BetterCallClaude transforms legal research, case strategy, and document drafting for Swiss lawyers. It provides deep integration with Swiss legal databases, multi-lingual analysis (DE/FR/IT/EN), and built-in Anwaltsgeheimnis (attorney-client privilege) protection -- 21 agents, 27 commands, 16 skills, and 9 MCP servers covering BGE/ATF/DTF precedent research, litigation strategy, adversarial analysis, legal drafting, citation verification, document intelligence, and CAS/TAS sports arbitration across all 26 Swiss cantons.
Claude Code CLI users: this repository is Cowork Desktop only. The CLI version is at fedec65/bettercallclaude-cli.
Overview
BetterCallClaude provides a structured methodology for handling legal work with AI assistance. The framework consists of five interconnected phases.
What's New in v4.9.5
v4.9.5 — /legal-timeline: the case chronology a lawyer would build, with a source for every single fact. Point it at a folder of case documents — contracts, correspondence, court filings, expert reports — and get a legal timeline where no event exists without provenance.
- No event without a source — every timeline entry carries its document and locus (R1/R2 discipline applied to facts). The deterministic render script validates the schema and refuses to produce output containing unsourced events.
- Contested facts, made visible — each event is marked
undisputed, alleged, or contested, with party attribution ("A alleges delivery on 3.3.; B disputes"). Date conflicts are recorded with BOTH dates and their sources — never silently resolved.
- Evidentiary gaps and deadlines — undocumented periods of 30+ days are flagged as gaps;
--deadlines computes procedural time limits via the compute_deadlines MCP tool (ZPO/BGG, cantonal holiday calendar), each marker anchored to a sourced event.
- Three outputs — a sortable Markdown table, a self-contained interactive HTML timeline (colour-coded by status, gap bands, deadline markers), and a Word export for the case file, all under
bcc-output/timeline/.
- Self-verifying — the new
timeline-sourced goal-loop profile pairs the chronology-builder worker with the citation-specialist evaluator: the loop does not close until every event has a traceable source, every conflict is flagged, and every deadline is anchored.
Content counts: 21 agents, 27 commands, 16 skills, 9 MCP servers in .mcp.json (7 remote HTTP on mcp.bettercallclaude.ch + swiss-caselaw SSE on mcp.opencaselaw.ch + ollama local STDIO).
Full changelog →
Cowork Desktop dedicated release -- This repository is exclusively for Claude Cowork Desktop. The Claude Code CLI version is at fedec65/bettercallclaude-cli.
- HTTP-only transport: 8 of 9 MCP servers connect via
mcp.bettercallclaude.ch / mcp.opencaselaw.ch -- no local Node.js build required for those
- Local STDIO server (
ollama): bundled and only touches http://localhost:11434 for privacy-routed translation/summarisation
- Simplified setup:
/setup checks connectivity only -- no transport switching needed in Cowork
Installation
Full installation guide with screenshots: BetterCallClaude Tutorial →
- In Cowork, click Customize > Browse plugins > Personal > + > Add marketplace from GitHub
- Enter
fedec65/bettercallclaude and click Sync
- Click Install on the BetterCallClaude card
MCP servers connect automatically via HTTP. No Node.js, no local setup, no API keys required.
Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|
/bettercallclaude:legal | Intelligent gateway -- analyzes intent, routes to the appropriate specialist agent, and manages multi-step legal workflows. Use --refine to transform vague queries first. |
/bettercallclaude:refine | Transform vague legal queries into structured prompts through Socratic dialogue. Recommends optimal workflows and introduces Swiss legal terminology. |
/bettercallclaude:research | Search Swiss legal precedents and compile research memoranda. Supports BGE/ATF/DTF databases, doctrine references, and cross-jurisdictional analysis. |
/bettercallclaude:strategy | Develop litigation strategy with risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, and procedural pathway evaluation. |
/bettercallclaude:draft | Draft Swiss legal documents including contracts, court briefs, legal opinions, and memoranda with proper citation formatting. |
/bettercallclaude:cite | Verify and format Swiss legal citations across all four national languages (BGE/ATF/DTF formats). |
/bettercallclaude:validate | Validate Swiss legal citations in bulk -- check format, existence, and cross-language consistency. |
/bettercallclaude:precedent | Search and analyze BGE/ATF/DTF precedents with precedent chain tracking and evolution analysis. |
/bettercallclaude:federal | Analyze a legal question under federal Swiss law (ZGB, OR, StGB, BV, and related federal statutes). |
/bettercallclaude:cantonal | Analyze a legal question under cantonal law for a specific canton. |
/bettercallclaude:adversarial | Run three-agent adversarial analysis -- advocate builds the case, adversary challenges it, judicial analyst synthesizes. |
/bettercallclaude:briefing | Structured pre-execution briefing -- assembles a specialist panel, collects case context, and builds an execution plan before agents start working. |
/bettercallclaude:workflow | Define and execute multi-agent legal workflows (due diligence, litigation prep, contract lifecycle, real estate closing). |
/bettercallclaude:translate | Translate Swiss legal documents between DE, FR, IT, and EN while preserving legal terminology precision. |
Usage Examples
/bettercallclaude:legal I need to assess our exposure under Art. 97 OR for late delivery
/bettercallclaude:refine I have problems with my landlord
/bettercallclaude:research Art. 97 OR contractual liability for late delivery
/bettercallclaude:strategy Commercial lease dispute in Zurich, landlord claims CHF 200k damages
/bettercallclaude:draft Employment contract for a software engineer in Geneva, bilingual DE/FR
/bettercallclaude:adversarial Is the non-compete clause in this employment contract enforceable?
