Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

The PACER system supports multi-factor authentication (MFA) through a time-based one-time password (TOTP) mechanism.

This library supports MFA by allowing you to pass a base32-encoded TOTP secret key when initializing the client. This secret is available on the PACER user account page when enabling MFA.

Using MFA with PCLClient

To authenticate with MFA enabled, pass the TOTP secret directly:

from pacersdk.client import PCLClient

client = PCLClient(
    username="your_username",
    password="your_password",
    secret="YOUR_BASE32_SECRET",  # PACER TOTP secret
    environment="qa"
)

result = client.search_cases({
    "caseTitle": "Smith"
})
print(result)

Notes

  • The base32-encoded TOTP secret is typically available from the PACER account settings page when enabling MFA.

  • The secret argument is optional and only required when MFA is enabled.

  • The client will automatically generate the correct TOTP code using the provided secret and attach it to the login request.

  • Each TOTP code is valid for approximately 30 seconds.