get_courts_and_tribunals

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/index.ts:169-203 (handler)

  The handler function for the get_courts_and_tribunals tool. It accepts language (en/fr) and optional date parameters, makes a GET request to the CanLII caseBrowse API, validates the response with CaseDatabasesResponseSchema, and returns the list of court/tribunal databases.

  server.tool(
  	"get_courts_and_tribunals",
  	"List all available court and tribunal databases in Canada. Returns database IDs needed for other tools. " +
  	"Key databases: onsc (Ontario Superior Court), onca (Ontario Court of Appeal), oncj (Ontario Court of Justice), " +
  	"onscdc (Divisional Court), csc-scc (Supreme Court of Canada), bcsc (BC Supreme Court), abkb (Alberta King's Bench). " +
  	"Use this to discover valid databaseId values for browse and citator tools.",
  	{
  		language: z.enum(["en", "fr"]).default("en")
  			.describe("Language: 'en' for English (default), 'fr' for French"),
  		...dateParametersSchema,
  	},
  	async (params) => {
  		try {
  			const { language, ...dateParams } = params;
  			const urlParams = new URLSearchParams({ api_key: apiKey });
  			buildDateParams(urlParams, dateParams);
  
  			const response = await apiFetch(
  				`https://api.canlii.org/v1/caseBrowse/${language}/?${urlParams.toString()}`
  			);
  
  			if (!response.ok) {
  				return errorResponse(`Error: Failed to fetch databases (${response.status})`);
  			}
  
  			const data = await response.json();
  			const parsed = CaseDatabasesResponseSchema.parse(data);
  			return jsonResponse(parsed);
  		} catch (error) {
  			return errorResponse(
  				`Error: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : "Unknown error"}`
  			);
  		}
  	}
  );

• src/schema.ts:3-12 (schema)

  The CaseDatabaseSchema (lines 3-8) and CaseDatabasesResponseSchema (lines 10-12) define the response type for the tool: an object with a 'caseDatabases' array, each containing databaseId, jurisdiction, name, and optional url.

  export const CaseDatabaseSchema = z.object({
      databaseId: z.string(),
      jurisdiction: z.string(),
      name: z.string(),
      url: z.string().optional(),
  }).passthrough();
  
  export const CaseDatabasesResponseSchema = z.object({
      caseDatabases: z.array(CaseDatabaseSchema),
  }).passthrough();

• src/index.ts:169-203 (registration)

  The tool is registered via server.tool() on line 169 with the name 'get_courts_and_tribunals', a descriptive string, input schema (language enum + date parameters), and the async handler.

  server.tool(
  	"get_courts_and_tribunals",
  	"List all available court and tribunal databases in Canada. Returns database IDs needed for other tools. " +
  	"Key databases: onsc (Ontario Superior Court), onca (Ontario Court of Appeal), oncj (Ontario Court of Justice), " +
  	"onscdc (Divisional Court), csc-scc (Supreme Court of Canada), bcsc (BC Supreme Court), abkb (Alberta King's Bench). " +
  	"Use this to discover valid databaseId values for browse and citator tools.",
  	{
  		language: z.enum(["en", "fr"]).default("en")
  			.describe("Language: 'en' for English (default), 'fr' for French"),
  		...dateParametersSchema,
  	},
  	async (params) => {
  		try {
  			const { language, ...dateParams } = params;
  			const urlParams = new URLSearchParams({ api_key: apiKey });
  			buildDateParams(urlParams, dateParams);
  
  			const response = await apiFetch(
  				`https://api.canlii.org/v1/caseBrowse/${language}/?${urlParams.toString()}`
  			);
  
  			if (!response.ok) {
  				return errorResponse(`Error: Failed to fetch databases (${response.status})`);
  			}
  
  			const data = await response.json();
  			const parsed = CaseDatabasesResponseSchema.parse(data);
  			return jsonResponse(parsed);
  		} catch (error) {
  			return errorResponse(
  				`Error: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : "Unknown error"}`
  			);
  		}
  	}
  );

• src/index.ts:69-87 (helper)

  The buildDateParams helper function is used by the handler to append optional date filter parameters to the API request URL.

  function buildDateParams(params: URLSearchParams, options: {
  	publishedBefore?: string;
  	publishedAfter?: string;
  	modifiedBefore?: string;
  	modifiedAfter?: string;
  	changedBefore?: string;
  	changedAfter?: string;
  	decisionDateBefore?: string;
  	decisionDateAfter?: string;
  }) {
  	if (options.publishedBefore) params.append('publishedBefore', options.publishedBefore);
  	if (options.publishedAfter) params.append('publishedAfter', options.publishedAfter);
  	if (options.modifiedBefore) params.append('modifiedBefore', options.modifiedBefore);
  	if (options.modifiedAfter) params.append('modifiedAfter', options.modifiedAfter);
  	if (options.changedBefore) params.append('changedBefore', options.changedBefore);
  	if (options.changedAfter) params.append('changedAfter', options.changedAfter);
  	if (options.decisionDateBefore) params.append('decisionDateBefore', options.decisionDateBefore);
  	if (options.decisionDateAfter) params.append('decisionDateAfter', options.decisionDateAfter);
  }

• src/index.ts:93-95 (helper)

  The jsonResponse helper function formats the parsed response data as a JSON text response for the tool output.

  function jsonResponse(data: unknown) {
  	return textResponse(JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));
  }