aid: administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts
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: '0.19'
tags:
- Courts
- Federal Government
- Legal
- PACER
- Case Records
- Judiciary
- Open Data
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:pacer-authentication-api
  name: PACER Authentication API
  description: The PACER Authentication API allows users to authenticate automatically and without a user interface, facilitating
    programmatic access for automated systems to court records. Users provide PACER credentials to receive an authentication
    token used to access the PCL API and other PACER services. Required before using the PACER Case Locator API.
  humanURL: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-authentication-api-user-guide
  tags:
  - Authentication
  - Courts
  - PACER
  - REST API
  properties:
  - 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: OpenAPI
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts/refs/heads/main/openapi/pacer-authentication-api-openapi.yml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/pacer-authentication-services.yaml
- aid: administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts:pacer-case-locator-pcl-api
  name: PACER Case Locator (PCL) API
  description: The PACER Case Locator (PCL) API is a REST API providing programmatic access to a nationwide index of federal
    court cases across all Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy courts. Supports both immediate searches (returning
    up to 5,400 items per search) and batch searches (up to 108,000 items). Case searches return groups of cases; party searches
    return parties associated with cases. Supports JSON and XML encoding. Requires PACER authentication token. Separate QA
    and Production environments are available for development and testing.
  humanURL: https://pacer.uscourts.gov/help/pacer/pacer-case-locator-pcl-api-user-guide
  tags:
  - Courts
  - Legal
  - Case Records
  - Federal Courts
  - REST API
  - PACER
  properties:
  - 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
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/administrative-office-of-the-u-s-courts/refs/heads/main/openapi/pacer-case-locator-pcl-api-openapi.yml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/pacer-case-locator-pcl-cases.yaml
  - type: NaftikoCapability
    url: capabilities/pacer-case-locator-pcl-parties.yaml
common:
- 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