Frequently Asked Questions about LegalContext

Q: What is LegalContext? A: LegalContext is an open-source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that securely connects a law firm’s Clio document management system to the Claude Desktop AI assistant, ensuring client confidentiality while leveraging AI capabilities.

Q: Why do I need LegalContext? A: LegalContext solves the AI hallucination problem by grounding Claude’s responses in your actual documents and addresses client confidentiality concerns by processing all documents locally.

Q: What are the key features of LegalContext? A: Key features include secure document access, local processing, seamless MCP integration with Claude Desktop, semantic search, and citation tracking.

Q: What are the prerequisites for using LegalContext? A: You need Bun (version 1.0 or later), a Clio account with API access, Claude Desktop, and an operating system (macOS, Linux, or Windows with WSL).

Q: How do I install LegalContext? A: You can use the automated setup script (./install.sh) or manually install the dependencies and configure the environment variables and Claude Desktop.

Q: How do I configure Claude Desktop to use LegalContext? A: You can either use the automated setup script, which will automatically create/update the Claude Desktop configuration file, or manually edit the claude_desktop_config.json file.

Q: How do I set up Clio API access? A: Create a new application in the Clio Developers Portal, set the Redirect URI to http://127.0.0.1:3001/clio/auth/callback, and enable the documents and folders scopes. Then, add the Client ID and Client Secret to your .env file or directly to your Claude Desktop configuration.

Q: How do I authenticate with Clio? A: Start Claude Desktop (which launches LegalContext), open a browser to http://localhost:3001/clio/auth, and follow the Clio OAuth flow.

Q: How do I index my documents? A: The installation script runs an initial indexing. For additional documents, ask Claude to index specific documents or use the bun run index:batch command.

Q: How do I use LegalContext with Claude Desktop? A: Once your documents are indexed, ask Claude questions about them, such as “What are the key provisions in our standard NDA?”

Q: What security features does LegalContext offer? A: LegalContext offers local processing, secure OAuth, encrypted token storage, no cloud dependencies, full transparency via its open-source codebase, and centralized data storage.

Q: What are the limitations of the free tier? A: The free version is limited to 100 indexed documents and 50 queries per day.

Q: Where does LegalContext store its data? A: All data is stored in the ~/.legalcontext directory in your home folder.

Q: What diagnostic tools are available? A: LegalContext includes tools to test Clio authentication (bun run auth:simple), check Clio API access (bun run check:clio), test document processing (bun run test:extraction), and reset indexing state (bun run src/tools/reset-index-tracking.ts).