Quick start

Make your first Laws.Africa Knowledge Base query.

This guide shows you how to query a Knowledge Base and use the result in an application.

You will:

1. create a platform account and API token;

2. list available Knowledge Bases;

3. query a Knowledge Base;

4. use the returned legal context in your application.

Create an API token

1. Sign up at https://platform.laws.africa/.

2. Get your API token from https://platform.laws.africa/api-keys/.

In the examples below, replace <YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN> with your token.

Knowledge Base retrieve calls count toward your account's Knowledge Base usage limits. You can monitor usage in the platform and read rate-limit guidance in manage your plan and subscription.

List available Knowledge Bases

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN>" \
  https://api.laws.africa/ai/v1/knowledge-bases

The response includes Knowledge Base codes. Use a code in the retrieve endpoint.

Query a legislation Knowledge Base

This example queries the South African municipal legislation Knowledge Base for Cape Town dog ownership rules.

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "text": "dog ownership cape town",
    "top_k": 5,
    "filters": {
      "principal": true,
      "repealed": false,
      "frbr_place": "za-cpt"
    }
  }' \
  https://api.laws.africa/ai/v1/knowledge-bases/legislation-za-municipal/retrieve

The response contains matching legal portions:

{
  "results": [
    {
      "content": {
        "text": "..."
      },
      "metadata": {
        "title": "Animal By-law, 2011",
        "work_frbr_uri": "/akn/za-cpt/act/by-law/2011/animal",
        "public_url": "https://lawlibrary.org.za/...",
        "portion_title": "Chapter 7 - Miscellaneous",
        "portion_public_url": "https://lawlibrary.org.za/...#chp_7"
      },
      "score": 0.16151309999999997
    }
  ]
}

For legislation queries, start with principal: true and repealed: false so results prefer current principal legislation rather than amendment notices or repealed works.

Use Result

The examples below make the same Knowledge Base request and format each result as source-linked context.

JavaScript

// Node.js 18+
const TOKEN = "<YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN>";
const KB_CODE = "legislation-za-municipal";

const response = await fetch(
  `https://api.laws.africa/ai/v1/knowledge-bases/${KB_CODE}/retrieve`,
  {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Bearer ${TOKEN}`,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      text: "dog ownership cape town",
      top_k: 5,
      filters: {
        principal: true,
        repealed: false,
        frbr_place: "za-cpt",
      },
    }),
    signal: AbortSignal.timeout(30_000),
  },
);

if (!response.ok) {
  throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status} ${response.statusText}`);
}

const { results } = await response.json();

const context = results.map((result) => {
  const metadata = result.metadata;
  const source = metadata.portion_public_url || metadata.public_url;

  return [
    `Title: ${metadata.title}`,
    `Source: ${source}`,
    `Text: ${result.content.text}`,
  ].join("\n");
});

console.log(context.join("\n\n"));

Python

import requests

TOKEN = "<YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN>"
KB_CODE = "legislation-za-municipal"

response = requests.post(
    f"https://api.laws.africa/ai/v1/knowledge-bases/{KB_CODE}/retrieve",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {TOKEN}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "text": "dog ownership cape town",
        "top_k": 5,
        "filters": {
            "principal": True,
            "repealed": False,
            "frbr_place": "za-cpt",
        },
    },
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()

results = response.json()["results"]

context = []
for result in results:
    metadata = result["metadata"]
    context.append(
        "\n".join(
            [
                f"Title: {metadata.get('title')}",
                f"Source: {metadata.get('portion_public_url') or metadata.get('public_url')}",
                f"Text: {result['content']['text']}",
            ]
        )
    )

print("\n\n".join(context))

Go

package main

import (
	"bytes"
	"encoding/json"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"log"
	"net/http"
	"strings"
	"time"
)

const (
	token  = "<YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN>"
	kbCode = "legislation-za-municipal"
)

type retrieveResponse struct {
	Results []struct {
		Content struct {
			Text string `json:"text"`
		} `json:"content"`
		Metadata struct {
			Title            string `json:"title"`
			PortionPublicURL string `json:"portion_public_url"`
			PublicURL        string `json:"public_url"`
		} `json:"metadata"`
	} `json:"results"`
}

func main() {
	payload := map[string]any{
		"text":  "dog ownership cape town",
		"top_k": 5,
		"filters": map[string]any{
			"principal": true,
			"repealed":  false,
			"frbr_place": "za-cpt",
		},
	}

	body, err := json.Marshal(payload)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	url := fmt.Sprintf(
		"https://api.laws.africa/ai/v1/knowledge-bases/%s/retrieve",
		kbCode,
	)
	request, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodPost, url, bytes.NewReader(body))
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	request.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+token)
	request.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

	client := &http.Client{Timeout: 30 * time.Second}
	response, err := client.Do(request)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer response.Body.Close()

	if response.StatusCode < 200 || response.StatusCode >= 300 {
		message, _ := io.ReadAll(response.Body)
		log.Fatalf("request failed: %s: %s", response.Status, message)
	}

	var data retrieveResponse
	if err := json.NewDecoder(response.Body).Decode(&data); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	context := make([]string, 0, len(data.Results))
	for _, result := range data.Results {
		source := result.Metadata.PortionPublicURL
		if source == "" {
			source = result.Metadata.PublicURL
		}

		context = append(context, fmt.Sprintf(
			"Title: %s\nSource: %s\nText: %s",
			result.Metadata.Title,
			source,
			result.Content.Text,
		))
	}

	fmt.Println(strings.Join(context, "\n\n"))
}

C#

using System.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.Net.Http.Json;
using System.Text.Json;

const string token = "<YOUR_AUTH_TOKEN>";
const string kbCode = "legislation-za-municipal";

using var client = new HttpClient
{
    Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30),
};
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization =
    new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", token);

var payload = new
{
    text = "dog ownership cape town",
    top_k = 5,
    filters = new
    {
        principal = true,
        repealed = false,
        frbr_place = "za-cpt",
    },
};

using var response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync(
    $"https://api.laws.africa/ai/v1/knowledge-bases/{kbCode}/retrieve",
    payload
);
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();

using var document = JsonDocument.Parse(
    await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync()
);

var context = new List<string>();
foreach (var result in document.RootElement.GetProperty("results").EnumerateArray())
{
    var metadata = result.GetProperty("metadata");

    string? source = null;
    if (
        metadata.TryGetProperty("portion_public_url", out var portionUrl)
        && portionUrl.ValueKind == JsonValueKind.String
    )
    {
        source = portionUrl.GetString();
    }

    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(source))
    {
        source = metadata.GetProperty("public_url").GetString();
    }

    context.Add(
        $"Title: {metadata.GetProperty("title").GetString()}\n"
        + $"Source: {source}\n"
        + $"Text: {result.GetProperty("content").GetProperty("text").GetString()}"
    );
}

Console.WriteLine(string.Join("\n\n", context));

Pass this context into your search interface, RAG prompt or agent response with the user's question. Always include source URLs so users can inspect the legal material.

Next steps

• Learn the main Knowledge Base concepts.

• Apply filters for more precise legislation results.

• Use results in RAG, search and agent workflows.