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 Python.

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      "repealed": false,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For legislation queries, start with principal: true and repealed: false so results prefer current principal legislation rather than amendment notices or repealed works.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

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.