Best Practices

This page outlines recommended practices for securely and efficiently using the pacersdk library when working with the PACER Case Locator (PCL) API.

Secure Your Credentials

Avoid hardcoding your PACER credentials directly into your scripts or source code.

Recommendations:

  • Use environment variables:

    export PACER_USERNAME="your-username"
export PACER_PASSWORD="your-password"

  • Access them in Python:

    from os import getenv
username = getenv("PACER_USERNAME")
password = getenv("PACER_PASSWORD")

  • Consider using secret managers (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, AWS Secrets Manager) in production environments.

Use the QA Environment for Testing

PACER provides a QA environment with test data that is not billable. Always use this environment for development and testing:

client = PCLClient(username, password, environment="qa")

This helps avoid unintended charges during development.

Minimize Token Overhead

When using services repeatedly, avoid reauthenticating every time:

  • Initialize a single instance of PCLClient and reuse it.

  • All service methods share a session and reuse the authentication token.

  • Tokens are refreshed only when necessary.

Avoid Unnecessary Requests

The PACER API may rate-limit or restrict excessive use. You can reduce load by:

  • Filtering your queries to narrow result sets.

  • Using sorting parameters to organize results efficiently.

  • Paginating results to limit the size of each request.

Use Batch Requests Wisely

Batch endpoints are ideal for submitting large searches asynchronously. Use them when:

  • You’re retrieving many cases or parties at once.

  • You don’t need immediate results and can poll for completion.

For more details, see the Batch Search guide.

Protect Sensitive Information

If you use OTP-based authentication or store any redaction credentials:

  • Avoid logging full request payloads that include secrets.

  • Rotate credentials regularly.

  • Use .gitignore to exclude sensitive config files from source control.