Ris

RIS MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that gives AI assistants access to Austria's official legal database — the Rechtsinformationssystem (RIS).

Ask your AI assistant about Austrian law, and it will search and retrieve legal documents directly from the official government API. No API key required.

What You Can Do

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant things like:

"What does Austrian law say about tenancy rights?"

"Find Constitutional Court decisions on freedom of expression."

"Show me §1295 of the ABGB (Austrian Civil Code)."

"What laws about climate protection were published in 2024?"

"Look up the building code for the province of Salzburg."

"Get the full text of document NOR40052761."

The server translates these natural language requests into structured API calls against the RIS Open Government Data API.

Features

• 13 specialized tools covering all major RIS collections
• Federal law (ABGB, StGB, UGB, ...) and state law for all 9 provinces
• Court decisions from 16 court types (Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, Administrative Court, ...)
• Law gazettes — Federal (BGBl) and state (LGBl)
• Government bills, ministerial decrees, cabinet protocols
• Full document retrieval with smart prefix-based routing
• Change history tracking across 36 application types
• Interactive result list (MCP Apps) in hosts that support it — with a full text answer everywhere else
• Markdown and JSON output formats
• Free and open — uses Austria's Open Government Data API, no API key needed

Quick Start

Run directly without installation:

pnpm dlx ris-mcp-ts

Or install globally:

pnpm add -g ris-mcp-ts

Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop config (Settings > Developer > Edit Config):

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ris": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ris-mcp-ts"]
    }
  }
}

Note: The "Add custom connector" UI in Claude Desktop only supports remote MCP servers (HTTP/SSE). Local stdio servers like this one must be configured via the JSON file.

Tip: You can also use pnpm dlx instead of npx in all configuration examples if you prefer pnpm.

Claude Code

Add to your project or user settings:

claude mcp add ris -- npx -y ris-mcp-ts

VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "servers": {
    "ris": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ris-mcp-ts"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to .cursor/mcp.json in your project (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for global access):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ris": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ris-mcp-ts"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to your Windsurf MCP config at ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ris": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "ris-mcp-ts"]
    }
  }
}

Other MCP Clients

Any MCP-compatible client can connect via stdio transport:

npx -y ris-mcp-ts
# or: pnpm dlx ris-mcp-ts

Available Tools

Tool	Description
ris_bundesrecht	Search federal laws (ABGB, StGB, UGB, etc.)
ris_landesrecht	Search state/provincial laws (all 9 provinces)
ris_judikatur	Search court decisions (16 court types)
ris_bundesgesetzblatt	Search Federal Law Gazettes (BGBl I/II/III)
ris_landesgesetzblatt	Search State Law Gazettes (LGBl)
ris_regierungsvorlagen	Search government bills
ris_dokument	Retrieve full document text by ID or URL
ris_dokument_abschnitt	Return one section of an open document by character offset (feeds the document viewer widget)
ris_bezirke	Search district authority announcements
ris_gemeinden	Search municipal law and regulations
ris_sonstige	Search miscellaneous collections (8 sub-apps)
ris_history	Track document change history (36 app types)
ris_verordnungen	Search state ordinance gazettes

Interactive Result List

One widget, all eleven search tools. There is a single interactive result list, and every search tool renders into it: federal law, state law, case law, the federal and state law gazettes, government bills, district authority announcements, municipal law, the miscellaneous collections, change history and the ordinance gazettes. The screenshots below are the same widget in two different hosts, not two different features.

ris_dokument opens a reader instead. A single document can run to a quarter of a million characters, far past what one answer may carry, so the viewer loads it section by section as you scroll, offers an outline to jump by where the document has one, and links back into RIS. The full text still reaches the chat either way — the widget is never the only copy.

Hosts that support the MCP Apps extension render the hits as an interactive list — page through results without retyping the search, open a document in the browser, or request its full text with one click. The widget follows the host's light or dark theme; the shots below show both.

In Claude	In ChatGPT

The expanded detail view, light theme — metadata, the three actions, and pagination

Example Prompts

RIS is a German-language database, so these work best in German. Each of these lands on a different tool:

"Zeig mir das Verbrauchergewährleistungsgesetz" — ris_bundesrecht

"Finde aktuelle OGH-Rechtsprechung zu Verjährung" — ris_judikatur

"Was steht im Tiroler Landesrecht zum Naturschutz?" — ris_landesrecht

"Zeig mir BGBl. I Nr. 175/2021" — ris_bundesgesetzblatt

In a host without MCP Apps support the same prompts return the full text answer instead — see the table below.

