Quickstart

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")

import { createPaymentClient } from "x402";
import { Keypair, Connection } from "@solana/web3.js";

const connection = new Connection("https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com");
const wallet = Keypair.fromSecretKey(
  Buffer.from(process.env.SOLANA_PRIVATE_KEY, "base64")
);
const client = createPaymentClient({ wallet, connection, network: "solana-mainnet", currency: "USDC" });

const url = new URL("https://api.docketlayer.ai/v2/case");
url.searchParams.set("case_id", "1:24-cv-01234");
url.searchParams.set("court_code", "nysd");
url.searchParams.set("last_checked", "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z");

const data = await client.fetch(url.toString()).then(r => r.json());
console.log(data.delta?.changed ? data.delta.new_filings : "No changes");

curl "https://api.docketlayer.ai/v2/case?test=1&case_id=1:24-cv-01234&court_code=nysd&last_checked=2026-01-01T00:00:00Z"
# Use the x402 client library for live paid queries — curl does not handle the 402 flow automatically

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

Getting started

API reference

Concepts

Guides

Integration quickstarts

Resources

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Check coverage

Step 2 — Try sandbox mode

Step 3 — Make your first paid query

Step 4 — Understand the response

Step 5 — Handle errors

Next steps

Build a monitoring loop

Wallet setup

API reference

MCP server

​Prerequisites

​Step 1 — Check coverage

​Step 2 — Try sandbox mode

​Step 3 — Make your first paid query

​Step 4 — Understand the response

​Step 5 — Handle errors

​Next steps

Build a monitoring loop

Wallet setup

API reference

MCP server

Prerequisites

Step 1 — Check coverage

Step 2 — Try sandbox mode

Step 3 — Make your first paid query

Step 4 — Understand the response

Step 5 — Handle errors

Next steps