Skip to main content

​
Prerequisites

  • A Solana wallet funded with USDC — see the wallet setup guide
  • The x402 client library installed for your language
  • A case identifier and court code for a covered court (US state, federal, or Canadian)

​
Step 1 — Check coverage

Before querying, confirm the court you need is covered. This endpoint is free and requires no payment. 
curl https://api.docketlayer.ai/v2/status
Find your court_code in the response. If your court shows "coverage": "full" you are ready. If your court is not listed, check the coverage roadmap.

​
Step 2 — Try sandbox mode

Before spending USDC, confirm connectivity with a free sandbox query. Add ?test=1 to any endpoint. 
curl "https://api.docketlayer.ai/v2/case?test=1&case_id=1:24-cv-01234&court_code=nysd"
The response is a fixture — real structure, no real data, no charge.

​
Step 3 — Make your first paid query

import os
from x402 import PaymentClient

client = PaymentClient(
    private_key=os.environ["SOLANA_PRIVATE_KEY"],
    network="solana-mainnet",
    currency="USDC"
)

result = client.get(
    "https://api.docketlayer.ai/v2/case",
    params={
        "case_id": "1:24-cv-01234",
        "court_code": "nysd",
        "last_checked": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
).json()

if result["delta"]["changed"]:
    for filing in result["delta"]["new_filings"]:
        print(f"{filing['filing_type']}: {filing['description']}")
else:
    print("No changes")

​
Step 4 — Understand the response

A successful response: 
{
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "req_01jt7y4kx0",
    "queried_at": "2026-04-29T12:00:00Z",
    "query_cost_usd": 0.99,
    "coverage_status": "full",
    "cache_age_seconds": 87,
    "context_delivered": "basic",
    "language_delivered": "en",
    "truncated": false,
    "sandbox": false,
    "tag": null
  },
  "case_id": "1:24-cv-01234",
  "court_code": "nysd",
  "case": {
    "case_number": "1:24-cv-01234",
    "case_name": "Smith v. Jones",
    "case_type": "civil",
    "court_code": "nysd",
    "court_name": "Southern District of New York",
    "jurisdiction_country": "US",
    "status": "open",
    "assigned_judge": "Hon. Sarah Johnson",
    "primary_parties": [
      { "name": "John Smith", "type": "plaintiff" },
      { "name": "Acme Corp.", "type": "defendant" }
    ],
    "appellate": null
  },
  "delta": {
    "changed": true,
    "since": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "change_count": 1,
    "new_filings": [
      {
        "entry_number": 42,
        "filed_at": "2026-04-11T14:23:00Z",
        "filing_type": "order",
        "filed_by": "Hon. Sarah Johnson",
        "description": "Order granting motion to dismiss",
        "document_identifier": "0042",
        "document_identifier_type": "pacer_doc_id",
        "external_url": "https://ecf.nysd.uscourts.gov/doc1/..."
      }
    ]
  }
}
The delta block is only present when last_checked is supplied. Store meta.queried_at and use it as last_checked on your next call.

​
Step 5 — Handle errors

DocketLayer never charges for failed queries. 
if response.status_code == 402:
    # Payment failed — check wallet balance and x402 configuration
elif response.status_code == 404:
    # Case not found — verify case_id format and court_code
elif response.status_code == 422:
    # Court not covered — check /v2/status for current coverage
elif response.status_code == 429:
    # Rate limited — back off, retry after retry_after interval
elif response.status_code == 503:
    # Upstream court system unavailable — retry later, check /v2/status

​
Next steps

Build a monitoring loop

Run your agent on a schedule

Wallet setup

Solana wallet and x402 configuration in detail

API reference

Full endpoint documentation

MCP server

Use DocketLayer directly from Claude