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DocketLayer uses x402 as its sole authentication mechanism. There are no API keys, no accounts, and no onboarding. A valid payment is authorization. An invalid or missing payment is a rejection.

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The 402 flow

When your agent calls a paid DocketLayer endpoint without a payment header:
  1. DocketLayer returns HTTP 402 Payment Required with a machine-readable X-Payment-Requirements header describing exactly what is needed — the amount, the recipient address, the network, and the currency
  2. Your x402 client library reads these requirements, constructs a $0.99 USDC transaction on Solana, signs it with your wallet’s private key, and retries the original request with an x402-payment header containing cryptographic proof of payment
  3. DocketLayer verifies the payment and returns the data
From your code’s perspective, this is a single function call. The x402 library handles the 402 challenge, payment construction, and retry automatically.

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Payment requirements header

The X-Payment-Requirements header on a 402 response contains: 
{
  "x402Version": 1,
  "scheme": "exact",
  "network": "solana-mainnet",
  "maxAmountRequired": "990000",
  "resource": "https://api.docketlayer.ai/v2",
  "description": "DocketLayer court docket query",
  "mimeType": "application/json",
  "payTo": "<DocketLayer receiver wallet address>",
  "maxTimeoutSeconds": 300,
  "asset": "EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v",
  "outputSchema": null,
  "extra": null
}
maxAmountRequired is in USDC lamports — 990,000 = $0.99. asset is the USDC mint address on Solana mainnet.

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Payment header format

A valid paid request includes: 
x402-payment: <base64-encoded JSON>
Where the JSON payload is: 
{
  "x402Version": 1,
  "scheme": "exact",
  "network": "solana-mainnet",
  "payload": {
    "transaction": "<base64-encoded signed Solana transaction>",
    "nonce": "<timestamp string>"
  }
}
The signed transaction is a Solana legacy transaction containing a SPL Token transfer of exactly 990,000 lamports of USDC to DocketLayer’s receiver address. Your x402 client library constructs this — you do not build it manually.

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Replay protection

Each payment transaction signature is claimed atomically within a 5-minute window. The first request using a given transaction signature succeeds. Any subsequent request using the same signature within 5 minutes is rejected as a replay. Your x402 library handles this by constructing a fresh transaction on each call.

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Settlement

DocketLayer verifies payment by simulating the transaction against the Solana RPC (simulateTransaction with sigVerify: true) before performing any query work. Once the query completes successfully, the transaction is broadcast on-chain (sendRawTransaction). Settlement is fire-and-forget — the synchronous response is not held for on-chain confirmation.

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Wallet identity

The fee payer extracted from the verified transaction is your wallet address for that request. DocketLayer uses this address for:
  • Per-wallet rate limiting
  • Scoping wallet resources (/v2/wallet/keys, /v2/wallet/deliveries)
There is no registration step. The first time a wallet address appears in a verified payment, it is implicitly registered.

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x402 client setup

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"}
).json()

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Free endpoints

The following require no payment and never trigger a 402 response:
  • GET /v2/status — coverage and system health
  • MCP tools: docketlayer_status, docketlayer_court_list, docketlayer_pricing

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Further reading