Tanzanian Law MCP Server

Tanzanian Law MCP Server

The Tanzania Laws alternative for the AI age.

Query 3,562 Tanzanian laws -- from the Personal Data Protection Act 2022 and the Penal Code to the Employment and Labour Relations Act, Companies Act, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Tanzanian legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden

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Why This Exists

Tanzanian legal research means navigating tanzlii.org and parliament.go.tz across a complex federation of Acts, Subsidiary Legislation, and regional instruments. Whether you're:

• A lawyer validating citations in a brief or contract
• A compliance officer checking obligations under the PDPA 2022 or the Electronic and Postal Communications Act
• A legal tech developer building tools on Tanzanian law
• A researcher tracing legislative history across 3,562 Acts

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Tanzanian law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.

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Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version -- zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://tanzanian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tanzanian-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://tanzanian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "tanzanian-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://tanzanian-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

npx @ansvar/tanzanian-law-mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tanzanian-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/tanzanian-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "tanzanian-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/tanzanian-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

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Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

• "What does the Personal Data Protection Act 2022 say about consent?"
• "Find provisions in the Penal Code about cybercrime offences"
• "Search for employment law under the Employment and Labour Relations Act"
• "Is the Electronic and Postal Communications Act still in force?"
• "What does the Companies Act say about director duties?"
• "Find provisions about land rights under the Land Act"
• "Validate the citation 'Section 15 Personal Data Protection Act 2022'"
• "Build a legal stance on data breach notification requirements in Tanzania"

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What's Included

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources (Tanzania Laws, Parliament of Tanzania). Zero LLM-generated content.

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Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

• All statute text is ingested from tanzlii.org and parliament.go.tz
• Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
• Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains statute text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

• Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
• Provision retrieval gives exact text by Act identifier + section number
• Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

tanzlii.org / parliament.go.tz --> Parse --> SQLite --> FTS5 snippet() --> MCP response
                                     ^                        ^
                              Provision parser         Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional: Search tanzlii.org -> Navigate HTML -> Ctrl+F -> Cross-reference between Acts -> Repeat

This MCP: "What are the data breach notification requirements under the Personal Data Protection Act 2022?" -> Done.

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Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

International Law Integration Tools (5)

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International Law Alignment

Tanzania is not an EU member state. The international alignment tools cover the frameworks that matter for Tanzanian law practice:

• EAC frameworks -- East African Community treaty obligations and harmonisation instruments
• African Union -- AU conventions including the Malabo Convention on Data Protection
• Commonwealth -- Commonwealth legal frameworks and model laws
• Personal Data Protection Act 2022 aligns with international data protection principles; the get_eu_basis tool maps these to GDPR-equivalent provisions for cross-reference
• Employment and Labour Relations Act aligns with ILO conventions and EAC labour protocols

The international bridge tools allow you to explore alignment relationships -- checking which Tanzanian provisions correspond to EAC or international requirements, and vice versa.

Note: International cross-references reflect alignment and treaty obligations, not formal transposition. Tanzania adopts its own legislative approach, and these tools help identify where Tanzanian and international law address similar domains.

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Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Tanzanian legal databases:

• Tanzania Legal Information Institute (TanzLII) -- Primary source for Tanzanian legislation
• Parliament of Tanzania -- Official parliamentary records and Acts

Data Provenance

Automated Freshness Checks

A GitHub Actions workflow monitors Tanzanian legal sources for changes:

Verified data only -- every citation is validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.

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Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.

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Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from Tanzania Laws and TanzLII official sources. However:

• This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
• Court case coverage is not included -- do not rely solely on this for case law research
• Verify critical citations against primary sources before court filings
• International cross-references reflect alignment relationships, not formal transposition
• Zanzibar legislation may have separate applicability -- verify jurisdiction carefully

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | SECURITY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment.

Bar Association Reference

For professional use, consult the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) guidelines on AI-assisted legal research.

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Development

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Tanzanian-law-mcp
cd Tanzanian-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

npm run ingest              # Ingest statutes from tanzlii.org
npm run build:db            # Rebuild SQLite database
npm run drift:detect        # Run drift detection against anchors
npm run check-updates       # Check for source updates
npm run census              # Generate coverage census

Performance

• Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
• Database Size: ~55 MB (efficient, portable)
• Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate across 3,562 laws

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Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws -- HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks -- ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

80+ national law MCPs covering Namibia, Uganda, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and more.

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Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

• Court case law expansion (Court of Appeal, High Court judgments)
• Zanzibar legislation integration
• EAC treaty cross-references
• Swahili-language provision support
• Historical statute versions and amendment tracking

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Roadmap

• Core statute database with FTS5 search
• Full corpus ingestion (3,562 laws, 32,865 provisions)
• International law alignment tools
• Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
• npm package publication
• Court case law expansion (Court of Appeal, High Court)
• Zanzibar legislation
• Swahili provision text
• EAC treaty cross-references
• Historical statute versions

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Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

@software{tanzanian_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Tanzanian Law MCP Server: AI-Powered Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/Tanzanian-law-mcp},
  note = {3,562 Tanzanian laws with 32,865 provisions}
}

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License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

• Statutes & Legislation: Tanzania Laws (public domain, government publications)
• International Metadata: Public domain

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About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the global market. This MCP server makes Tanzanian law accessible to legal professionals and compliance teams worldwide.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating 3,562 Acts shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden

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