Canlii MCP Server

by mohammadfarooqi Your server? Claim it

local only

Canlii runs on your own machine — the client starts it, so there is no endpoint to ping. 34 installs a week from npm. Last commit 9 Apr 2026.

Search Canadian case law, browse legislation, and check citations via the CanLII API.

Installs per day peak 26 · avg 8 · +22% w/w

a month agotoday

Installs / week

npm · canlii-mcp

Stars

0 open issues

9 Apr 2026

Last commit

0 releases in 90 days

MIT

License

JavaScript

Nothing serious here today

Today is the operative word: we check Canlii every 15 minutes and re-read its code on every release. Watch it and you find out the day that stops being true.

Connect this server

This server runs on your own machine — install it with the package manager and the client starts it for you. Package name taken from the official registry entry.

Claude Code Claude Desktop Codex Cursor VS Code

run in your terminal

claude mcp add canlii -- npx -y canlii-mcp

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

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

~/.codex/config.toml

[mcp_servers.canlii]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "canlii-mcp"]

.cursor/mcp.json

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

.vscode/mcp.json

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

This one needs environment variables set before it will start: CANLII_API_KEY (Your CanLII API key (request free at canlii.org/en/feedback/feedback.html)). The author declared them in the registry entry; get the values from the project itself.

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Canlii — questions

Answers built from our own checks of this server.

Why is there no uptime for Canlii?

Canlii runs on your own machine over stdio — there is no network address to reach, so uptime cannot be measured for it by anyone. What can be measured is adoption: the npm package canlii-mcp was installed 34 times last week.

How do I connect Canlii?

Copy the ready config from this page — we generate it for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex, Cursor and VS Code, each with the file path that client actually reads. It runs locally, so the command pulls canlii-mcp straight from npm; nothing to host, nothing to sign up for.

How many people use Canlii?

The npm package canlii-mcp was installed 34 times in the last week. Week over week that is +22%. We show installs rather than GitHub stars on purpose: a star is a bookmark, an install is someone actually running it.

Is Canlii open source?

Yes — it is published under the MIT licence, written in JavaScript and 5 stars on GitHub. The source link is on this page, so you can read exactly what it does with your data before you connect it.