Bring Legal Research
to Claude Desktop
Create your Vinkius account to connect CourtListener to Claude Desktop and start using all 10 AI tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code. No hosting, no server setup — just connect and start using.
GDPR Free for SubscribersCompatible with every major AI agent and IDE
Gemini
What is the CourtListener MCP Server?
Empower your AI agent to orchestrate your entire legal research workflow with CourtListener, the world's leading free and open platform for legal data. By connecting CourtListener to your agent, you transform complex legal searches into a natural conversation. Your agent can instantly search for opinions, audit court dockets, and retrieve detailed judge information without you ever touching a technical portal. Whether you are conducting case law research or monitoring judicial activity, your agent acts as a real-time legal assistant, ensuring your research is always grounded in open and accessible data.
What you can do
- Opinion Auditing — Search for legal opinions by keyword and retrieve detailed metadata, including court name and date filed.
- Docket Oversight — Query court dockets to stay on top of ongoing litigation and case filings in real-time.
- Judicial Intelligence — Retrieve detailed information about judges and their financial disclosures to maintain strict control over your research context.
- Citation Discovery — List citations for specific opinions to understand the legal network and precedents.
- Court Governance — List all available courts and their metadata to ensure your jurisdictional research is accurate.
How it works
- Subscribe to this server
- Enter your CourtListener API Key
- Start managing your legal research through Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client
Who is this for?
- Legal Professionals — monitor case law and docket updates straight from your workflow.
- Researchers & Journalists — verify judicial metadata and financial disclosures without manual searches.
- Law Students — perform rapid audits of legal citations and opinions through natural language.
- Operations Leads — automate legal data querying to orchestrate cross-functional research teams smoothly.
Built-in capabilities (10)
Get details for a specific court
Get details for a specific judge
Get details for a specific opinion
List citations for an opinion
List all courts
List judge financial disclosures
List judges
List opinions
Search for court dockets
Search for legal opinions
Why Claude Desktop?
Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect CourtListener to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 10 tools in the chat interface. ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.
- —
Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client. it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available
- —
Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface
- —
Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions
- —
Enterprise-grade security with local config storage. your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to Vinkius Edge network
CourtListener in Claude Desktop
Why run CourtListener with Vinkius?
The CourtListener connection runs on our fully managed, secure cloud infrastructure. We handle the hosting, maintenance, and security so you don't have to deal with servers or code. All 10 tools are ready to work instantly without any complex setup.
You stay in complete control of your data. Your AI only accesses the information you approve, keeping your sensitive passwords and private details completely safe. Plus, with automatic optimizations, your AI works faster and more efficiently.
* Every connection is hosted and maintained by Vinkius. We handle the security, updates, and infrastructure so you don't have to write code or manage servers. See our infrastructure
Over 4,000 integrations ready for AI agents
Explore a vast library of pre-built integrations, optimized and ready to deploy.
Connect securely in under 30 seconds
Generate tokens to authenticate and link external services in a single step.
Complete visibility into every agent action
Audit live requests, latency, success rates, and active security compliance policies.
Optimize spending and track token ROI
Analyze real-time token consumption and cost metrics detailed by connection.
Explore our live AI Agents Analytics dashboard to see it all working
This dashboard is included when you connect CourtListener using Vinkius. You will never be left in the dark about what your AI agents are doing with your tools.
CourtListener and 4,000+ other AI tools. No hosting, no code, ready to use.
Professionals who connect CourtListener to Claude Desktop through Vinkius don't need to write code, manage servers, or worry about security. Everything is pre-configured, secure, and runs automatically in the background.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-to-use MCPs | Find and configure each manually | 4,000+ MCPs ready to use |
| Connection Setup | Manual coding & server setup | 1-click instant connection |
| Server Hosting | You host it yourself (needs 24/7 uptime) | 100% hosted & managed by Vinkius |
| Security & Privacy | Stored in plaintext config files | Bank-grade encrypted vault |
| Activity Visibility | Blind execution (no logs or tracking) | Live dashboard with real-time logs |
| Cost Control | Runaway AI token spend risk | Automatic budget limits |
| Revoking Access | Must delete files or code to stop | 1-click disconnect button |
How Vinkius secures
CourtListener for Claude Desktop
Every request between Claude Desktop and CourtListener is protected by our secure gateway. We automatically keep your sensitive data private, prevent unauthorized access, and let you disconnect instantly at any time.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my CourtListener API Key?
Log in to your CourtListener account, and you will find your API Key under the API Tokens section. Copy and paste it below.
Can the agent search for both opinions and dockets?
Yes. Use the search_opinions tool for legal judgments and search_dockets for case records. Your agent will return matching results from the Free Law Project database.
Is it possible to list judicial citations via the agent?
Yes. The list_citations tool allows your agent to retrieve all precedents and subsequent citations for any opinion by providing its Opinion ID, helping you map the legal landscape.
How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?
When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.
What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?
Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully. if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.
Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?
Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.
Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?
Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.
Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?
Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL. Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.
Server not appearing after restart
Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).
Authentication error
Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.
Tools not showing in chat
Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting. wait a few seconds.
Explore More MCP Servers
View all →
DealMachine
10 toolsEquip your AI agent to manage real estate leads, track properties, and monitor marketing campaigns via the DealMachine API.
CleverTap
8 toolsManage customer engagement and analytics via CleverTap — track campaigns, monitor user segments, and audit event data directly from any AI agent.
Expedia Hotels
10 toolsConnect Expedia Hotels to any AI agent via MCP.
Alchemy
6 toolsManage blockchain data — audit wallets, NFTs, and transactions via AI.