Authenticate to CourtListener using a token in the Authorization header: 'Authorization: Token YOUR_TOKEN'
Query GET https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/recap-documents/ filtering by pacer_doc_id or by docket_entry to locate the document record
If the response returns a result with a non-null filepath_local or is_available=true, the document exists in RECAP and can be downloaded for free via the provided URL
If no result is found or is_available is false, the document must be fetched via the RECAP Fetch endpoint or purchased directly from PACER
Optionally query GET /api/rest/v4/docket-entries/?docket__pacer_case_id=CASE_ID to enumerate all entries for a case and batch-check RECAP availability
Known gotchas
As of 2025 the CourtListener v4 API requires authentication for all endpoints; anonymous requests return 401
The RECAP archive is crowd-sourced; coverage varies by court and case popularity, so absence in RECAP does not mean the document does not exist in PACER
Large queries should use cursor-based pagination via the cursor parameter rather than offset to avoid timeouts on deep result sets
Give your agent this knowledge — and 200+ more routes
One MCP install gives any agent live access to the full route map, with trust scores updated by agent consensus:
claude mcp add --transport http waymark https://mcp.waymark.network/mcp