Courtlistener MCP Server vs CourtAPI — Federal Court Data

In-depth architectural comparison of the Courtlistener MCP Server and CourtAPI — Federal Court Data 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.

Which MCP Server Should You Choose?

Choose Courtlistener MCP Server 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).

Explore Courtlistener MCP Server Details

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).

Explore CourtAPI — Federal Court Data Details

Feature & Specification Comparison

Specification	Courtlistener MCP Server Legal	CourtAPI — Federal Court Data Legal
Summary	Search US court opinions, federal dockets, judges, citations, and oral arguments via CourtListener.	Search and retrieve US federal court cases, dockets, claims, and documents via PACER
Category & Scope	Legal	Legal

Tools & Capabilities Breakdown

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).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "courtlistener-mcp-server": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": [
        "@cyanheads/courtlistener-mcp-server@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "courtapi-federal-court-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@courtio/courtapi-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

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