Connect to your AI assistant

Search 155,000+ UK court judgments and 25 legal databases from the assistant you already use. Set up in under 2 minutes.

Case Law Search

155,000+ judgments from the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, and tribunals

Citation Network

576,000+ citation relationships showing how courts treat each authority

Legislation

Full UK legislation search including Acts, Statutory Instruments, and amendments

62 Research Tools

Hansard, HMRC manuals, CPS guidance, ICO decisions, Gazette notices, and more

Easiest

Claude.ai (Web)

For anyone using Claude in their browser at claude.ai

  1. Open Settings in Claude
    Go to claude.ai and click on your name or the settings icon in the bottom-left corner.
  2. Find the Integrations section
    In Settings, look for Integrations (or MCP Servers). Click Add or Add Integration.
  3. Enter the connection URL
    Paste this URL when prompted: 
    https://searchthe.law/mcp
  4. Approve and start searching
    A sign-in window will open for your Search the Law account. Sign in with your email (magic link, no password), approve the connection, and you are ready to go.

Claude Desktop App

For the Claude desktop app on Mac or Windows

Search the Law is a remote MCP server, so it is added to your Claude account rather than to a file on your computer — the same connector then works in Claude Desktop, on claude.ai and in the mobile apps. The claude_desktop_config.json file is only for MCP servers that run locally on your own machine, and will not connect you to Search the Law.

  1. Open Settings → Connectors
    In Claude Desktop, open Settings, then Connectors. (On a Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner adds the connector once in Organization settings → Connectors, and everyone else then clicks Connect.)
  2. Add a custom connector
    Click Add custom connector and paste this URL: 
    https://searchthe.law/mcp
  3. Sign in and approve
    A browser window opens for you to sign in with your email — you will receive a magic link, no password needed. Click it, approve the connection, and you are set.
  4. Turn it on in a chat
    Use the + button in the chat input, then Connectors, to enable Search the Law for a conversation.

Claude Code (Terminal)

For developers using Claude Code in the command line

  1. Run one command
    Open your terminal and run: 
    claude mcp add search-the-law --transport http https://searchthe.law/mcp
  2. Start using it
    Next time you run claude, it will connect automatically. Sign in via the browser when prompted on first use.

Any MCP-compatible client

ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline — anything that supports remote MCP servers

  1. Use these connection details 
    Server URL:      https://searchthe.law/mcp
Transport:       Streamable HTTP
Authentication:  OAuth 2.0 (handled automatically)
Tools available: 62

    Add the URL to your client’s MCP configuration as a Streamable HTTP (remote) server. Sign-in is handled by OAuth, and the server supports dynamic client registration, so clients that register themselves automatically will do so without any manual setup on your side.

    Two things to know. Clients that only support MCP servers launched locally on your own machine cannot reach a remote server like this one — though a bridge such as mcp-remote gets around that. And the step-by-step instructions above are written for Claude, because that is where most of our users are; for other assistants, follow their own documentation for adding a custom or remote MCP connector and give it the URL above.
Once connected, just ask any UK legal question in plain English. Search the Law tools activate automatically — you don’t need to learn any special commands or syntax. Your assistant will search case law, check citation treatments, and pull legislation as part of its normal response.

Try these once connected

“What are the leading cases on unfair dismissal for whistleblowing?”
“Show me how courts have treated Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] UKHL 100”
“Find recent tribunal decisions on disability discrimination reasonable adjustments”
“What does section 123 of the Equality Act 2010 say about time limits?”
“My landlord hasn’t protected my deposit — what are my rights?”

Common Questions

Do I need an API key?

No. Authentication is handled automatically via OAuth. The first time you use a tool, a browser window will open for you to sign in with your email. After that, the connection stays active.

Is it free?

The free tier gives you 20 connector requests per day — roughly seven questions, since an assistant usually runs several searches to answer one. Paid plans start at £9.99/month (Practitioner) and lift that to a fair-use ceiling you are unlikely to notice. Sign up at searchthe.law/pricing.

What can I search?

Court judgments (UKSC, EWCA, EWHC, tribunals), UK legislation, Hansard debates, Commons Library and committee research, Law Commission publications, HMRC manuals, CPS guidance, ICO decisions, Gazette notices, Companies House records, and more. 62 tools across 25 databases.

Does this replace the website?

No — it gives you a different way to access the same data. The website at searchthe.law offers Research Reports, Full Briefs, and a visual interface. The connector lets you search and ask questions conversationally inside your assistant.

Which AI assistants does this work with?

Any assistant that supports remote MCP servers. MCP is an open standard — Anthropic created it and donated it to the Linux Foundation’s Agentic AI Foundation in December 2025 — and it is supported by Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Cursor and most developer tooling. Our connector implements the standard itself, not a Claude-specific version of it: standard OAuth discovery, PKCE, and dynamic client registration. The walkthrough above covers Claude because that is where most of our users are; for anything else, use the connection details in Any MCP-compatible client.

I need the full technical documentation

See the MCP Connector Documentation for OAuth flow details, the complete tool list, usage examples, and rate limits.

View Full Documentation

62 tools · OAuth 2.0 · No API key required

Search the Law holds a 5-year transactional licence from The National Archives for computational analysis of UK court judgments.