search

name	search
description	Searches the web, legal databases, case law, patents, and case.dev knowledge base via the casedev CLI. Use when the user mentions "search", "legal research", "find cases", "case law", "patent search", "web search", "fetch URL", "webfetch", "legal skills", or needs to research legal topics, find similar cases, or retrieve web content.

case.dev Search

Unified search across web, legal databases, case law, patents, vault contents, and the case.dev skills knowledge base.

Requires the casedev CLI. See setup skill for installation and auth.

Web Search

casedev search web "employment discrimination California" --json
casedev search web "SEC enforcement actions 2024" --limit 20 --json

Flags:

• --limit / -l — max results (default: 10)
• --news — news articles instead of general web
• --type — explicit type: search or news
• --include-domain — restrict to domain(s), repeatable
• --exclude-domain — exclude domain(s), repeatable

Web Fetch

Fetch and extract content from URLs:

casedev search webfetch "https://example.com/ruling.html" --json

Flags:

• --livecrawl — force live crawl instead of cache
• --subpages — also crawl linked subpages
• --subpage-target N — max subpages (default: 5)
• --max-chars N — truncate content
• --timeout N — livecrawl timeout in seconds (default: 30)
• --context — contextual hint for extraction
• --no-summary — skip summary generation
• --no-highlights — skip highlights extraction
• --strict — fail if any URL cannot be fetched
• --fallback — if fetch fails, fall back to web search

Multiple URLs: casedev search webfetch URL1 URL2 --json

Legal Search

Find legal authorities by topic:

casedev search legal "breach of fiduciary duty" --json
casedev search legal "ERISA preemption" --jurisdiction "federal" --json

Flags:

• --jurisdiction — filter by jurisdiction
• --limit / -l — max results (default: 10)
• --deep — uses the research endpoint with multi-query analysis
• --alt-query — additional search queries for deep mode, repeatable

Deep mode example:

casedev search legal "force majeure pandemic" --deep \
  --alt-query "impossibility of performance COVID" \
  --alt-query "frustration of purpose" --json

Case Search

Two modes — query-based and similarity-based:

By query

casedev search cases "wrongful termination retaliation" --json
casedev search cases "patent infringement software" --jurisdiction "federal" --json

By similarity (find cases similar to a known case)

casedev search cases --url "https://casetext.com/case/example-v-example" --json
casedev search cases --url "https://example.com/case" --after "2020-01-01" --json

Flags:

• --jurisdiction — filter by jurisdiction
• --limit / -l — max results (default: 10)
• --url — source case URL for similarity search
• --after — only cases published after this date (ISO format, similarity mode)

Patent Search

casedev search patent "machine learning natural language processing" --json

Flags:

• --assignee — filter by patent assignee
• --inventor — filter by inventor name
• --status — application status filter
• --type — application type filter
• --filing-from — filing date range start
• --filing-to — filing date range end
• --offset — pagination offset (default: 0)
• --limit / -l — max results (default: 25)

Vault Semantic Search

Search within vault documents (also available via vaults skill):

casedev search vault "indemnification clause" --vault VAULT_ID --json

See vaults skill for full vault search documentation.

Skills Knowledge Base

Search and read from the case.dev legal skills knowledge base:

# Search skills
casedev skills search "contract review" --json
casedev search skills "deposition preparation" --json

# Read a specific skill
casedev skills read SKILL_SLUG --json
casedev skills read SKILL_SLUG --content-only

Skills search flags: --limit / -l (1-20, default: 10), --show-summary.

Skills read flags: --no-references, --content-only.

Troubleshooting

"Missing query": Provide the search query as a positional argument or with --query "...".

"Missing vault ID" for vault search: Use --vault VAULT_ID or set focus.

Web fetch unavailable: Use --fallback to fall back to web search, or use casedev search web directly.

No legal results: Try broader terms, remove jurisdiction filter, or use --deep mode with --alt-query variations.