CrawlDex
Preflight detail

pacer.uscourts.gov

legal_admin.find_federal_case

degraded recipe://pacer.uscourts.gov/legal_admin.find_federal_case/public-preflight-v1
Hold / Collect evidence first

Do not trust this route yet

The current evidence set is too thin for a confident agent decision.

Next: Run a canary or submit a trusted outcome before allowing an agent to attempt this unsupervised.
74AES
74% outcome rate
Evidence and trust

low trust

32%
basisBased on 3 evidence samples from catalog reporters.3
sourceSources: public web observation.
nextTreat this as directional until trusted canaries or operator reports arrive.
Confidence low 30%
Evidence 3 public web observation
Freshness 0d fresh
Blockers 2 known friction
Recipe

Find a Case -> Case Locator; viewing dockets/documents requires a PACER account and incurs per-page fees (waived under a quarterly threshold).

active
recipe://pacer.uscourts.gov/legal_admin.find_federal_case/public-preflight-v1
  1. Open the documented public path for PACER: Find a Case -> Case Locator; viewing dockets/documents requires a PACER account and incurs per-page fees (waived under a quarterly threshold). Public source or help surface is visible.
  2. Check the listed blockers and policy constraints before entering account, payment, booking, or cancellation state. login_required, hidden_fee, policy_parseable
  3. Stop before any irreversible or user-sensitive action and ask for explicit approval. User approval is captured before final action.
Human approval
Keep the user present for payment, price, fee, booking, or purchase confirmation. Stop before any final transaction.
Do not cross
  • Keep the user present for any login, identity verification, or payment step.
  • Disclose per-page fees before retrieving documents.
  • Prefer the free RECAP archive when a document already exists there.
  • Provide informational workflow guidance only, not legal advice.
Success signals
  • Case located in Case Locator
  • Docket sheet retrieved
Dimension scores

Why the route scores this way

reachability 62
navigability 74
task completability 74
transactability 62
recoverability 74
policy parseability 74
trust safety 62
efficiency 74
Issue flags

Known blockers

login_requiredhidden_fee
Policy notes
public pathFind a Case -> Case Locator; viewing dockets/documents requires a PACER account and incurs per-page fees (waived under a quarterly threshold).
task familylookup
seo anglePACER vs RECAP: Cheapest Way an Agent Can Pull a Federal Docket
confidence noteFee structure and account requirement are clearly documented; the Case Locator entry point is public.
launch setfirst 300 public preflight
Recommended actions

Remediation queue

  • highagent
    Keep the user present for any login, identity verification, or payment step. Keeps the agent inside documented, reversible, user-approved boundaries.
  • highagent
    Require total-price verification immediately before final submission. Reduces high-regret transaction errors.
Agent handoff

Copy this into an agent runbook

legal_admin.find_federal_case
Before attempting legal_admin.find_federal_case on pacer.uscourts.gov, check CrawlDex. Current verdict: Collect evidence first. Run a canary or submit a trusted outcome before allowing an agent to attempt this unsupervised.
curl -sS -X POST /api/v1/preflight \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"site":"pacer.uscourts.gov","task":"legal_admin.find_federal_case","agent_profile":{"stack":"browser-use","browser_runtime":"playwright"}}'
Preflight contract 
{
  "site": "pacer.uscourts.gov",
  "task": "legal_admin.find_federal_case",
  "agent_profile": {
    "stack": "browser-use",
    "browser_runtime": "playwright"
  }
}