Host	What you get
claude.ai	Result list (pagination, document links) + document viewer (outline navigation, lazy loading)
ChatGPT	Result list (pagination) + document viewer (outline navigation, lazy loading)
Claude Code, and any client without MCP Apps support	The regular text results, unchanged

The chat answer is always complete. The widgets are an addition to it, never a replacement — a host that does not render them loses nothing.

Tool Reference

ris_bundesrecht — Federal Laws

Search Austrian federal laws such as ABGB, StGB, UGB, and more.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search (e.g., "Mietrecht", "Schadenersatz")
titel	string	Search in law titles (e.g., "ABGB", "Strafgesetzbuch")
paragraph	string	Section number (e.g., "1295" for §1295, "7" for Art 7)
abschnitt_typ	string	Type of section paragraph refers to: "Paragraph" (default), "Artikel" (article-based laws like B-VG), "Anlage" (annex)
applikation	string	"BrKons" (consolidated, default), "Begut" (drafts), "BgblAuth" (gazette), "Erv" (English translations)
fassung_vom	string	Date for historical version (YYYY-MM-DD)
seite	number	Page number (default: 1)
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" (default) or "json"

All parameters are optional. At least one search parameter (suchworte, titel, or paragraph) should be provided.

Note: applikation="Erv" (English translations) uses a different parameter vocabulary internally (SearchTerms/Title) and does not support paragraph/abschnitt_typ or fassung_vom.

ris_landesrecht — State/Provincial Laws

Search state laws of the nine Austrian provinces.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in law titles
bundesland	string	Province: Wien, Niederoesterreich, Oberoesterreich, Salzburg, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Kaernten, Steiermark, Burgenland
paragraph	string	Section number (e.g., "1" for §1, "7" for Art 7)
abschnitt_typ	string	Type of section paragraph refers to: "Paragraph" (default), "Artikel", "Anlage"
fassung_vom	string	Date for historical version (YYYY-MM-DD)
gesetzesnummer	string	Exact law number (Gesetzesnummer) of a specific state law
applikation	string	"LrKons" (consolidated, default)
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

ris_judikatur — Court Decisions

Search court decisions from Austrian courts.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search in decisions
gerichtsbarkeit	string	Court system / data collection to search — the RIS "Applikation" (see below; default "Justiz")
dokumenttyp	string	"rechtssatz" (headnotes only), "entscheidungstext" (full texts only), or "beide" (both, default)
gericht	string	Actual court within the jurisdiction (e.g., "OGH", "OLG Wien"); applies to gerichtsbarkeit="Justiz"
rechtsgebiet	string	Broad legal area: "Zivilrecht" or "Strafrecht" (Justiz)
fachgebiet	string	OGH subject area (e.g., "Arbeitsrecht"); Justiz, needs dokumenttyp "entscheidungstext"/"beide"
entscheidungsart	string	Decision type (e.g., "Erkenntnis", "Beschluss"); allowed values differ by jurisdiction
sammlungsnummer	string	Collection number: VfSlg (Vfgh) or VwSlg (Vwgh)
norm	string	Legal norm (e.g., "1319a ABGB")
geschaeftszahl	string	Case number (e.g., "5Ob234/20b")
entscheidungsdatum_von	string	Decision date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
entscheidungsdatum_bis	string	Decision date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
sortierung	string	Sort by decision date: "datum_auf" (oldest first) or "datum_ab" (newest first)
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

Available gerichtsbarkeit values (16):

Value	Court system
Justiz	Supreme Court (OGH), Higher Regional Courts (OLG), Regional Courts (LG) — default
Vfgh	Constitutional Court
Vwgh	Supreme Administrative Court
Bvwg	Federal Administrative Court
Lvwg	Provincial Administrative Courts
Dsk	Data Protection Authority
AsylGH	Asylum Court (historical, until 2013)
Normenliste	Index of legal norms
Pvak	Personnel Representation Supervisory Commission
Gbk	Equal Treatment Commission
Dok	Disciplinary Commission
Verg	Federal Procurement Office (historical, dissolved 2014)
Uvs	Independent Administrative Senates (historical, dissolved 2014)
Ubas	Independent Federal Asylum Senate (historical, dissolved 2014)
Umse	Environmental Senate (historical, dissolved 2014)
Bks	Federal Communications Board (historical, dissolved 2014)

ris_bundesgesetzblatt — Federal Law Gazette

Search the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl) — official publications of federal legislation.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
bgblnummer	string	Gazette number (e.g., "120")
teil	string	"1" (I = Acts), "2" (II = Regulations), "3" (III = Treaties)
jahrgang	string	Year (e.g., "2023")
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
applikation	string	"BgblAuth" (authentic from 2004, default), "BgblPdf" (PDF), "BgblAlt" (1945–2003)
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

