Deployment¶

Deployment Options¶

legal-peripherals-mcp exposes its MCP server (console script legal-peripherals-mcp) four ways. Pick the row that matches where the server runs relative to your MCP client, then copy the matching mcp_config.json below. Replace the <your-…> placeholders with the values from the Configuration / Environment Variables section.

#	Option	Transport	Where it runs	`mcp_config.json` key
1	stdio	`stdio`	client launches a subprocess	`command`
2	Streamable-HTTP (local)	`streamable-http`	a local network port	`command` or `url`
3	Local container / uv	`stdio` or `streamable-http`	Docker / Podman / uv on this host	`command` or `url`
4	Remote URL	`streamable-http`	a remote host behind Caddy	`url`

1. stdio (local subprocess)¶

The client launches the server over stdio via uvx — best for local IDEs (Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-peripherals-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "legal-peripherals-mcp", "legal-peripherals-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_BASE_URL": "<your-legal_peripherals_base_url>",
        "LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_TOKEN": "<your-legal_peripherals_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Streamable-HTTP (local process)¶

Run the server as a long-lived HTTP process:

uvx --from legal-peripherals-mcp legal-peripherals-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000
curl -s http://localhost:8000/health        # {"status":"OK"}

Then either let the client launch it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-peripherals-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "legal-peripherals-mcp", "legal-peripherals-mcp", "--transport", "streamable-http", "--port", "8000"],
      "env": {
        "TRANSPORT": "streamable-http",
        "HOST": "0.0.0.0",
        "PORT": "8000",
        "LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_BASE_URL": "<your-legal_peripherals_base_url>",
        "LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_TOKEN": "<your-legal_peripherals_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}

…or connect to the already-running process by URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-peripherals-mcp": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" }
  }
}

3. Local container / uv¶

(a) Launch a container directly from mcp_config.json (stdio over the container — no ports to manage). Swap docker for podman for a daemonless runtime:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-peripherals-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "TRANSPORT=stdio",
        "-e", "LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_BASE_URL=<your-legal_peripherals_base_url>",
        "-e", "LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_TOKEN=<your-legal_peripherals_token>",
        "knucklessg1/legal-peripherals-mcp:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

(b) Run a local streamable-http container, then connect by URL:

docker run -d --name legal-peripherals-mcp -p 8000:8000 \
  -e TRANSPORT=streamable-http \
  -e PORT=8000 \
  -e LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_BASE_URL="<your-legal_peripherals_base_url>" \
  -e LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_TOKEN="<your-legal_peripherals_token>" \
  knucklessg1/legal-peripherals-mcp:latest
# or, from a clone of this repo:
docker compose -f docker/mcp.compose.yml up -d

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-peripherals-mcp": { "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp" }
  }
}

(c) From a local checkout with uv:

uv run legal-peripherals-mcp --transport streamable-http --port 8000

4. Remote URL (deployed behind Caddy)¶

When the server is deployed remotely (e.g. as a Docker service) and published through Caddy on the internal *.arpa zone, connect with the "url" key — no local process or image required:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal-peripherals-mcp": { "url": "http://legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa/mcp" }
  }
}

Caddy reverse-proxies http://legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa to the container's :8000 streamable-http listener; http://legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa/health returns {"status":"OK"} when the service is live.

This page covers running legal-peripherals-mcp as a long-lived server: the transports, a Docker Compose stack, the optional agent server, putting it behind a Caddy reverse proxy, and giving it a DNS name with Technitium.

legal-peripherals-mcp ships an MCP server (console script legal-peripherals-mcp) and an optional Pydantic-AI agent server (console script legal-peripherals-agent). The MCP server is a typed, deterministic tool surface a policy router / agent calls; the agent server wraps that surface for conversational use.

