Use with Claude Desktop and Cowork¶
A skill teaches an assistant how to use bharat-judgements. It does not by itself connect a Desktop chat to the Python installed on your computer.
Docker MCP connection¶
A local Docker MCP server is now included. Follow Docker MCP setup to connect supported local assistants and verify their tools before researching cases.
01 / Choose an execution route¶
For a local assistant that can run your installed commands, start with Claude Code. For Desktop chat or Cowork, first establish which environment will execute Python, whether packages can be installed there, and whether it can reach court portals and AWS.
If the session cannot run the tool, use the local command-line route below. It works without a custom assistant integration.
02 / Install and verify locally¶
With Python 3.11 or newer, run:
python -m pip install "bharat-judgements[cli,ocr,archive]"
bharat-judgements version
bharat-judgements --json courts --type hc
These checks run offline. They verify the local install, not an assistant connection. For installation problems, see the installation guide.
03 / Use the bundled skill where supported¶
From a folder you control, generate the bundle:
The files appear in .claude/skills/bharat-judgements/. Review its SKILL.md before using it. Keep local changes separately because reinstalling overwrites bundled files.
Account-enabled skills and local project skills are loaded differently. Follow Anthropic's current skill instructions for your surface and account. Anthropic's Cowork guidance describes the current environment. Do not assume that enabling a skill makes a host-installed command available in the session.
Before a real query, ask the assistant to execute bharat-judgements version in its own environment. If it cannot, use the fallback below rather than treating a generated answer as a fetched record.
04 / A local fallback¶
Run the query yourself and save its output:
bharat-judgements --json archive query --court sci --judge chandrachud --year 2018-2024 --limit 10 > judgments.json
Open the file, check its contents, and share the records you want Claude to read. This query uses the historical archive and needs network access. It may return no matching records.
Example prompt after sharing the file:
Organise these fetched records by decision date. Include each identifier and source. Do not invent missing details or summarise the judgment's reasoning unless I provide the PDF.
Check the connection¶
A working setup should show an actual tool invocation, a successful command result, and records or an explicit empty result. A skill name in a chat is not proof that a query ran.
Continue with example prompts, other assistant workflows, or the FAQ.