# Nationwide Full Court Search API

> Coming soon. Go beyond criminal background searches with a broader view of US court records.

- **HTML:** https://offendersearch.app/docs/court-search
- **Base URL (live):** https://api.offendersearch.app — live keys (`os_live_…`)
- **Base URL (sandbox):** https://sandbox.offendersearch.app — test keys (`os_test_…`), never billed
- **Authentication:** `X-API-Key` request header
- **OpenAPI:** https://offendersearch.app/openapi.json · https://offendersearch.app/openapi.yaml
- **Docs index for agents:** https://offendersearch.app/llms.txt

## Status: in development, not yet available

> **Not available today.** This page describes a planned product. There are no endpoints to call, no schemas to generate against and no launch date to plan around. Nothing below is implemented behaviour.

OffenderSearch is developing a nationwide court-search API intended to support searches across available criminal **and non-criminal** court proceedings. The aim is to make a wider range of public court information reachable through the same platform, authentication and response conventions as the [Criminal Records API](/docs/criminal) that exists today.

When it launches it will receive its own quickstart, guides, API reference, data reference and coverage documentation, in the same shape as every other product here.

## Planned areas of coverage

Potential record categories under evaluation:

- Criminal court cases.
- Civil litigation.
- Judgments.
- Additional publicly available court proceedings.
- Other court record categories as supported by available sources.

> **Warning.** Specific case types and jurisdictions will be confirmed before they are advertised as supported. Complete coverage of every US court is not promised, and no jurisdiction is "covered" until its records are actually searchable.

## How it differs from the Criminal Records API

|  | Criminal Records API (available now) | Nationwide Full Court Search API (planned) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Scope | Criminal records: jail bookings, prison (DOC) inmates, criminal court cases, warrants, registries and exclusion lists. | Court records broadly, including non-criminal proceedings such as civil cases and judgments. |
| Court records today | Criminal court cases from the court sources the platform holds — see [coverage](/docs/criminal/coverage). | Intended to extend court-record access beyond criminal matters. |
| Status | Live. [Quickstart](/docs/criminal/quickstart) · [API reference](/docs/criminal/api-reference). | In development. No endpoints published. |

If you need criminal court records now, the Criminal Records API already returns them as `court_case` records with charges, dispositions and case numbers. Read [Understanding record types](/docs/guides/criminal/record-types) for what each record kind means.

## Planned use cases

- Tenant and vendor due diligence that needs civil judgments alongside criminal history.
- Investigations that follow a person or a business across civil and criminal dockets.
- Compliance and research workflows that need a unified way to find court proceedings across many jurisdictions.

Each of these depends on sources that must be verified before launch; the list describes intent, not a commitment to a particular jurisdiction or case type.

## What to build with today

- [Criminal Records API](https://offendersearch.app/docs/criminal): criminal court cases, jail bookings, inmates, warrants — live now
- [Sex Offender Search API](https://offendersearch.app/docs/sex-offender): all 58 US registries in one call
- [Monitoring API](https://offendersearch.app/docs/monitoring): standing watches with alerts
- [Criminal records vs. court records](https://offendersearch.app/docs/products/criminal-vs-court-records): the distinction, explained

Launch updates will be announced on the [changelog](/docs/changelog). Questions about the planned scope: [support@offendersearch.app](mailto:support@offendersearch.app).

## Related

- [Criminal Records API](https://offendersearch.app/docs/criminal)
- [Which API should I use?](https://offendersearch.app/docs/products/which-api)
- [Changelog](https://offendersearch.app/docs/changelog)