/bettercallclaude:workflow litigation-prep Personal injury claim against manufacturer
/bettercallclaude:briefing Prepare full litigation for Art. 97 OR breach, CHF 500K, Zurich
/bettercallclaude:cantonal ZH Commercial court jurisdiction for contract disputes over CHF 30k
/bettercallclaude:doc-analyze @contract.pdf Review this commercial lease agreement
Key Features
- Briefing sessions -- Complex queries trigger a collaborative intake phase with specialist panels, targeted questions, and structured execution plans before agents start working. Supports
--resume for cross-session persistence.
- Adversarial analysis -- Three-agent workflow: advocate builds the case, adversary challenges it, judicial analyst synthesizes using Swiss Erwagung methodology with probability scores.
- Multi-agent workflows -- Predefined pipelines for due diligence, litigation prep, contract lifecycle, and real estate closings.
- All 26 cantons -- Full cantonal coverage with court systems, citation formats, and MCP search via entscheidsuche.ch. Federal law is the default; mentioning a canton triggers cantonal mode.
- Multi-language -- Automatic language detection for DE/FR/IT/EN with correct legal terminology and citation formats.
MCP Servers
All servers connect automatically after installation. No configuration required.
| Server | Purpose | Transport |
|---|
entscheidsuche | Swiss court decision search (Bundesgericht + cantonal) | HTTP |
bge-search | Federal Supreme Court decision search | HTTP |
legal-citations | Citation verification and formatting | HTTP |
fedlex-sparql | Federal legislation database (SPARQL) | HTTP |
onlinekommentar | Swiss legal commentaries | HTTP |
legal-persona | Swiss-law document intelligence (strategy, drafting, analysis) | HTTP |
tas-jurisprudence | CAS/TAS sports arbitration decisions | HTTP |
swiss-caselaw | Case law, citation graphs, appeal chains (opencaselaw.ch) | SSE |
ollama | Local privacy classification for Anwaltsgeheimnis | Local |
The seven HTTP servers connect to https://mcp.bettercallclaude.ch (rate limit: 60 req/min per IP). The swiss-caselaw server connects to https://mcp.opencaselaw.ch. No API keys required for any server.
See CONNECTORS.md for detailed API documentation.
Privacy
BetterCallClaude includes built-in Anwaltsgeheimnis (attorney-client privilege, Art. 321 StGB) compliance. A PreToolUse hook scans outgoing tool calls for privilege indicators in German (Anwaltsgeheimnis, Mandantengeheimnis, vertraulich), French (secret professionnel, confidentiel), and Italian (segreto professionale, confidenziale).
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|
strict | All external calls require confirmation. Local processing preferred via Ollama. |
balanced | Privileged content triggers confirmation. Non-privileged content processed normally. |
cloud | Standard cloud processing with privacy hook active for explicit privilege markers only. |
Language Support
| Language | Code | Legal Context |
|---|
| German | DE | Primary: ZGB, OR, StGB, BGE. Used in ZH, BE, BS, and German-speaking cantons. |
| French | FR | Official: CC, CO, CP, ATF. Used in GE, VD, and French-speaking cantons. |
| Italian | IT | Official: CC, CO, CP, DTF. Used in TI and Italian-speaking regions. |
| English | EN | Working language with Swiss legal term mapping. |
Requirements
- Claude Cowork Desktop (latest version)
- Node.js >= 18 (for the ollama privacy classifier only -- all other servers connect via HTTP)
CLI Version
Prefer working from the terminal? BetterCallClaude CLI is the Claude Code CLI edition with local stdio MCP transport, configurable HTTP fallback, and the same 20 agents, 19 commands, and 14 skills.
Author
Federico Cesconi -- fedec65/bettercallclaude -- bettercallclaude.ch
License
AGPL-3.0 -- See LICENSE for full terms.
Support the project
For Developers
This repo contains the plugin only (agents, commands, skills, hooks, .mcp.json, and the bundled ollama local STDIO server). MCP server source code and the HTTP aggregator deployed to Railway at mcp.bettercallclaude.ch live in the separate fedec65/BetterCallClaudeMCP repo.
npm run package # Create distributable plugin zip
To change an MCP server's behaviour, open a PR in
fedec65/BetterCallClaudeMCP.
Railway auto-redeploys on merge to main.
See CONNECTORS.md for MCP server API documentation and CONTRIBUTING.md for the full contributor workflow.
Professional Disclaimer
BetterCallClaude is a legal research and analysis tool. All outputs produced by this plugin:
- Require professional lawyer review and validation before use.
- Do not constitute legal advice.
- May contain errors, omissions, or outdated information.
- Must be verified against official sources (admin.ch, court databases, official gazettes).
- Must be adapted to the specific circumstances of each case.
Lawyers maintain full professional responsibility for all legal work products. This tool assists legal professionals but does not replace professional judgment, independent verification, or the duty of care owed to clients.
