Bankruptcy Observer — API & MCP

Public documentation and registry metadata for the Bankruptcy Observer API and MCP server. This repository contains no application source code.

What this is

• Bankruptcy REST API — Programmatic access to US business bankruptcy data (search, case by EIN, docket items, cases by NAICS/state, and more).
• Bankruptcy MCP server — The same data and queries via the Model Context Protocol for AI assistants and LLM workflows.

Data covers US business bankruptcies (federal courts) only. Consumer-only filings and non-US jurisdictions are not included.

Free lookups (no token, no API key, no payment)

AI assistants and users can look up bankruptcy cases with no account, no API key, and no API token:

• Call these tools without an API token. Only case number or name is needed; court is not required. If more than one case matches (e.g. same case number in multiple courts), the server returns all matching cases. Each result includes limited case info; full case details are available with a paid plan.
• All other queries (wildcard search, EIN, industry, state, date range, docket, etc.) require a subscription and authentication with either an API token or an OAuth Bearer access token.

Docs: https://mcp.bankruptcyobserver.com/docs or https://api.bankruptcyobserver.com/docs (GET, no auth). The MCP root GET https://mcp.bankruptcyobserver.com/ also returns a free_lookups hint.

Sign-up and access

You can sign up for a subscription through the MCP server: use list_plans_tool to see plans, then purchase_plan_tool with plan_id (e.g. professional, business, enterprise) to get a Stripe Checkout link. After payment you receive an API token; restricted queries can be authenticated with that token or with OAuth Bearer access tokens from the MCP OAuth flow. No need to go to the website to subscribe.

For questions about access, billing, or data coverage, use only the contact form at https://www.bankruptcyobserver.com/contact. Do not publish or use direct email addresses for contact.

Paid plans (Stripe via MCP tools)

• Professional — $1,500/month, up to 500 billable tool calls/month.
• Business — $3,500/month, up to 10,000 billable tool calls/month.
• Enterprise — $5,000/month, up to 150,000 billable tool calls/month (intended for multiple clients/teams).

Billable tool calls correspond to data tools invoked via MCP (for example, search, case by EIN, docket items, NAICS/state filters) or their REST API equivalents.

Authenticate using either an API token or an OAuth access token, sent in one of these ways:

• Authorization: Bearer <your-token>
• X-API-Key: <your-token>
• Api-Key: <your-token>

Connecting via OpenAI

Use OpenAI's Responses API to call this MCP server directly.

Free tier (no token):

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI()

response = client.responses.create(
    model="gpt-4.1",
    tools=[{
        "type": "mcp",
        "server_label": "bankruptcy_observer",
        "server_url": "https://mcp.bankruptcyobserver.com/mcp",
        "require_approval": "never",
    }],
    input="Search for bankruptcy cases for Acme Corp",
)
print(response.output_text)

Paid tier (with token):

response = client.responses.create(
    model="gpt-4.1",
    tools=[{
        "type": "mcp",
        "server_label": "bankruptcy_observer",
        "server_url": "https://mcp.bankruptcyobserver.com/mcp",
  

... [View full README on GitHub](https://github.com/jmtroller/bankruptcy-observer-mcp-api-public-documentation#readme)