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MCP documentation

How to connect an agent to the Data.co MCP server, which tools exist, and which LAW.co can back today. The server is live at api.data.co/mcp.

Examples MCP overview

Setup

Configure your client

Use an organization API key with the mcp:invoke scope, plus legal:read for legal tools. Create the key at app.data.co.

mcp.jsonIllustrative

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dataco": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.data.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${DATACO_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

Client guides

Setup for common clients

Each client stores the same three things: the server URL, the HTTP transport and an Authorization header. Keep the key in an environment variable rather than pasting it into a config file you might commit.

Claude Code

Add the server from your terminal, then run /mcp inside Claude Code to confirm it connected and list its tools.

terminalIllustrative

claude mcp add --transport http dataco \
  https://api.data.co/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $DATACO_API_KEY"

Cursor

Add the block to .cursor/mcp.json in your project, or to the global file in your home directory, then enable the server in Cursor's MCP settings.

.cursor/mcp.jsonIllustrative

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dataco": {
      "url": "https://api.data.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:DATACO_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add the server to .vscode/mcp.json. VS Code can prompt for the key once and store it, instead of keeping it in the file.

.vscode/mcp.jsonIllustrative

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "dataco-key",
      "description": "Data.co API key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "dataco": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.data.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:dataco-key}" }
    }
  }
}

Client configuration formats change between releases; check your client's own MCP documentation if a field is not recognized.

Tools

Tool reference

Support status reflects LAW.co's current API. Tools marked unavailable return a typed error (unsupported_operation or not_configured) rather than empty results.

Tool	What it does	Input	LAW.co today	Notes
`search_legal_corpus`	Keyword search across all legal datasets.	query, type?, dataset?, jurisdiction?, court?, date_from?, date_to?, limit?	Partial	Backed by LAW.co's legacy search: randomly sampled (≤50), not paginated or stable.
`get_legal_document`	Fetch one legal document with provenance and enrichment.	id	Supported by LAW.co	Single case records via LAW.co's public case endpoint.
`search_statutes`	Search statute data.	query?, state?, limit?	Unavailable	Would serve estate-planning statute reference values only; LAW.co's production table is not yet populated. LAW.co holds no statute corpus.
`search_case_law`	Search court opinions with court, date and citation filters.	query, jurisdiction?, court?, date_from?, date_to?, citation?, limit?	Partial	Same sampled upstream search; court and date filters applied to the sample.
`get_citation`	Resolve a citation string to a record.	citation	Unavailable	LAW.co has no citation-resolution endpoint yet (proposed in the integration plan).
`list_jurisdictions`	List jurisdictions covered.	none	Partial	Catalog-level coverage only; no verified per-court breakdown.
`list_legal_datasets`	List legal datasets and their access status.	none	Supported by LAW.co	Served from the Data.co catalog.
`get_dataset_metadata`	Full descriptor and schema for one dataset.	slug	Supported by LAW.co	Served from the Data.co catalog.

Results

What a tool returns

Tool results are JSON text content with the same record shape as the REST API, including provenance and warnings, so the agent can cite and caveat correctly.

search_case_law → resultIllustrative

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "lawco:case:<id>",
      "title": "<case name>",
      "citations": ["<reporter cite>"],
      "court": "<court>",
      "date": "YYYY-MM-DD",
      "snippet": "<opinion excerpt>",
      "provenance": { "provider": "lawco", "licenseId": "us-gov-edicts-public-domain", "isDerived": false }
    }
  ],
  "next_cursor": null,
  "warnings": ["Upstream search is sampled (≤50); results are not stable across calls."]
}

Examples

MCP examples

Tool calls as an agent would issue them. Against production they return live LAW.co records with demo: false; synthetic records are always marked demo: true.

tools/call

{
  "name": "list_legal_datasets",
  "arguments": {}
}
// → each dataset with access status, e.g.
// { "slug": "lawco-court-opinions", "rest": "available", "download": "awaiting-rights-confirmation", ... }

Example tool calls · placeholders in angle brackets

Errors

When a tool cannot answer

Tool errors come back as a result with isError: true and the same error codes as the REST API, so an agent can explain the problem instead of guessing.

Code	Meaning for the agent	What it should do
`not_configured`	The provider channel is not connected (for example statute reference values, not yet populated).	Tell the user the source is not connected yet.
`unsupported_operation`	The provider cannot back this tool (for example get_citation).	Fall back to search_case_law with the citation as a filter.
`not_entitled`	The plan does not include this dataset's tier.	Answer from the entitled data and say what was not available.
`rate_limited`	The key's rate limit is exhausted (quota_exceeded means the monthly plan quota is used up).	Wait and retry later; do not loop.

Questions

MCP setup FAQ

Which scopes does the key need?

mcp:invoke to call tools at all, plus legal:read for the legal tools.

Can I limit which tools an agent sees?

Most clients let you enable or disable individual tools from a server. Use that to hide tools you do not want an agent to call.

How should an agent handle sampled search warnings?

Pass them on. A good system prompt tells the agent to mention when results may be incomplete instead of presenting them as exhaustive.

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