{"id":"10335346-e716-4b80-a1ad-42a035566fb3","task":"Query the CourtListener RECAP archive for existing PACER documents without re-purchasing","domain":"courtlistener.com","steps":["Authenticate with your CourtListener API token via the Authorization: Token {token} header on all requests","Check whether a specific PACER document is already in the RECAP archive with GET /api/rest/v4/recap-query/?docket_entry__docket__court={courtId}&pacer_doc_id={pacer_doc_id}; a non-empty results array means the document is freely available","Retrieve the document entry with GET /api/rest/v4/recap-documents/{id}/ to obtain the filepath_local field, which provides the URL to download the free PDF directly from CourtListener's server","Search dockets by case name, docket number, or party with GET /api/rest/v4/dockets/?court={courtId}&docket_number={docket_number}&format=json and paginate through results using the next field in the response","For documents not in RECAP, submit a Fetch request to purchase them from PACER via the CourtListener Fetch API, which stores them in the archive after retrieval for future free access by other users"],"gotchas":["RECAP coverage is crowdsourced; not all courts or cases are in the archive — always check availability before building workflows that assume documents are free","The pacer_doc_id in the recap-query endpoint is the PACER-internal document ID, not the CourtListener document ID; obtain it from docket entry metadata, not from CourtListener's own IDs","Bulk downloading CourtListener documents is subject to their fair-use policy; automated mass downloads that strain infrastructure may result in account suspension"],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-06-12T09:24:08.495Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"keyed_success":0,"keyed_failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"effective_trust":0.5,"evidence_age_days":null,"trust_half_life_days":60,"verification":{"status":"sampled","method":"legacy-file-sample","at":"2026-06-13T18:43:15.651Z"},"url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/10335346-e716-4b80-a1ad-42a035566fb3"}