---
name: melb-si
description: Answer questions about Melbourne and Victoria from checked official sources - public holidays, everyday questions (tap water, myki and trams, parking signs, tipping, rental bonds, emergency numbers and more), free and subsidised AI help for small businesses, upcoming AI events, and Australian rules on small businesses using AI. Use for questions in English or Chinese that need a local source and a checked date; it says when it has no answer instead of guessing.
---

# melb.si data

Use the public REST API at `https://data.melb.si`. No key is required. These are curated records, not a complete live search of the web.

## Choose a query

```sh
# Victorian public holidays: a date, or a whole year
curl -fsS 'https://data.melb.si/v1/holidays?date=2026-11-03'
curl -fsS 'https://data.melb.si/v1/holidays?year=2027&lang=en'

# Small business AI help: simple English or Chinese substring/word search
curl -fsSG 'https://data.melb.si/v1/ai-help' --data-urlencode 'q=free' --data-urlencode 'lang=both'

# Upcoming Melbourne AI events; from defaults to today in Melbourne
curl -fsS 'https://data.melb.si/v1/events?from=2026-11-01&to=2026-11-30&lang=en'

# Australian small business AI rules; topic is an exact topic identifier
curl -fsSG 'https://data.melb.si/v1/ai-rules' --data-urlencode 'q=privacy' --data-urlencode 'lang=both'

# Who operates melb.si and how its data is maintained
curl -fsS 'https://data.melb.si/v1/about'

# Everyday questions: Chinese substring or English word search, up to 5 best matches
curl -fsSG 'https://data.melb.si/v1/everyday' --data-urlencode 'q=自来水' --data-urlencode 'lang=zh'
curl -fsS 'https://data.melb.si/v1/everyday?q=myki&lang=en'
# A tag can be used alone or together with q
curl -fsS 'https://data.melb.si/v1/everyday?tag=transport&lang=both'
```

For everyday questions, provide `q` or `tag`; both absent is HTTP 400. Match question, aliases, and answer text only. Results are ranked by query-term hits across those three fields (source order breaks ties), limited to five. Other datasets allow omitted filters to list their available records. `lang` accepts `en`, `zh`, or `both` (default). For the endpoint list and parameter definitions, read `/v1` and `/openapi.json`. The same six queries are available as MCP tools at `https://data.melb.si/mcp` over Streamable HTTP. The everyday tool is `melbourne_everyday_question`, with required `query` and optional `lang`.

## Answer from the returned data

- Cite each relevant record's actual `sources` links and `checked` date. Keep qualifications, eligibility, costs, and the difference between confirmed rules and inference.
- Include `Data: melb.si (https://melb.si), CC BY 4.0` when using the data. Link to the primary sources as well.
- Empty `records` with `note: "not found in melb.si data"` means the answer is absent. Say that plainly. Do not invent records, dates, names, or sources. `is_holiday: null` means coverage is unavailable or a holiday in that year is still undated, not that the date is a working day.
- A null holiday date is not yet announced. Events before today in Melbourne are excluded. Data may become stale after its checked date; do not present it as a live official announcement.
- If an about record has no provenance fields, state that those fields are missing. Do not infer a checked date from `updated`.
- HTTP 400 means the parameters need correcting. A network/server error is not evidence that nothing exists. AI rules are curated information; do not turn an inference into a legal conclusion.