Fedlex MCP

:switzerland: Part of the [Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio](https://github.com/malkreide)

:balance_scale: fedlex-mcp

MCP Server for Swiss federal law, consultations & official terminology — search the SR, monitor consultation deadlines, and translate terms across the national languages via Claude Desktop or Claude.ai

:de: Deutsche Version

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Overview

fedlex-mcp connects AI assistants (Claude) with three official Swiss SPARQL data sources:

1. Federal law via the Fedlex SPARQL endpoint — the Systematic Compilation (SR), Official Compilation (AS), Federal Gazette (BBl) and treaties.
2. Consultations (Vernehmlassungen) via the *same* Fedlex endpoint (jolux:Consultation) — the pre-parliamentary phase in which anyone can comment on a draft.
3. TERMDAT, the Federal Chancellery's terminology database, via the LINDAS SPARQL endpoint — official term equivalents across de/fr/it/rm/en.

All three are SPARQL-based, which is exactly why they live in one server rather than three: no new technology stack, only new queries against known patterns.

Metaphor: USB-C for federal law. *Fedlex tells you what you have to respond to. TERMDAT tells you what it is called in the other national languages.*

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Features

• :balance_scale: 12 tools, 2 resources across federal law, consultations and terminology
• :mag: SPARQL-powered — two isolated endpoints (Fedlex + LINDAS), no shared failure mode
• :globe_with_meridians: 5 languages — German, French, Italian, Romansh, plus English for terminology
• :unlock: No API key required — all data under open reuse licences
• :cloud: Dual transport — stdio (Claude Desktop) + Streamable HTTP (cloud)

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Anchor demo query

*"Which education-related consultations are currently open, until when does the deadline run, which office is in charge — and what are the key technical terms in French and Italian for the response?"*

A single conversation chains three tools across two endpoints:

fedlex_get_open_consultations(topic="education")

→ fedlex_get_consultation(event_id="proj/2026/71/cons_1") → termdat_lookup_term(term="Volksschule", target_languages=["fr","it"])

Every open consultation carries deadline, days_remaining (computed at request time in Europe/Zurich, 0 = deadline is today) and a derived status — an expired consultation never shows up as running. Fedlex says *what* you must respond to and *by when*; TERMDAT says *how to name it* in the other national languages.

Use `topic="education"`, not `keyword="Volksschule"`. Fedlex consultations

have no subject taxonomy — filtering is free-text over the title, and the word

"Volksschule" appears in zero consultation titles. The topic filter

expands to a disclosed keyword union (Bildung, Schule, Berufsbildung,

Hochschule, …) and reports exactly which terms it searched.

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Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv (recommended) or pip

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Installation

Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):

{

"mcpServers": { "fedlex-mcp": { "command": "uvx", "args": [ "fedlex-mcp" ] } } }

<!-- END GENERATED: install -->

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Installation from source

# Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/malkreide/fedlex-mcp.git cd fedlex-mcp

Install

pip install -e .

or with uv:

uv pip install -e .

Or with uvx (no permanent installation):

uvx fedlex-mcp

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Quickstart

# stdio (for Claude Desktop)

python -m fedlex_mcp.server

Streamable HTTP (port 8000)

python -m fedlex_mcp.server --http --port 8000

Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:

*"Show me all valid federal laws on vocational training"*

*"What does the Data Protection Act say? Is it still in force?"*

*"Which consultations on education are open right now, and until when?"*

*"What is 'Volksschule' called in French and Italian in official terminology?"*

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Configuration

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{

"mcpServers": { "fedlex": { "command": "python", "args": ["-m", "fedlex_mcp.server"] } } }

Or with uvx:

{

"mcpServers": { "fedlex": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["fedlex-mcp"] } } }

Config file locations:

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

Cloud Deployment (SSE for browser access)

For use via claude.ai in the browser (e.g. on managed workstations without local software):

Render.com (recommended):

1. Push/fork the repository to GitHub
2. On render.com: New Web Service -> connect GitHub repo
3. Set start command: python -m fedlex_mcp.server --http --port 8000
4. In claude.ai under Settings -> MCP Servers, add: https://your-app.onrender.com/sse

*"stdio for the developer laptop, SSE for the browser."*

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Demo

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Available Tools

Example Use Cases

→ More use cases by audience →

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Architecture

Two isolated SPARQL endpoints behind one server. Separate httpx clients and timeouts mean a LINDAS outage never breaks the fedlex_* tools, and vice versa.

+-------------------+     +------------------------------+     +--------------------------+

| Claude / AI |---->| Fedlex MCP |---->| Fedlex SPARQL Endpoint | | (MCP Host) |<----| (MCP Server) |<----| fedlex.data.admin.ch | +-------------------+ | | | (law + consultations) | | 12 Tools . 2 Resources | +--------------------------+ | Stdio | SSE | | | +--------------------------+ | Isolated clients: |---->| LINDAS SPARQL Endpoint | | - Fedlex (law + cons.) |<----| lindas.admin.ch/query | | - LINDAS (TERMDAT) | | (fch/termdat, TERMDAT) | | | +--------------------------+ | No authentication required | +------------------------------+

Data Model

JOLux Ontology — federal law (Fedlex)

jolux:ConsolidationAbstract  <-  SR entry

+-- jolux:isRealizedBy -> jolux:Expression (URI ends in /de, /fr, /it, /rm) +-- jolux:title "Federal Act of 19 June 1992 on Data Protection" +-- jolux:titleShort "DSG" +-- jolux:historicalLegalId "235.1"

jolux:inForceStatus: .../0 In force · .../1 No longer published in SR · .../3 No longer in force

JOLux Ontology — consultations (Fedlex, same endpoint)

jolux:Consultation

+-- jolux:eventId "proj/2026/71/cons_1" +-- jolux:eventTitle multilingual (de/fr/it) +-- jolux:eventDescription multilingual +-- jolux:consultationStatus -> vocabulary URI (0..6, /2 = "Laufend"/running) +-- jolux:foreseenImpactToLegalResource -> the legal resource it will amend (link to SR) +-- jolux:hasSubTask -> ?t +-- jolux:eventStartDate <- opened_on +-- jolux:eventEndDate <- the deadline (xsd:date, calendar day) +-- jolux:institutionInChargeOfTheEvent <- lead department +-- jolux:institutionInChargeOfTheEventLevel2 <- lead office +-- jolux:opinionHasDraftRelatedDocument <- consultation documents

There is no subject taxonomy on jolux:Consultation — thematic filtering is free-text over eventTitle only, and status is derived from the deadline (not the source status field).

Legislative lifecycle — where consultations sit (all in this one server):

  Vernehmlassung            Bundesblatt (BBl)          Systematische Sammlung (SR)

(consultation) ─────► (dispatch / act text) ───► (consolidated law in force) ──────────────── ───────────────────── ─────────────────────────── fedlex_get_open_ fedlex_search_gazette fedlex_search_laws consultations (eli/fga/…) fedlex_get_law_by_sr fedlex_search_ fedlex_get_law_history consultations (eli/cc/…) fedlex_get_consultation │ jolux:foreseenImpactToLegalResource └───────────────────────────────────────────► links a consultation forward t