Online Kommentar MCP server

The Online Kommentar MCP Server provides access to Swiss legal commentaries from onlinekommentar.ch through the Model Context Protocol. It allows you to search and retrieve detailed legal commentaries on Swiss federal law using Claude Desktop or other MCP-compatible clients.

Installation Requirements

Prerequisites

• Node.js (version 14 or higher)
• npm or yarn package manager
• Claude Desktop (for MCP integration)

Installation Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/self-tech-labs/onlinekommentar-mcp.git
   cd onlinekommentar-mcp
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build the project:

   npm run build
   

Configuration

Setting Up Claude Desktop

Add the following configuration to your Claude Desktop MCP settings file:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "online-kommentar": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/onlinekommentar-mcp/build/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/onlinekommentar-mcp with the actual path to your project directory.

After adding the configuration, restart Claude Desktop to load the MCP server.

Using the Server

Search Commentaries

Search for legal commentaries using various filters.

Parameters:

• search (required): Full-text search query
• language (optional): Content language (en, de, fr, it)
• legislative_act (optional): Filter by legislative act ID
• sort (optional): Sort order (title, -title, date, -date)
• page (optional): Page number for pagination

Example query:

Search for commentaries about "constitutional rights" in English

This will return a list of relevant commentaries with their IDs, titles, publication dates, and URLs.

Get Commentary Details

Retrieve detailed information about a specific commentary using its ID.

Parameters:

• id (required): The unique identifier of the commentary

Example query:

Get the full content of commentary ID: 7058f7a5-19d8-444e-a901-7bb635ded375

This will return comprehensive information including:

• Full title and publication details
• Authors and editors
• Legislative act information
• Complete commentary content
• Legal text being commented on

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

1. Server not appearing in Claude Desktop:

   • Check the configuration file path and syntax
   • Ensure the build directory exists and contains compiled JavaScript
   • Restart Claude Desktop after configuration changes

2. Build errors:

   • Verify Node.js version (14+ required)
   • Run npm install to ensure all dependencies are installed
   • Check for TypeScript compilation errors

3. API connection issues:

   • Verify internet connectivity
   • Check if onlinekommentar.ch is accessible
   • Review error messages in Claude Desktop logs

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "online-kommentar" '{"command":"node","args":["/path/to/onlinekommentar-mcp/build/index.js"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "online-kommentar": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/onlinekommentar-mcp/build/index.js"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

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

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "online-kommentar": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/onlinekommentar-mcp/build/index.js"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect