aid: administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts.png
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
created: '2024-11-20'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
tags:
  - Courts
  - Federal Government
  - Legal
  - PACER
  - Case Records
  - Judiciary
  - Open Data
tags_raw:
  - Courts
  - Federal Government
  - Legal
  - PACER
  - Case Records
  - Judiciary
  - Open Data
  - Federal-Government
description: >-
  The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the administrative agency of the United States federal court
  system, established in 1939. It provides legislative, administrative, legal, financial, management, program, and
  information technology support services to the federal courts. The agency operates PACER (Public Access to Court
  Electronic Records), which provides programmatic access to case and docket information from Federal Appellate,
  District, and Bankruptcy courts via the PACER Authentication API and PACER Case Locator (PCL) REST API. The agency
  also provides CM/ECF developer resources for building tools that interface with the Case Management and Electronic
  Case Filing system.
apis:
- aid: >-
    administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts:administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-cases-api
  name: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Cases API
  description: The Cases API from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts — 1 operation(s) for cases.
  humanURL: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  tags:
  - Cases
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-cases-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-case-locator-pcl-api-user-guide
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/files/PCL-API-Document_3.pdf
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/developer-resources
- aid: >-
    administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts:administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-parties-api
  name: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Parties API
  description: >-
    The Parties API from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts — 1 operation(s) for parties.
  humanURL: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  tags:
  - Parties
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-parties-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-case-locator-pcl-api-user-guide
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/files/PCL-API-Document_3.pdf
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/developer-resources
- aid: >-
    administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts:administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-services-api
  name: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Services API
  description: >-
    The Services API from Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts — 2 operation(s) for services.
  humanURL: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  tags:
  - Services
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-services-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-case-locator-pcl-api-user-guide
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/files/PCL-API-Document_3.pdf
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/developer-resources
common:
  - type: CapabilityMap
    url: capabilities/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-capability-edges.yml
    name: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Business Capability Map
  - type: AgenticAccess
    url: agentic-access/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-agentic-access.yml
  - type: DomainSecurity
    url: security/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts-domain-security.yml
  - url: https://www.uscourts.gov/feed
    type: Blog
  - type: LinkedIn
    url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/administrative-office-of-the-united-states-courts
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.uscourts.gov/
  - type: Portal
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/
  - type: DeveloperPortal
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/file-case/developer-resources
  - type: Signup
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/register-account
  - type: Contact
    url: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/contact-us
  - type: Features
    data:
      - name: Federal Court Case Search
        description: >-
          Programmatic search across a nationwide index of all Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy court cases
          using the PCL REST API, supporting case search and party search with immediate and batch result modes.
      - name: Automated PACER Authentication
        description: >-
          Token-based authentication API enabling automated systems to obtain PACER authentication tokens without
          requiring a user interface, suitable for integration into automated data pipelines and legal research tools.
      - name: CM/ECF Developer Integration
        description: >-
          Technical resources for developers building tools that interface with the Case Management and Electronic Case
          Filing (CM/ECF) system, including XML tag specifications, NextGen CM/ECF documentation, and release notes for
          appellate and bankruptcy systems.
      - name: Court Lookup Data Feeds
        description: >-
          JSON and XML data feeds providing court lookup information for identifying CM/ECF courts and their
          configurations, available for integration into court filing software.
      - name: Bankruptcy Filing Integration
        description: >-
          Specialized resources for bankruptcy petition preparation software and case trustee management software
          vendors, including creditor claim filing specifications and official form changes.
      - name: Bulk Data Access
        description: >-
          Commercial users can run large batch data pulls via the PCL API, with recommended off-peak hours (6 p.m. to 6
          a.m. Central Time) to minimize system impact.
  - type: UseCases
    data:
      - name: Legal Research Automation
        description: >-
          Law firms and legal research platforms can use the PCL API to programmatically search federal court case
          indexes and retrieve case and party information for automated legal research workflows.
      - name: Litigation Monitoring
        description: >-
          Corporate legal departments can monitor federal court filings involving specific parties, cases, or subject
          matters using automated PCL API queries.
      - name: Bankruptcy Software Integration
        description: >-
          Bankruptcy petition preparation software and trustee management applications can integrate with CM/ECF and
          PACER APIs to file documents, retrieve case data, and manage creditor information.
      - name: Court Data Analytics
        description: >-
          Academic researchers and legal analytics firms can build datasets of federal court case activity using batch
          PCL API searches across federal court jurisdictions.
      - name: Legal Technology Development
        description: >-
          Legal technology companies can build PACER-integrated products for case tracking, docket monitoring, and court
          record retrieval using the PACER Authentication and PCL APIs.
  - type: Integrations
    data:
      - name: CM/ECF System
        description: Case Management and Electronic Case Filing system for all federal courts.
      - name: PACER Case Locator
        description: Nationwide index of federal court cases searchable via REST API.
      - name: NextGen CM/ECF
        description: Next-generation electronic filing system with enhanced developer integration support.
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    X-twitter: apievangelist
    email: info@apievangelist.com