ris_landesgesetzblatt — State Law Gazette

Search State Law Gazettes (LGBl) — official publications of state legislation.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
lgblnummer	string	Gazette number (e.g., "50")
jahrgang	string	Year (e.g., "2023")
bundesland	string	Province name
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
applikation	string	"LgblAuth" (authentic, default), "Lgbl" (general), "LgblNO" (Niederoesterreich)
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

ris_regierungsvorlagen — Government Bills

Search government bills — draft legislation submitted to parliament.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
beschlussdatum_von	string	Approval date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
beschlussdatum_bis	string	Approval date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
einbringende_stelle	string	Submitting ministry (e.g., BKA, BMF, BMJ, BMK)
im_ris_seit	string	Added recently: EinerWoche, ZweiWochen, EinemMonat, DreiMonaten, SechsMonaten, EinemJahr
sortierung_richtung	string	Ascending or Descending
sortierung_spalte	string	Kurztitel, EinbringendeStelle, Beschlussdatum
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

ris_dokument — Full Document Retrieval

Retrieve the full text of a legal document by its ID or URL. Uses a dual strategy: direct URL access first, then search API fallback.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
dokumentnummer	string	RIS document number (e.g., "NOR40052761")
url	string	Direct URL to document content
response_format	string	"markdown" (default) or "json"

At least one of dokumentnummer or url is required. Long documents are truncated to 25,000 characters.

Supported document prefixes:

Prefix	Type
NOR	Federal norms
LBG, LKT, LNO, LOO, LSB, LST, LTI, LVB, LWI	State laws (9 provinces)
JWR, JWT	Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH)
JFR, JFT	Constitutional Court (VfGH)
JJR, JJT	Ordinary courts (Justiz)
BVWG, LVWG	Federal / State Administrative Courts
DSB, PDK, GBK, PVAB, DKT, NL, ASYLGH	Data protection, equal treatment, personnel, disciplinary, norm lists, asylum
VERG, JUR, JUT, UBAS, UMSE, BKS	Historical jurisdictions (dissolved 2014)
BGBLA, BGBL, BGBLPDF	Federal Law Gazette (authentic / 1945–2003 / PDF)
REGV	Government bills
BVB	District authorities
VBL	Ordinance gazettes
MRP, ERL, PRUEF, AVSV, SPG, KMGER	Cabinet protocols, decrees, trade exams, social insurance, health plans, court announcements

The full routing registry lives in DOCUMENT_ROUTES (src/client.ts); unknown prefixes fall back to a Justiz search.

ris_dokument_abschnitt — Document Section

Return one section of a document already open in the RIS document viewer. Intended for the viewer widget, not for direct use — for the full text of a document use ris_dokument.

The tool is declared app-only (_meta.ui.visibility: ["app"]): hosts that honour the flag hide it from the model and let only the viewer widget call it. It serves the same text ris_dokument produced, from the document cache where possible, so the offsets the viewer holds address the same document.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
dokumentnummer	string	RIS document number of the open document - from the ris_dokument call that opened it
url	string	Direct URL of the open document, for documents opened by URL rather than by number
offset	number	Character offset into the document text; 0 returns the first section and the outline (default: 0)

At least one of dokumentnummer or url is required. Each section is 25,000 characters long.

Output (structuredContent):

Field	Type	Description
text	string	The requested section of the document text
total_length	number	Length of the complete document text — compare across calls to detect that the document was re-fetched and offsets shifted
next_offset	number | null	Offset to request for the following section, or null at the end of the document
outline	array	Jump targets of the document. Only returned for offset 0; empty when the document has no headings
dokumentnummer	string	RIS document number of the document this section belongs to (absent for documents opened by URL)
source_url	string	RIS URL the document text was rendered from

ris_bezirke — District Authority Announcements

Search announcements from district administrative authorities.

Note: Only available for: Niederoesterreich, Oberoesterreich, Tirol, Vorarlberg, Burgenland, Steiermark.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
bundesland	string	Province name
bezirksverwaltungsbehoerde	string	District authority name
kundmachungsnummer	string	Announcement number
kundmachungsdatum_von	string	Date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
kundmachungsdatum_bis	string	Date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
im_ris_seit	string	Added recently: EinerWoche, ZweiWochen, EinemMonat, DreiMonaten, SechsMonaten, EinemJahr
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

ris_gemeinden — Municipal Law

Search municipal law — local ordinances and regulations.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
bundesland	string	Province name
gemeinde	string	Municipality name (e.g., "Graz")
applikation	string	"Gr" (municipal law, default) or "GrA" (official gazettes)
im_ris_seit	string	Added recently
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

Additional parameters depend on the selected application. See Gr (municipal law) and GrA (official gazettes) specific parameters in the source code.

ris_sonstige — Miscellaneous Collections

Search miscellaneous legal collections and specialized databases.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
applikation	string	Required. Collection to search (see below)
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
datum_von	string	Date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
datum_bis	string	Date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
im_ris_seit	string	Added recently
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

Available collections:

Value	Description
Mrp	Cabinet protocols (Ministerratsprotokolle)
Erlaesse	Ministerial decrees
Upts	Party transparency reports
KmGer	Court announcements
Avsv	Social insurance regulations
Avn	Veterinary notices
Spg	Health structure plans
PruefGewO	Trade licensing exams

Each collection has additional specific parameters. See the tool description for details.

ris_history — Document Change History

Track document creation, modification, and deletion across the RIS database.

