In-depth architectural comparison of the CourtAPI — Federal Court Data and Filevine MCP MCP servers. Compare execution transports, security boundaries, tool capabilities, quality scores, and ready-to-paste client installation snippets for Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and VS Code.
At a Glance & Executive Verdict
CourtAPI — Federal Court Data
Legal · Local stdio
Quality: 51/100 (Good) | Auth: No auth required
Filevine MCP
Legal · Local stdio
Quality: 41/100 (Fair) | Auth: No auth required
Verdict Summary: Choose CourtAPI — Federal Court Data if you need specialized Legal tools running via a local process. Choose Filevine MCP if your workspace requires Legal integration with local subprocess execution. Both servers can be configured concurrently in your client's mcpServers manifest.
Which MCP Server Should You Choose?
Choose CourtAPI — Federal Court Data when:
You need dedicated capabilities in the Legal domain.
You prefer local stdio subprocess transport architecture.
Your security boundary fits: No auth required (Free / Open Source).
Discover cases you don't have a court code or full case number for. Pass a party/company name, partial case number, or free-text keywords. The tool automatically picks the best search endpoint:
get_case
Get all metadata for a known case: title, chapter, judge, key dates (filed/closed/discharged), assets, liabilities, and the `menu` object. The `menu` has one entry per sub-resource (dockets, claims, parties, etc.) with a `modified` timestamp — `null` means that resource has never been purchased fro…
get_dockets
Get the docket sheet — all filings in chronological order with dates, descriptions, and attached document info. Supports keyword search and date/number range filtering.
get_document
Get a PDF attached to a docket entry. Checks the cache first:
get_claims
Get the bankruptcy claims register — all proofs of claim filed by creditors, with amounts (filed/allowed/paid), claim type, creditor names, and filing dates. Essential for Chapter 11 creditor analysis.
Ready-to-Paste Client Configurations
Paste either (or both) of these JSON server blocks into your client config file (e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json).
CourtAPI — Federal Court Data is categorized under Legal and uses a local stdio subprocess. In contrast, Filevine MCP belongs to Legal using local stdio subprocess. Select CourtAPI — Federal Court Data when you need capabilities focused on legal and Filevine MCP when you require tools for legal.
Get all parties in a case (debtors, creditors, plaintiffs, defendants, trustees) and optionally their attorneys with firm name, contact info, and bar number. Attorney records return `null` (not an error) when they haven't been purchased for this case — use `include_attorneys=false` to suppress the…
get_creditors
Get scheduled creditors from bankruptcy Schedules D/E/F. This is different from `get_claims` — creditors listed here may not have filed a proof of claim. Use both to get a complete creditor picture.
ncl_search
Search PACER's National Case Locator across all federal courts at once. More comprehensive than `find_cases` for party name searches because it queries PACER directly. Costs PACER credits.
list_courts
List all ~200 PACER courts with their court codes and names. Filter by type: `bankruptcy`, `district`, or `appellate`.
get_pacer_credentials
Manage PACER credentials stored in CourtAPI. PACER credentials are required before any `include_live_pacer=true` call.
Filevine MCP Tools (13)
filevine_search_projects
Query projects by phase, project type, assignee, date
filevine_describe_sections
Returns full schema (sections + fields + types) for a project type
filevine_get_section
Read/write static section field values
filevine_create_collection_item
Add a row to a Collection section (medical providers, defendants, etc.)
filevine_create_note
Add a note with @mentions and attachments
filevine_run_report
Execute a saved Periscope report (heavily cached due to 5/min cap)
filevine_lead_search
Query leads by status, source, owner, date range
filevine_lead_get
Get a lead's full intake-form data + scoring
filevine_lead_create
Create a lead (manual entry; web forms write via Lead Docket UI)
filevine_lead_update_status
Move a lead through statuses (new → contacted → qualified → converted/declined)
filevine_lead_assign
Reassign a lead to a different intake specialist or attorney
filevine_lead_convert_to_project
Convert a qualified lead into a Filevine project; carries form data into intake section