this project better

📬 Support

Need help? We're here for you.

• 🐛 Found a bug? Open an issue
• 💬 Have a question? Start a discussion
• 📧 Email: [email protected]
• 📖 API docs: https://api.legislation.govt.nz/docs/

Response time: We aim to respond within 2 business days.

📄 License

Apache License 2.0 - See LICENSE for details.

TL;DR: Free to use, modify, and distribute. Just give credit and don't hold us liable.

Built for legislation research across New Zealand and Australia.

npm · GitHub · API Docs · Documentation