MyPropLex - Malaysian Property Law Research Assistant

📋 Project Overview & Problem Statement

Challenge: Malaysian property lawyers and conveyancing clerks spend 2–4 hours every working day on manual legal research — searching case law databases, reading legislation updates, and cross-checking multiple sources before advising a single client. This is slow, expensive, and error-prone.

Solution: MyPropLex is an AI-powered research assistant that specialises exclusively in Malaysian property law. It searches the web for relevant legislation, case law, and legal updates, then delivers a clear, cited answer in plain language — in under 2 minutes.

Key Benefits

Cuts research time from hours to minutes — lawyers get cited answers without manual database searching
Plain language output — every answer is limited to 3 sentences: direct answer, legal basis, and one key caveat
Always cites sources — act name, section number, or case reference included in every response
Covers all major property acts — NLC, HDA, STA, RPGT Act, RERA, Contracts Act, and more
10 preset questions — new users can get answers instantly without knowing what to ask

🖥️ Application Features

⚖️ Legal Question Answering

Ask any Malaysian property law question in plain English. The assistant searches current legislation and case law, then replies with a 3-sentence cited answer — no jargon.

🔍 Live Web Search

Powered by Tavily Search API, the assistant fetches real-time results from the AG Chambers website, Bar Council publications, CommonLII, and Malaysian legal journals.

📋 10 Preset Questions

New users see 10 common property law questions in the sidebar. One click sends the question — no typing needed. Covers NLC transfers, RPGT, HDA obligations, MOT requirements, and more.

📥 Copy & Download

Every answer has a one-click copy button. The full conversation can be downloaded as a .txt file for record-keeping or sharing with colleagues.

🧠 Conversation Memory

The assistant remembers earlier questions in the same session, so lawyers can ask follow-up questions without repeating context. Session resets with one click.

🌐 Web Interface

Built with Streamlit — accessible from any browser with no installation needed. Navy and gold color scheme designed for a professional legal tool feel.

Malaysian Property Acts Covered

National Land Code

HDA 1966

Strata Titles Act

RPGT Act

RERA

Contracts Act

Specific Relief Act

Land Acquisition Act

🤖 AI Integration & Intelligence

🧠 Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic)

The core reasoning engine. Claude reads Tavily search results, cross-references relevant acts, and synthesises a 3-sentence answer with citations. It is instructed to flag recent amendments and avoid giving formal legal opinions.

🔎 Agentic Search Loop

Uses the Anthropic tool-use API in a ReAct loop — Claude decides what to search, calls the search tool, reads results, and repeats until it has enough information to answer confidently.

📝 Niche System Prompt

The system prompt restricts Claude to Malaysian property law only, enforces the 3-sentence format, and requires plain language free of legal jargon. This is what makes responses consistently useful to non-lawyers too.

⚡ Targeted Search Sources

Tavily is instructed to prioritise agc.gov.my (AG Chambers), malaysianbar.org.my (Bar Council), commonlii.org (case law), and Malaysian legal journals — giving higher-quality results than generic web search.

🛠️ Technical Architecture & Implementation

Frontend Stack

Streamlit 1.32+ Custom CSS (Navy + Gold theme) HTML Components

Backend Stack

Python 3.10+ Anthropic SDK Tavily Python SDK python-dotenv

Deployment

Streamlit Community Cloud Local (Windows .bat launcher)

System Architecture

Agent loop: User message → Claude API (with tools) → Tavily search tool called if needed → Claude synthesises → answer returned
Session state: Streamlit session_state maintains both display messages and raw API conversation history separately
Secret management: Reads from Streamlit secrets on Cloud; falls back to .env file for local use
Dual interface: CLI version (app.py) and web version (web_app.py) share the same agent logic

📖 Development Setup & Installation Guide

Prerequisites

Python 3.10+ with pip
Anthropic API Key from console.anthropic.com
Tavily API Key from app.tavily.com (free tier available)

Quick Start

# Clone from portfolio
git clone https://github.com/lyven81/ai-project.git
cd ai-project/projects/myproplex

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Set up API keys
copy .env.example .env
# Edit .env and add your ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and TAVILY_API_KEY

# Run web interface
streamlit run web_app.py

# Or run CLI version
python app.py
        

Environment Configuration

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_anthropic_api_key_here
TAVILY_API_KEY=your_tavily_api_key_here
        

Windows One-Click Launch

Double-click run_web.bat to launch the web interface in your browser
Double-click run.bat to launch the CLI terminal version
Both bat files auto-install required packages on first run

🚀 Deployment on Streamlit Community Cloud

# 1. Push project to GitHub
# 2. Go to share.streamlit.io and connect your repo
# 3. Set main file as: web_app.py
# 4. Add secrets in the Streamlit dashboard:
#    ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "your_key"
#    TAVILY_API_KEY = "your_key"
# 5. Deploy — live URL generated automatically
        

Production Notes

Free tier on Streamlit Community Cloud is sufficient for demos and small client groups
API costs are approximately RM0.05–RM0.15 per research session (Claude + Tavily)
For commercial deployment, consider rate-limiting and per-user session isolation

📊 Key Metrics

8

Property Acts Covered

10

Preset Questions

3

Sentences Max Per Answer

< 2 min

Research Time Per Query

Business Value

Time savings: Cuts 2–4 hours of daily manual research to under 2 minutes per query
Monetisation potential: RM300–RM800/month per firm subscription
Reduces risk: Flags recent amendments and cites sources, reducing the chance of acting on outdated law
Accessible to non-lawyers: Plain language mode makes findings usable by clients and property developers directly

⚖️ MyPropLex