Verify legal case citations against real court records; flag fake/hallucinated cites.
Stop your AI from citing fake cases. LegalCite checks every case citation in legal text against real court records (CourtListener) and flags hallucinated/fake or misattributed cites. A REST API + an MCP server.
GET /api/verify?text=<paragraph> (or ?citation="410 U.S. 113"; also POST {text})verify_citations(text) → npm legalcite-mcp| verdict | meaning |
|---|---|
real | the case exists and (if named) the name matches |
not-found | no such case — likely hallucinated |
mismatch | citation is real, but the case name in the text is wrong |
/c/{reporter}/{vol}/{page}/ finder (redirects to the opinion when real, 404 when not).COURTLISTENER_TOKEN (free) → uses CourtListener's citation-lookup endpoint (Eyecite extraction + full metadata).It never fabricates — an unresolved citation is reported not-found, never invented.
api/verify.js REST endpoint (quota + verify)
api/health.js liveness + CourtListener check
api/checkout|key|stripe-webhook.js Stripe Pro billing
lib/verify.js citation extraction + CourtListener resolution (core)
lib/store.js Redis quota + key store (fail-open without REDIS_URL)
lib/stripe.js lazy Stripe client
mcp/server.js MCP stdio server — verify_citations tool
public/ landing, docs, pricing, llms.txt
scripts/setup-stripe-product.js one-time Stripe product/price (test key)
COURTLISTENER_TOKEN — free; enables richer citation-lookup + metadata.REDIS_URL — Upstash; enables hard daily quota + caching (fail-open without it).STRIPE_SECRET_KEY / STRIPE_PRICE_ID / STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET — Pro billing.Free: 20 checks/day by IP. Pro: 2,000/day, $19/mo, 7-day trial.
Not legal advice. Verifies citation existence/metadata only — not legal correctness or good-law status.
Source-derived launch command. Check the maintainer’s required arguments and credentials before running:
npx -y legalcite-mcpMerge this template into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Keep existing servers. Add any arguments, credentials, and permissions required by the maintainer; this template has not been install-tested.
{
"mcpServers": {
"io-github-kevinx702-legalcite": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"legalcite-mcp"
]
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect. Confirm the server appears connected in the client’s tool list, then try a read-only example from its documentation.
Claude Desktop setup referenceio.github.Kevinx702/legalcite works with any MCP-compatible client. Copy the config snippet from the Configuration section above and add it to the file shown for your client, then restart the application.
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonRestart Claude Desktop completely for changes to take effect.~/.cursor/mcp.jsonRestart Cursor for changes to take effect..vscode/mcp.jsonReload VS Code window for changes to take effect.~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.jsonRestart Windsurf for changes to take effect..mcp.jsonSave at the project root, then start Claude Code in that project and review the MCP server approval prompt. Keep real credentials out of shared files.