\U0001f1e8\U0001f1ed Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

\U0001f48a bag-epl-mcp

MCP Server for the Swiss BAG electronic benefits platform (ePL) — Spezialitaetenliste, GGSL, MiGeL

\U0001f1e9\U0001f1ea Deutsche Version

Demo

Overview

bag-epl-mcp enables AI models to answer questions about mandatory health insurance coverage in Switzerland — in natural language, grounded in real data.

Anchor query: "Is this medication covered by mandatory health insurance?" → epl_sl_suche: Live lookup in the Spezialitaetenliste (SL) → More use cases by audience →

Features

• \U0001f48a 6 tools, 2 resources, 2 prompts for Swiss health insurance data
• \U0001f50d epl_sl_suche — search the Spezialitaetenliste for medications
• ⚖️ epl_rechtskontext — legal context with Fedlex links
• \U0001f513 No API key required — all data publicly accessible
• ☁️ Dual transport — stdio (Claude Desktop) + Streamable HTTP (cloud)
• \U0001f4da Prompt templates for insurance coverage checks and school health queries

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv (recommended) or pip

Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/bag-epl-mcp.git
cd bag-epl-mcp

# Install
pip install -e .
# or with uv:
uv pip install -e .

Or with uvx (no permanent installation):

uvx bag-epl-mcp

Quickstart

# stdio (for Claude Desktop) — default, opens no network ports
python -m bag_epl_mcp.server

# Streamable HTTP (cloud) — transport selected via env var
MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 MCP_PORT=8000 \
  pip install -e ".[http]" && python -m bag_epl_mcp.server

Transport & host are configured exclusively via environment variables (MCP_TRANSPORT, MCP_HOST, MCP_PORT). The default is stdio bound to nothing; MCP_HOST defaults to 127.0.0.1 and should only be set to 0.0.0.0 inside a container/cloud environment.

Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:

"Is Methylphenidate (Ritalin) covered by mandatory health insurance?" "Which laws regulate admission to the Spezialitaetenliste?" "Is a wheelchair covered by mandatory insurance?"

Configuration

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bag-epl": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "bag_epl_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

Or with uvx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bag-epl": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["bag-epl-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cloud Deployment (Streamable HTTP for browser access)

Render.com (recommended):

1. Push/fork the repository to GitHub
2. On render.com: New Web Service → connect GitHub repo
3. Build command: pip install -e ".[http]"
4. Set the following environment variables:
   • MCP_TRANSPORT=streamable-http
   • MCP_HOST=0.0.0.0 (required so the container accepts external traffic)
   • MCP_PORT=8000 (or Render's $PORT)
   • (optional) MCP_CORS_ORIGINS='["https://claude.ai"]' to extend the browser CORS allow-list
   • (optional) OpenTelemetry tracing is on by default but a no-op unless the tracing deps are installed — build with pip install -e ".[http,otel]" and point OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT at your collector. Set MCP_OTEL_ENABLED=0 to disable.
5. Start command: python -m bag_epl_mcp.server
6. In claude.ai under Settings → MCP Servers, add: https://your-app.onrender.com/mcp

Security note: the server exposes only public, read-only data and uses no authentication. See docs/SECURITY.md for the threat model (egress allow-list, host binding, Lethal-Trifecta assessment).

Available Tools

Example Use Cases

Architecture

Data flow (Phase 1):

                         bag-epl-mcp (FastMCP)
 ┌────────────┐   MCP   ┌───────────────────────────────┐   HTTPS GET  ┌──────────────────┐
 │ MCP Client │◀───────▶│  tools (read-only)            │─────────────▶│ sl.bag.admin.ch  │
 │ (Claude    │ stdio / │   ├─ epl_sl_suche             │  egress      │ www.bag.admin.ch │
 │  Desktop,  │ Stream- │   ├─ epl_ggsl_abfrage         │  allow-list  │ www.fedlex...    │
 │  claude.ai)│ able    │   ├─ epl_migel_suche          │◀─────────────│ (public OGD)     │
 │            │ HTTP    │   ├─ epl_gesuchseingaenge     │  (no auth)   └──────────────────┘
 │            │         │   ├─ epl_rechtskontext        │
 │            │         │   └─ epl_server_info          │   structured JSON logs → stderr
 └────────────┘         │  resources: epl://uebersicht …│
                        │  prompts:   epl_kassenpflicht…│
                        └───────────────────────────────┘

Phase roadmap (details in docs/ROADMAP.md):

Phase 1 (current)  → legal context + entry points, no data retrieval
Phase 2 (planned)  → FHIR/IDMP API, once publicly accessible
Phase 3 (vision)   → MiGeL + AL via ePL-FHIR

What Phase 1 does, and what it does not. Five of the six tools make no network request at all — there is exactly one outgoing HTTP call in the whole module. They return the legal basis and an entry point, and they now say so. The previous wording, "XML/XLSX downloads + SL website access", advertised a capability with no code path behind it; on 2026-08-08 it was removed rather than implemented, because the underlying source is not machine-readable.

That one HTTP call goes to sl.bag.admin.ch/api/search and receives HTTP 200 with text/html — the 51 KB Angular shell. A freely invented path under the same prefix returns the identical response, byte for byte: there is no API at that address. Previously the resulting JSON parse error was caught by a bare except Exception and turned into the claim "the SL database API is not publicly documented" — a statement about the BAG's publishing practice, derived from a parser error. The tool now reports what was measured.

The SL front end calls https://epl.bag.admin.ch/api/sl/ instead, on a different host. That host answers 401 without authentication — but it answers 401 for invented paths too, so this does not establish that any particular route exists. It is deliberately not on the egress allow-list: without verifiable access, adding it would be a grant on suspicion.

MCP protocol version: 2025-11-25 (surfaced via epl_server_info) — the initialize handshake ceiling, derived from the SDK rather than written down here a second time. See MCP Protocol Version for both eras. SDK updates are proposed monthly via Dependabot; the protocol version is reviewed on every mcp SDK bump — see the versioning policy in docs/ROADMAP.md.

Safety & Limits