Run the MCP server¶

The transport is selected with --transport (or the TRANSPORT env var):

stdio (default)streamable-httpsse

legal-peripherals-mcp

For IDE / desktop MCP clients that launch the server as a subprocess.

legal-peripherals-mcp --transport streamable-http --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

A network server with a /health endpoint and /mcp route.

legal-peripherals-mcp --transport sse --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000

Health check (HTTP transports):

curl -s http://localhost:8000/health        # {"status":"OK"}

Configuration (environment)¶

legal-peripherals-mcp is configured entirely from the environment. The required set:

Var	Default	Meaning
`SOSTOOL`	`True`	Register the `sos_entity_lookup` tool
`EINTOOL`	`True`	Register the `draft_ein_form` tool
`STATUTETOOL`	`True`	Register the `lookup_statute_rules` tool
`BYPASS_IRS_FILING_HOURS`	`False`	Bypass the IRS active-hours restriction (development only)
`LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_BASE_URL`	`http://localhost:8000`	Base URL of the backing legal-peripherals API
`LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_TOKEN`	(empty)	Bearer credential for the backing API
`LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_SSL_VERIFY`	`True`	Verify TLS on backing requests

Plus HOST / PORT / TRANSPORT for HTTP transports. Copy .env.example to .env and populate only what you use; the connector remains inactive against the backing API when LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_TOKEN is absent.

Docker Compose¶

The repo ships docker/compose.yml. It publishes the HTTP server on :8000:

services:
  legal-peripherals-mcp:
    image: knucklessg1/legal-peripherals-mcp:latest
    container_name: legal-peripherals-mcp
    hostname: legal-peripherals-mcp
    restart: always
    environment:
      - PYTHONUNBUFFERED=1
      - TRANSPORT=streamable-http
      - HOST=0.0.0.0
      - PORT=8000
      - SOSTOOL=True
      - EINTOOL=True
      - STATUTETOOL=True
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
    healthcheck:
      test: ["CMD", "python3", "-c", "import urllib.request; urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:8000/health')"]
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

cp .env.example .env          # then edit the LEGAL_PERIPHERALS_* values
docker compose -f docker/compose.yml up -d
docker compose -f docker/compose.yml logs -f

Agent server¶

The agent server (legal-peripherals-agent) wraps the MCP tool surface in a Pydantic-AI agent with an optional web UI. It connects to a running MCP server via --mcp-url (or loads tools directly from mcp_config.json):

pip install "legal-peripherals-mcp[agent]"

legal-peripherals-agent \
  --mcp-url http://legal-peripherals-mcp:8000/mcp \
  --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8001 --web

The same published image runs the agent by overriding the entrypoint. Add a second service to your Compose stack that wires MCP_URL at the running MCP server:

  legal-peripherals-agent:
    image: knucklessg1/legal-peripherals-mcp:latest
    container_name: legal-peripherals-agent
    entrypoint: ["legal-peripherals-agent"]
    command: ["--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8001", "--mcp-url", "http://legal-peripherals-mcp:8000/mcp"]
    environment:
      - MCP_URL=http://legal-peripherals-mcp:8000/mcp
    depends_on:
      - legal-peripherals-mcp
    ports:
      - "8001:8001"

Behind a Caddy reverse proxy¶

Expose the HTTP server on a hostname with automatic TLS. Add to your Caddyfile:

# Internal (self-signed) — homelab .arpa zone
legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa {
    tls internal
    reverse_proxy legal-peripherals-mcp:8000
}

# Public — automatic Let's Encrypt
legal-peripherals-mcp.example.com {
    reverse_proxy legal-peripherals-mcp:8000
}

Reload Caddy:

docker compose -f services/caddy/compose.yml exec caddy caddy reload --config /etc/caddy/Caddyfile

DNS with Technitium¶

Point the hostname at the host running Caddy. Via the Technitium API:

curl -s "http://technitium.arpa:5380/api/zones/records/add" \
  --data-urlencode "token=$TECHNITIUM_DNS_TOKEN" \
  --data-urlencode "domain=legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa" \
  --data-urlencode "zone=arpa" \
  --data-urlencode "type=A" \
  --data-urlencode "ipAddress=10.0.0.10" \
  --data-urlencode "ttl=3600"

…or add an A record legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa → <caddy-host-ip> in the Technitium web console (http://technitium.arpa:5380). The ecosystem technitium-dns-mcp automates this as a tool.

Register with an MCP client¶

Add to your client's mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legal_peripherals_mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "legal-peripherals-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "SOSTOOL": "True",
        "EINTOOL": "True",
        "STATUTETOOL": "True"
      }
    }
  }
}

For a remote HTTP server, point the client at http://legal-peripherals-mcp.arpa/mcp instead.