vaquill-mcp

MCP server for Vaquill legal research API. Search 20M+ Indian court judgments, ask AI-powered legal questions, resolve citations, and traverse citation networks — all from your AI tools.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Sign up at vaquill.ai to get your API key.

Claude.ai (Web)

No installation needed. Add as a remote MCP server in Claude.ai Settings > Integrations:

Option A — Simple URL (API key in path):

https://mcp.vaquill.ai/s/vq_key_your_key_here

Option B — Bearer token (recommended):

URL:   https://mcp.vaquill.ai/s/_
Token: vq_key_your_key_here

Available on Claude Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans.

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vaquill": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["vaquill-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VAQUILL_API_KEY": "vq_key_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Remote (no install):

claude mcp add-json vaquill '{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp.vaquill.ai/s/_","headers":{"Authorization":"Bearer vq_key_your_key_here"}}'

Local (via uvx):

claude mcp add vaquill -- uvx vaquill-mcp
# Then set the env var in your shell: export VAQUILL_API_KEY=vq_key_...

Or add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vaquill": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["vaquill-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VAQUILL_API_KEY": "vq_key_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Add to Cursor Settings > MCP Servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vaquill": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["vaquill-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VAQUILL_API_KEY": "vq_key_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot)

Add to .vscode/settings.json:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "vaquill": {
        "command": "uvx",
        "args": ["vaquill-mcp"],
        "env": {
          "VAQUILL_API_KEY": "vq_key_your_key_here"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to ~/.windsurf/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vaquill": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["vaquill-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VAQUILL_API_KEY": "vq_key_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Tool	Description	Credits
ask_legal_question	AI-powered legal Q&A grounded in court judgments. Standard (fast) or deep (thorough) modes.	0.5 - 2.0
search_legal_cases	Boolean keyword search with AND/OR/NOT operators. Filter by court, year, country.	1.0
quick_search	Fast compact search returning top 3-5 results with essentials only.	0.1
resolve_citation	Resolve any citation format (SCC, AIR, SCR, MANU) to canonical case record.	0.1
search_cases_by_citation	Search cases by citation text or case name with filters.	0.1
lookup_case	Full case details with citation treatment stats (followed, overruled, etc.).	0.1
get_citation_network	Traverse citation graph: which cases cite/are cited by a case. 1-3 hops.	0.2
get_pricing	Get current API credit pricing (no auth required).	Free

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Default	Description
VAQUILL_API_KEY	Yes	-	API key (vq_key_...) from vaquill.ai
VAQUILL_BASE_URL	No	https://api.vaquill.ai	API base URL
VAQUILL_TIMEOUT	No	120	Request timeout in seconds

Example Usage

Once configured, you can ask your AI assistant things like:

• "Search for Supreme Court cases on Section 302 IPC"
• "What is the legal test for negligence in Indian tort law?"
• "Resolve the citation AIR 1978 SC 597"
• "Look up the case Maneka Gandhi vs Union of India and show treatment stats"
• "Show the citation network around ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant Shukla"
• "Compare murder and culpable homicide under IPC" (uses deep mode)

Development

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/Vaquill-AI/vaquill-mcp.git
cd vaquill-mcp
uv sync --all-extras

# Run locally
VAQUILL_API_KEY=vq_key_... uv run vaquill-mcp

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Test with FastMCP inspector
uv run fastmcp dev src/vaquill_mcp/server.py

How It Works

This package is a thin MCP wrapper around the Vaquill Developer API. At startup, it fetches the OpenAPI spec from the live API and auto-generates MCP tools using FastMCP. Tool names and descriptions are customized for optimal LLM performance.

Because the spec is fetched at startup (not bundled), tools automatically reflect any API changes without a package update.

Credits & Pricing

API calls consume credits. Check current pricing at vaquill.ai or use the get_pricing tool.

1 credit = $0.10 USD = 10 INR

License

MIT