CourtListener MCP Server: Setup for Claude, ChatGPT and Other Apps

• Searches case law, dockets, judges and oral arguments

  Runs the same search as courtlistener.com with filters such as court, date range, judge and citation. Results come back in pages.

  Try: “Find Supreme Court opinions about qualified immunity from the last five years.”

  Network · search

• Fetches one item by its CourtListener ID

  Returns a single opinion, docket, judge or other record when you have its ID.

  Try: “Get the details for opinion 123456.”

  Network · get_endpoint_item

• Pages through more results

  Fetches the next results from an earlier search or endpoint call.

  Try: “Show me the next page of results.”

  Network · get_more_results

• Gives the total result count for a query

  Returns the total number of results for an earlier query, since some counts are computed lazily.

  Try: “How many results did that search return in total?”

  Network · get_counts

• Reads the full text of an opinion or filing

  Returns an opinion or PACER document by opinion, document or cluster ID, either whole or in chunks. Cluster mode lists every opinion in the case with type and author.

  Try: “Read the main opinion in this case cluster.”

  Network · read_document

• Searches inside opinions or filings

  Does a case-insensitive literal search, like grep, across up to 10 documents and returns snippets with context around each match.

  Try: “Find where these two opinions mention "reasonable expectation of privacy".”

  Network · search_document

• Calls any CourtListener API endpoint

  Reads any CourtListener REST API endpoint with the query parameters you give. It covers data without its own tool, such as financial disclosures, parties and attorneys. The tool is marked read-only.

  Try: “List the financial disclosures for this judge.”

  Network · call_endpoint

• Shows the filters and fields of an API endpoint

  Returns the JSON schema for an endpoint so the assistant knows which filters and response fields exist.

  Try: “What filters does the dockets endpoint support?”

  Network · get_endpoint_schema

• Lists long choice values such as court IDs

  Returns the full list of values for fields whose choice lists are too long for the schema: court IDs, docket sources, position types and US states.

  Try: “What is the court ID for the Ninth Circuit?”

  Network · get_choices

• Pulls legal citations out of text

  Finds case, statute, id., supra and short citations in a block of text using eyecite. It runs on the server and makes no API calls.

  Try: “List every citation in this brief.”

  Read · extract_citations

• Extracts citations and checks them against CourtListener

  Extracts citations, then checks each unique case citation and returns the case name, court, date and a status of good, bad or ambiguous. Large jobs run in batches of about 250 and return a job ID.

  Try: “Verify every citation in this brief and flag any unknown ones.”

  Network · analyze_citations

• Continues a large citation check

  Verifies the remaining citations from an analyze_citations job that went over the per-call batch limit.

  Try: “Continue checking the rest of the citations.”

  Network · resume_citation_analysis

• Shows your API usage and limits

  Returns your remaining requests, daily request counts for the last 14 days and membership status. It has its own throttle, so it works when you are rate limited.

  Try: “How much of my CourtListener API quota have I used?”

  Network · get_api_usage

• Creates a search alert on your account

  Creates an email alert for a search with real-time, daily, weekly or monthly frequency. It changes your CourtListener account.

  Try: “Alert me daily about new filings mentioning "algorithmic discrimination".”

  Write · create_search_alert

• Deletes one of your search alerts

  Deletes a search alert by its ID.

  Try: “Delete my alert number 4821.”

  Delete · delete_search_alert

• Subscribes you to a docket by email

  Subscribes you to email updates for one docket. It changes your CourtListener account.

  Try: “Subscribe me to updates on this docket.”

  Write · subscribe_to_docket_alert

• Unsubscribes you from a docket alert

  Removes your email subscription to a docket.

  Try: “Unsubscribe me from this docket.”

  Delete · unsubscribe_from_docket_alert

• Requests a PACER filing that is not yet on CourtListener

  Records a Pray and Pay request for a filing by its document ID. It checks first whether the PDF is already available and points you to read_document if so. Nothing is charged to you, and fulfillment is not guaranteed.

  Try: “Pray for this RECAP document.”

  Write · pray_for_document

• Withdraws a pending Pray and Pay request

  Withdraws your pending request for a filing, looked up by document ID.

  Try: “Withdraw my prayer for this document.”

  Delete · withdraw_prayer

Watch out for

• It changes alerts and Pray and Pay requests on your account

  Six tools create or delete search alerts, subscribe to or leave docket alerts, and file or withdraw Pray and Pay requests. The README says your client should ask before it calls them. Nothing is charged for a prayer. github.com

• An API token gives full access to your account API

  Clients that cannot sign in with OAuth can send a CourtListener API token instead. The README says it grants full access to the alert and subscription tools and never expires. Keep it out of source control and regenerate it if it leaks. github.com

• Use is limited by your API access

  The server uses standard CourtListener API access and its rate limits. get_api_usage shows what is left. Higher limits need a Free Law Project membership or commercial agreement. courtlistener.com

• Some state is stored on the server

  The README says pagination cursors and citation jobs are kept for one hour of inactivity, and document text fetched for reading is cached for 24 hours, shared across users. github.com

• Check citations yourself

  analyze_citations reduces made-up cases, but for court filings still open each case and confirm it. courtlistener.com

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