# Federal appellate dockets

Federal appellate dockets — the thirteen circuits, the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court. 2.2 million dockets. This is the *case* on appeal; the written opinion that results is in the `court-listener` pack.

Part of [Pipeworx](https://pipeworx.io) — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1573+ live data sources.

No API key.

## What this is, and what it is not

**Docket metadata**: that a case exists, its parties, court, docket number,
filing and termination dates, and assigned judge. It contains **no filings** —
no complaints, motions, briefs or orders. Those are RECAP, a separate corpus
that is not keyless.

An agent with this data knows a case was brought. It does not know what anyone
argued.

## Tools

| Tool | Returns |
|---|---|
| `federal_appeal_search` | Dockets matching a party name |
| `federal_appeal_recent` | Recent dockets, newest first |

## Caveats

- **Quarterly snapshot.** Every response carries `snapshot_date`.
- **`date_terminated` is 78.3% filled**, so a missing date means *not recorded*,
  never *still open*. Responses say which.
- **`nature_of_suit` is sparse** — 14.8% corpus-wide, 30.5% in district courts.
  This can tell you a company is in federal court; it often cannot tell you what
  for.
- Party search matches a substring of the case caption, so a distinctive party
  name works better than a full caption.

## Attribution

Data is CourtListener / Free Law Project, published under the Public Domain
Mark. Free Law Project funds and maintains the corpus. If this pack is useful
to you, <https://free.law/donate/> is where that goes.

## Quick Start

Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "federal-appeals": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/federal-appeals/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

### What this endpoint actually serves

`tools/list` at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/federal-appeals/mcp` returns the tools in the table
above **plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools** — `ask_pipeworx`,
`discover_tools`, `search_within`, `remember`/`recall` and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's `initialize` response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.

This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
`ask_pipeworx`, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.

Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed
directly, instead of just this one's:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pipeworx": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1573+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed **directly**; `ask_pipeworx`
reaches all of them from either one.

## Standalone (no gateway account)

This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no
gateway round-trip:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "federal-appeals": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-federal-appeals"]
    }
  }
}
```

Or run it directly to confirm it starts:

```bash
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-federal-appeals
```

It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers `initialize`/`tools/list`/`tools/call`
for **only** this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.

## Using with ask_pipeworx

Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English —
this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:

```
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Federal Appeals data" })
```

The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.

## More

- [Docs and guides](https://pipeworx.io/docs)
- [pipeworx.io](https://pipeworx.io)

## License

MIT