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
applikation	string	Required. Application type (36 options — see below)
aenderungen_von	string	Changes from date (YYYY-MM-DD)
aenderungen_bis	string	Changes to date (YYYY-MM-DD)
include_deleted	boolean	Include deleted documents (default: false)
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

Available applications (36):

Federal law: Bundesnormen, BgblAuth, BgblAlt, BgblPdf, RegV State law: Landesnormen, LgblAuth, Lgbl, LgblNO, Vbl, Gemeinderecht, GemeinderechtAuth Case law: Justiz, Vfgh, Vwgh, Bvwg, Lvwg, Dsk, Gbk, Pvak, AsylGH Other: Bvb, Mrp, Erlaesse, PruefGewO, Avsv, Spg, KmGer, Dok, Normenliste Historical (jurisdictions dissolved on 2014-01-01, change history still tracked): Verg, Upts, Uvs, Ubas, Umse, Bks

ris_verordnungen — State Ordinance Gazettes

Search state ordinance gazettes (Verordnungsblätter).

Note: Currently only data from Tirol is available (since January 2022).

Inputs:

Parameter	Type	Description
suchworte	string	Full-text search
titel	string	Search in titles
bundesland	string	Province name
kundmachungsnummer	string	Announcement number
kundmachungsdatum_von	string	Date from (YYYY-MM-DD)
kundmachungsdatum_bis	string	Date to (YYYY-MM-DD)
seite	number	Page number
limit	number	Results per page: 10, 20, 50, 100 (default: 20). Prefer 20; a page over the structured-payload budget is delivered at the next smaller size (see Result size)
response_format	string	"markdown" or "json"

Result size

The text block of every tool is capped at 25,000 characters. The search tools' structuredContent has its own budget of 45,000 characters (serialized); a page that would exceed it is delivered at the next smaller RIS page size (100 → 50 → 20 → 10) with page, page_size, has_more and the query echo rewritten to that size and a German notice in both the text and the payload. Page with query.limit and query.seite as echoed. Prefer limit: 20; 50 suits a broad survey; 100 is only ever delivered when the hits are small. The default is calibrated to Claude Code, which rejects a result whose structured payload exceeds 25,000 tokens (measured: rejected at 58,659 characters, accepted at 46,311; the margin below that covers content that tokenizes worse); claude.ai renders far larger payloads and needs no budget. Self-hosters whose client accepts larger results can raise the budget with the RIS_STRUCTURED_CONTENT_BUDGET environment variable (a positive integer).

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 20.19.0 (required by the Vite 7 widget build)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Honeyfield-Org/ris-mcp-ts.git
cd ris-mcp-ts
pnpm install
pnpm run build

Scripts

Script	Description
pnpm run dev	Start with hot reload (tsx)
pnpm run build	Compile TypeScript
pnpm start	Run compiled version
pnpm test	Run the server tests
pnpm run test:ui	Run the widget tests (jsdom)
pnpm run gen:ui	Build the widget bundle into src/generated/ (runs automatically before dev/test/typecheck)
pnpm run check	Typecheck + lint + format check + both test suites
pnpm run inspect	Launch MCP Inspector for manual testing

Project Structure

src/
├── index.ts           # Entry point (stdio transport)
├── server.ts          # MCP server setup, delegates to tools/
├── client.ts          # HTTP client for RIS API
├── types.ts           # Zod schemas + TypeScript types
├── parser.ts          # JSON parsing and response normalization
├── formatting.ts      # Output formatting (markdown/json)
├── helpers.ts         # Shared helper functions
├── constants.ts       # Static mappings and configuration
├── widgets.ts         # MCP Apps widget resource + tool metadata
├── tools/             # One file per tool handler
│   ├── index.ts
│   ├── bundesrecht.ts
│   ├── landesrecht.ts
│   ├── judikatur.ts
│   └── ...
└── __tests__/         # Unit and integration tests

ui/                    # Widget sources (browser code, built by Vite)
├── trefferliste/      # The result-list widget
└── shared/            # Host bridge, shared states and theme

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

MIT

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Built on the Open Government Data API provided by the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt).