PACER credentials
PACER is a bring-your-own-credentials source. You store your own PACER login on your organization, and the caselaw_fetch_pacer tool uses it to retrieve dockets and documents on your behalf.
PACER fetches bill your PACER account directly — roughly $0.10 per page for PDFs and about $3.00 per docket. Always check the free shared archive first (see below) before paying for a fresh PACER pull.
Set your credentials
- Go to
/dashboard/credentials. - This is owner-only and requires a plan with bring-your-own-credentials (BYOAK) enabled — that’s Solo and Firm. Free can’t store credentials.
- Enter and save your PACER username and password.
Credentials are encrypted at rest. Once set, every caselaw_fetch_pacer call uses them automatically — you don’t pass them per request. You can also pass a username and password inline on a call to override the stored pair (both must be provided together).
Check the free archive first
The free archive holds documents other users have already pulled from PACER. Before spending PACER money, search it:
caselaw_recap_query— look up what the archive already holds.caselaw_search_dockets,caselaw_search_opinions,caselaw_search_recap_documents— search the free corpus.
Only fall back to caselaw_fetch_pacer when the document isn’t already in the archive.
Storing PACER credentials is one example of the BYO-credentials concept — for how that differs from plan-unlocked paid tools, see Packs & tool access.