Connect an AI assistant
An AI assistant such as Claude or ChatGPT can look things up in Docket Yard while it answers you: a proceeding's docket sheet, a decision, the text of a page in a filing, or a count of filings by type, back to 1996. It does this through a connector — a standard called MCP — that you add once.
The connector only reads. There is no account, no key and nothing to pay; it cannot file, subscribe or change anything. The address to add is:
https://docketyard.org/mcp
Claude
On the web at claude.ai or in the Claude desktop app, on any plan (the Free plan allows one custom connector):
- Open Customize, then Connectors.
- Select +, then Add custom connector.
- Name it “Docket Yard”, paste https://docketyard.org/mcp, leave the advanced settings empty, and select Add.
- In a chat, select + at the lower left of the message box, open Connectors, and turn Docket Yard on.
On a Team or Enterprise plan, an organization Owner adds it once under Organization settings → Connectors; members then select Connect on it under Customize → Connectors. A connector added on the web or desktop is also available in Claude's phone apps. Anthropic's own guide: custom connectors.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT adds a server like this one through developer mode, on the web, on paid plans. Turn developer mode on in Settings, add an app with the address above and no authentication, then choose it from the + menu in a chat. On a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace an admin has to allow it first. OpenAI renames these menus often, so follow its current guide: developer mode.
In a code editor or terminal
| Tool | How |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | claude mcp add --transport http docket-yard https://docketyard.org/mcp |
| VS Code with GitHub Copilot | Run MCP: Add Server from the Command Palette, or add to .vscode/mcp.json: {"servers": {"docket-yard": {"type": "http", "url": "https://docketyard.org/mcp"}}}. On a Copilot Business or Enterprise seat, an admin must allow MCP servers. |
| Cursor | Add to .cursor/mcp.json (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project): {"mcpServers": {"docket-yard": {"url": "https://docketyard.org/mcp"}}} |
| Gemini CLI | gemini mcp add --transport http docket-yard https://docketyard.org/mcp |
Any other assistant that supports remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP can use the same address. The technical description is on the API page and at /.well-known/mcp.json.
Things to ask
- “What has happened recently in FD 36873?”
- “Find filings that mention Tehachapi, and tell me which docket each is in.”
- “How many abandonment proceedings hold a Consummation Notice and a trail-use filing?”
- “Read page 2 of decision 46314 and tell me when the exemption became effective.”
Check what it tells you
Docket Yard gives the assistant the record with its limits attached: what the record does not cover, that dates and captions are quoted as the Board printed them, and a link to the Board's own file on every answer. What the assistant then says is its own, and it can be wrong — especially about text read by machine from an old scan. Before you rely on an answer, open the Board's document it links. The document is the record; the answer is not.
If something looks wrong
- The assistant does not use Docket Yard. Make sure the connector is turned on in that chat, and name it in your question: “Using Docket Yard, …”.
- It is missing a tool this page mentions. Assistants remember a connector's tools from when it was added. Remove the connector and add it again, then start a new chat.
- It says the record holds nothing. That is an absence in this record, not proof of absence at the Board; coverage says what the record does not yet hold.
Privacy
No account or sign-in is involved, and nothing identifies you to Docket Yard. Your conversation is held by your assistant's provider, under its terms; Docket Yard sees only the lookups the assistant makes, and treats them as it treats any page request — see privacy.