# Murphy's Law Archive — Full Reference for LLMs

> A public archive of 1500+ Murphy's Laws, corollaries, and variations organized into 55 thematic categories. All content is freely accessible via a REST API with no authentication required for read operations.

## MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server is available for direct integration with LLM hosts like Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, and Cursor.

### Tools Available

- `search_laws` — Search laws by keyword with optional category filter
- `get_random_law` — Get a random law
- `get_law_of_the_day` — Get today's featured law
- `get_law` — Get a specific law by ID
- `list_categories` — List all categories with slugs and law counts
- `get_laws_by_category` — Browse laws in a specific category
- `submit_law` — Submit a new law for review (not published until approved)

### Installation (Claude Desktop)

Add to `claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "murphys-laws": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "murphys-laws-mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

## REST API

Base URL: https://murphys-laws.com

### GET /api/v1/laws — List and search laws

Parameters:
- `limit` (int, 1-25, default 25) — Number of results
- `offset` (int, default 0) — Pagination offset
- `q` (string) — Full-text search query
- `category_slug` (string) — Filter by category slug
- `attribution` (string) — Filter by attribution name
- `sort` (string: score|upvotes|created_at|last_voted_at, default score)
- `order` (string: asc|desc, default desc)

Example request: GET /api/v1/laws?q=computer&limit=2

Example response:
```json
{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 2055,
      "title": null,
      "text": "If it's not in the computer, it doesn't exist.",
      "attributions": [],
      "upvotes": 3,
      "downvotes": 0,
      "score": 3
    },
    {
      "id": 489,
      "title": "Murphy's First Law of Computers",
      "text": "When you finally find a solution, the original problem has changed.",
      "attributions": [{"name": "Nadine", "note": null}],
      "upvotes": 1,
      "downvotes": 0,
      "score": 1
    }
  ],
  "total": 39,
  "limit": 2,
  "offset": 0
}
```

### GET /api/v1/laws/:id — Get a single law

Example request: GET /api/v1/laws/1

Example response:
```json
{
  "id": 1,
  "title": "Alder's razor (Newton's flaming laser sword)",
  "text": "What cannot be settled by experiment is not worth debating.",
  "attributions": [],
  "upvotes": 0,
  "downvotes": 0,
  "category_ids": [23],
  "category_id": 23,
  "category_slug": "murphys-laws",
  "category_name": "Murphy's Laws"
}
```

### GET /api/v1/laws/random — Random law

Returns a single randomly selected published law. Same response shape as GET /api/v1/laws/:id.

### GET /api/v1/law-of-day — Law of the Day

Returns today's featured law (selected daily based on popularity, not repeated within 365 days).

Example response:
```json
{
  "law": {
    "id": 42,
    "title": "Parkinson's Law of Delay",
    "text": "Every bureaucracy tends to delay action until the deadline arrives.",
    "attributions": [{"name": "C. Northcote Parkinson", "note": null}],
    "upvotes": 15,
    "downvotes": 3
  },
  "featured_date": "2026-04-08"
}
```

### GET /api/v1/categories — List categories

Example response:
```json
[
  {"id": 1, "slug": "murphys-laws", "title": "Murphy's Laws", "description": "The foundational laws...", "law_count": 228},
  {"id": 2, "slug": "murphys-computers-laws", "title": "Murphy's Computer Laws", "description": "Digital doom...", "law_count": 182}
]
```

### GET /api/v1/categories/:id — Single category

Returns category details by ID.

### POST /api/v1/laws — Submit a new law

Rate limited: 5 submissions/hour per IP.

Request body:
```json
{
  "text": "The law text (required, 10-1000 chars)",
  "title": "Optional title",
  "author": "Optional author name",
  "email": "Optional author email",
  "category_id": 1
}
```

Response (201):
```json
{
  "id": 1234,
  "title": "Optional title",
  "text": "The law text",
  "status": "in_review",
  "message": "Law submitted successfully and is pending review"
}
```

### GET /api/v1/feed.rss — RSS 2.0 feed

Standard RSS feed of recent laws and the law of the day.

### GET /api/v1/feed.atom — Atom 1.0 feed

Standard Atom feed of recent laws and the law of the day.

### GET /api/v1/openapi.json — OpenAPI 3.0.3 spec

Machine-readable API definition.

## Category Slugs

Complete list of category slugs for use with the `category_slug` parameter:

murphys-laws, murphys-love-laws, murphys-war-laws, murphys-computers-laws,
murphys-miscellaneous-laws, murphys-technology-laws, murphys-commerce-laws,
murphys-music-laws, murphys-teaching-laws, murphys-emt-laws,
murphys-cowboy-action-shooting-laws, murphys-nurses-laws,
murphys-photography-laws, murphys-military-police-laws,
murphys-employees-laws, murphys-cops-laws, murphys-office-laws,
murphys-volunteer-bushfire-brigade-laws, murphys-toddlers-laws,
murphys-bus-laws, murphys-cars-laws, murphys-cars-open-road-laws,
murphys-graphic-design-laws, murphys-jagged-alliance-2-laws,
murphys-sewing-laws, murphys-horse-laws, murphys-college-student-laws,
murphys-cars-4x4-laws, murphys-real-estate-laws,
murphys-transformers-laws, murphys-game-mastering-laws,
murphys-lotto-laws, murphys-fighting-airplanes-laws,
murphys-martial-arts-laws, murphys-travel-laws, murphys-golf-laws,
murphys-political-laws, murphys-role-playing-by-internet-message-board-laws,
murphys-desert-war-laws, murphys-mothers-laws,
murphys-unformatted-character-sheets-laws, murphys-alarm-clock-laws,
murphys-mechanics-laws, murphys-scouting-laws, murphys-tv-laws,
murphys-elevator-laws, murphys-printing-laws, murphys-microbiology-laws,
murphys-rental-laws, murphys-tanks-war-laws, murphys-helicopters-war-laws,
murphys-sport-laws, murphys-repairmen-laws, murphys-marine-corp-laws,
murphys-gravity-laws

## Content Pages

- [Browse all laws](https://murphys-laws.com/browse)
- [Browse by category](https://murphys-laws.com/categories)
- [Origin of Murphy's Law](https://murphys-laws.com/origin-story)
- [Notable examples](https://murphys-laws.com/examples)
- [About the archive](https://murphys-laws.com/about)