> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.casebyte.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Casebyte API

> Search and retrieve Hong Kong case law over a single REST API.

The Casebyte API gives you programmatic access to the same Hong Kong case-law
corpus that powers [casebyte.ai](https://casebyte.ai) — roughly 157,000
judgments from the HKSAR courts, with full text, neutral citations, and
case-to-case citation links.

Search judgments, follow citation links and read recent Daily summaries through
one REST API with API-key authentication.

> **[Quickstart](https://docs.casebyte.ai/quickstart.md)**
>
> Get an API key and make your first request in under five minutes.

> **[API reference](https://docs.casebyte.ai/api-reference/introduction.md)**
>
> Endpoints, parameters, response shapes, and error codes.

> **[Search syntax](https://docs.casebyte.ai/guides/search-syntax.md)**
>
> Phrases, boolean operators, field scoping, and fuzzy matching.

> **[Identifiers](https://docs.casebyte.ai/guides/identifiers.md)**
>
> Case IDs, neutral citations, and action numbers — and when to use each.

> **[Daily summaries](https://docs.casebyte.ai/guides/daily-summaries.md)**
>
> Seven days of case summaries for news and video integrations.

## What you can do

> **Run boolean searches over the full corpus**
>
> Search case names and judgment text with phrases, AND/OR/NOT operators,
> field-scoped queries, and fuzzy matching. Filter by court and date range,
> paginate with offset/limit.
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> GET /v1/cases/search?q=%22wednesbury+unreasonable%22&court=HKCFA,HKCA
> ```

> **Retrieve a judgment by any identifier**
>
> Look up a case by canonical case ID, neutral citation, or action number.
> Returns metadata plus the full plain-text judgment.
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> GET /v1/cases/HKCFA_2023_5
> GET /v1/cases/%5B2023%5D%20HKCFA%205
> GET /v1/cases/FACV%205%2F2022
> ```

> **Find cases that cite a judgment**
>
> Returns later judgments that cite the case, deduplicated and sorted by
> publication date. Includes both direct case-to-case citations and citations
> by action number.
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> GET /v1/cases/HKCFA_2023_5/cited-by
> ```

## Base URL

```
https://api.casebyte.ai
```

All endpoints live under `/v1/`. The unauthenticated `/health` endpoint returns
`{ "status": "ok" }` and is suitable for uptime checks.

## Authentication

Every request to `/v1/*` must carry a Bearer token:

```http theme={null}
Authorization: Bearer cb_live_...
```

API keys are issued from your [casebyte.ai dashboard](https://casebyte.ai/dashboard).
See [Quickstart](https://docs.casebyte.ai/quickstart.md) for the full walkthrough.

## Coverage

| Field | Value |
| - | - |
| Jurisdiction | Hong Kong (HKSAR) |
| Courts | Court of Final Appeal, Court of Appeal, Court of First Instance, District Court, Family Court, Magistrates' Courts, plus tribunals (Lands, Labour, Small Claims, Obscene Articles, Competition) and the Coroner's Court |
| Approximate corpus size | \~157,000 judgments |
| Update cadence | Daily, with new judgments typically available within 24 hours of publication |

UK and other Commonwealth jurisdictions are not exposed in v1.

## Rate limits

10 requests per minute, per API key. Responses include `X-RateLimit-Limit`
and `X-RateLimit-Remaining` headers so you can pace yourself; over-limit
requests return `429`. Full details in [Rate limits](https://docs.casebyte.ai/guides/rate-limits.md).

## Need more?

If you're hitting rate limits, need bulk export, or want jurisdictions outside
Hong Kong, get in touch at [support@casebyte.ai](mailto:support@casebyte.ai).


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