# /courtlistener/dockets/search

`POST /api/courtlistener/dockets/search`

Price: 1 credit

Search RECAP/PACER dockets by full-text query, court, party, attorney, nature of suit and date

## How to use it

Search federal court dockets from the RECAP archive (a free mirror of PACER) on CourtListener. Combine a full-text query with filters for court, case name, docket number, party name, attorney name, assigned or referred judge, nature of suit, cause of action, filing date range, document number, document-entry date range, and availability of free documents. Each result is a docket with case name, court, docket number, parties, attorneys, law firms, judges, nature of suit and matching docket documents.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `q` (string, nullable) — Full-text query over docket and document text
- `court` (string, nullable) — Court id(s) to filter by, space-separated (examples: "cand", "nysd txnd")
- `case_name` (string, nullable) — Filter by case name
- `docket_number` (string, nullable) — Filter by docket number
- `party_name` (string, nullable) — Filter by party name
- `attorney_name` (string, nullable) — Filter by attorney name
- `assigned_to` (string, nullable) — Filter by assigned judge name
- `referred_to` (string, nullable) — Filter by referred judge name
- `nature_of_suit` (string, nullable) — Filter by nature of suit
- `cause` (string, nullable) — Filter by cause of action
- `filed_after` (string, nullable) — Only dockets filed on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
- `filed_before` (string, nullable) — Only dockets filed on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
- `document_number` (string, nullable) — Filter by a document number within the docket (examples: "1", "3")
- `entry_date_filed_after` (string, nullable) — Only dockets with a document entry filed on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
- `entry_date_filed_before` (string, nullable) — Only dockets with a document entry filed on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)
- `available_only` (boolean, nullable) — Only cases with documents available for free download when true
- `order_by` (string) — Result ordering (default: "score desc"; one of: "score desc", "dateFiled desc", "dateFiled asc")
- `count` (integer, required) — Number of dockets to return (min: 1)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "CourtlistenerDocket")
- `docket_id` (integer, required)
- `case_name` (string, nullable)
- `case_name_full` (string, nullable)
- `docket_number` (string, nullable)
- `court` (string, nullable)
- `court_id` (string, nullable)
- `court_citation_string` (string, nullable)
- `assigned_to` (string, nullable)
- `assigned_to_id` (integer, nullable)
- `referred_to` (string, nullable)
- `referred_to_id` (integer, nullable)
- `suit_nature` (string, nullable)
- `cause` (string, nullable)
- `jurisdiction_type` (string, nullable)
- `jury_demand` (string, nullable)
- `chapter` (string, nullable)
- `trustee_str` (string, nullable)
- `pacer_case_id` (string, nullable)
- `parties` (array) (default: [])
- `party_ids` (array) (default: [])
- `attorneys` (array) (default: [])
- `attorney_ids` (array) (default: [])
- `firms` (array) (default: [])
- `firm_ids` (array) (default: [])
- `recap_documents` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "CourtlistenerRecapDocument")
  - `id` (integer, required)
  - `docket_entry_id` (integer, nullable)
  - `document_number` (string, nullable)
  - `attachment_number` (integer, nullable)
  - `document_type` (string, nullable)
  - `description` (string, nullable)
  - `short_description` (string, nullable)
  - `entry_number` (integer, nullable)
  - `pacer_doc_id` (string, nullable)
  - `page_count` (integer, nullable)
  - `is_available` (boolean) (default: false)
  - `filepath_local` (string, nullable)
  - `snippet` (string, nullable)
  - `cites` (array) (default: [])
  - `entry_filed_at` (integer, nullable)
  - `web_url` (string, nullable)
- `filed_at` (integer, nullable)
- `argued_at` (integer, nullable)
- `terminated_at` (integer, nullable)
- `created_at` (integer, nullable)
- `web_url` (string, nullable)
- `score` (number, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

The entity was not found, or a precondition failed

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.