# Glossary A reference for the domain concepts and project-specific terms used throughout `lobbyregister-cli`. The Lobbyregister domain is German; this glossary gives the term used in the CLI/API alongside the original German where one exists. > **Scope.** This tool wraps a single open endpoint — the JSON search of the > German Lobbyregister (`/sucheJson`). The terms below are the ones actually > surfaced by the client's types, the search parameters and the two CLI > commands. The register entries themselves are large, schema-versioned JSON > documents that the client passes through untyped (see **RegisterEntry**), so > their internal field names are deliberately *not* enumerated here. --- ## The Lobbyregister **Lobbyregister.** The public German federal **register of interest representatives** ("Lobbyisten") who lobby the Bundestag (the federal parliament) and the federal government. Operated by the German Bundestag and published at [`lobbyregister.bundestag.de`](https://www.lobbyregister.bundestag.de/). **Interest representative (Interessenvertreter).** A person or organisation registered in the Lobbyregister. Each is described by one **register entry**. **Lobbyregistergesetz (LobbyRG).** The German Lobby Register Act, the legal basis that mandates the register and its public disclosure. (Background only — not a field the client reads.) --- ## Resource & endpoint **`/sucheJson`.** The single open (no-auth) endpoint this client calls: a JSON search over the register, served from the base URL `https://www.lobbyregister.bundestag.de`. `getJson` issues a `GET` against it. The human-facing equivalent is the website's search page; the response echoes that page's URL in `searchUrl`. **Open data / read-only.** The `/sucheJson` endpoint requires no API key, no token and no login. This client implements **only** this read-only `GET`; it never writes. --- ## Search request **`q` (query).** The free-text query string. Optional — an absent or empty `q` returns the whole register. On the CLI it is the positional `[query]` argument to `search` and `count`. A query beginning with a dash must be passed after a `--` separator (e.g. `search -- -Energie`). The server also matches text that the response doesn't contain (such as the activity description on an entry's register page), so an entry can match without the term appearing anywhere in its JSON. **`sort`.** The result sort order, passed through verbatim and **not** validated client-side. Observed values: `RELEVANCE_DESC` (default relevance ranking), `REGISTRATION_DESC` (newest registrations first) and `REGISTRATION_ASC` (oldest first). The live endpoint silently ignores an unrecognised value (HTTP `200`) rather than rejecting it. CLI: `search --sort `. **`page` / `pageSize`.** A 1-based page number and a page size. These exist in `SearchParams`, but a live probe (2026-06) showed `/sucheJson` **ignores** them: it always returns the full `results` array regardless. The CLI therefore applies `--page` / `--page-size` **client-side**, slicing the returned array; the reported `resultCount` is always the true total. CLI: `search --page --page-size `. --- ## Search response **SearchResult (the envelope).** The typed top-level shape returned by `/sucheJson`: `resultCount` plus the `results` array, with optional metadata fields (`$schema`, `source`, `sourceUrl`, `sourceDate`, `jsonDocumentationUrl`, `searchUrl`, `searchParameters`). **`resultCount`.** The total number of register entries matching the query — the *true* total, independent of how many entries are actually returned or sliced. This is the single number reported by the `count` command. **`results`.** The array of matching register entries (each a **RegisterEntry**). **RegisterEntry.** One register entry — a registered interest representative. Typed as a raw `JsonObject` (a faithful, untyped JSON document) because entries are large and schema-versioned; the client does not guess their internal shape. **`$schema`.** A URL naming the JSON Schema that each `results` entry conforms to (the register's published, versioned document schema). **`source` / `sourceUrl` / `sourceDate`.** Provenance metadata for the data set: its name, a canonical URL, and the date it was produced. **`searchUrl`.** The human-facing search-page URL that corresponds to the same query, suitable for opening in a browser. **`searchParameters`.** The parameters the server interpreted for this search, echoed back as a JSON object. **`jsonDocumentationUrl`.** A URL to the documentation of the JSON response format. --- ## CLI commands **`search [query]`.** Run a search and print the full **SearchResult** envelope. `--results-only` prints just the `results` array; `--compact` prints single-line JSON. Supports `--page`, `--page-size`, `--sort` (see above). **`count [query]`.** Print only the match count: `{ query, resultCount }`. A thin wrapper over `search` with `pageSize: 1` that reads back `resultCount`. Takes only the optional query plus the global options. --- ## Exit codes **Exit codes.** The CLI maps outcomes to process exit codes: `0` success; `2` usage / argument-validation errors (unknown/missing command, unknown option, invalid option value, or no command given); `4` on `404` from the API; `1` for any other error (network, parse, or other non-404 HTTP status). A `400` exits `1` and prints the API's error detail; only when the API sends no detail does the CLI add a hint to check `--sort`. `--help` / `--version` return `0`. --- > **Library & internals.** Terms for the TypeScript client and its internals — > `LobbyregisterClient`, the request engine, transport, retry/backoff, error > types, query builder, redirect behaviour — now live in **[DEVELOPING.md](DEVELOPING.md)**.