canlii-mcp
Server Configuration
Describes the environment variables required to run the server.
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| PORT | No | HTTP server port (HTTP mode only) | 3000 |
| CANLII_API | Yes | Your CanLII API key | |
| MCP_AUTH_TOKEN | No | Bearer token for HTTP authentication |
Instructions
Guidance the server publishes about itself, which clients place ahead of the tool catalog so the model reads it before choosing anything.
This server publishes no instructions, or was last inspected before Glama recorded them.
Capabilities
Features and capabilities supported by this server
Protocol revision2025-11-25
| Capability | Details |
|---|---|
| tools | {
"listChanged": true
} |
Tools
Functions exposed to the LLM to take actions
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| list_case_databasesA | List all courts and tribunals in the CanLII collection with their database IDs. |
| list_casesB | List decisions from a specific caselaw database. Returns case titles, citations, and IDs. |
| get_caseA | Get metadata for a specific case including title, citation, decision date, keywords, and URL. |
| get_case_citationsA | Get citation information for a case: what it cites, what cites it, or what legislation it references. Note: the CanLII API currently only supports English for this endpoint; French requests will fall back to English. |
| list_legislation_databasesA | List all legislation and regulation databases in the CanLII collection. |
| list_legislationA | List statutes or regulations from a specific legislation database. |
| get_legislationA | Get metadata for a specific piece of legislation including title, citation, dates, and repeal status. |
Prompts
Interactive templates invoked by user choice
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No prompts | |
Resources
Contextual data attached and managed by the client
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
No resources | |
TDQS
Scored across 7 tools
Each tool targets a distinct action and resource: getting specific items (legislation, case, citations) versus listing collections (databases, legislation, cases). No overlap or ambiguity exists.
All tool names follow a consistent verb_noun pattern using lowercase with underscores, using either 'get_' for specific resources or 'list_' for collections. The convention is uniform and predictable.
Seven tools is well-scoped for a legal document retrieval server. Each tool covers an essential operation without redundancy or bloat.
The tool set covers metadata retrieval, database listings, and citation graphs, but lacks any search functionality for cases or legislation. This is a notable gap for a legal research API, though the core lookup workflows are complete.