Guide · Platform reality
What the MyCase API can and cannot automate
Endpoint lists are easy to find. What is harder to find is which parts hold up in production, which come with conditions that change the design, and which common requests are simply not supported.
Most write-ups of the MyCase API list the endpoints and stop. That is not the useful part. The useful part is which of them hold up in production, which come with conditions that change your design, and which of the things a firm asks for every week are simply not there. This is what we found building on it, verified against the published documentation.
Getting access is the first constraint
Open API access sits on the qualifying MyCase tier, and credentials are issued per firm by MyCase support rather than through a self-serve developer portal. A firm administrator has to complete the authorization, and it cannot be handed to an assistant. Practically, this means the paperwork, not the build, is usually the long pole in the timeline. Start it on day one.
Two more things shape the architecture. Access tokens last about a day and refresh tokens last two weeks, so an integration that sits idle longer than that forces the firm to re-authorize by hand. And the rate limit is generous for event-driven work but not for bulk backfills.
What holds up well
Files post to a matter by path, and any folders in that path that do not exist are created automatically. That removes an entire category of work: you compute a path string instead of resolving folder IDs, and a firm-standard folder tree builds itself per matter. Upload is two steps, so treat "record created, bytes not yet uploaded" as a recoverable state.
Created against the right client with activity, date, cost and units. Two conditions matter: an expense cannot carry the receipt file, so the receipt is filed to the matter and referenced on the expense, and expenses cannot be updated, only deleted and recreated. Design corrections accordingly, and pin the activity name to the firm's existing list or you will quietly invent new billing categories.
Callers can be matched to an existing client or lead, new callers created as leads, and the call logged with who it was for and whether it still needs attention. This is the cleanest path for logging intake activity.
Enough to drive stage-based task chains, calendar entries and time capture. There is no dependency concept, so the chain logic lives in your system rather than the platform's.
Fields can be created and their values set on cases, clients and companies. Note that a field cannot be renamed after creation.
What is not there
There is no email endpoint. Message threads in the API refer to client portal messaging, not correspondence. Firms that need mail on the file use MyCase's own routing, or the message gets filed as a matter document with its metadata preserved. Either way it is a design decision to make openly, not a gap to paper over.
There is no trust balance, trust ledger or retainer endpoint. The only balance-shaped field is an outstanding balance on the case, and it is a value the firm sets rather than a computed ledger. This matters enormously if you have been promised an automated trust report. See our guide to trust balance reporting for what remains possible.
Invoices can be listed and payments recorded against them, but invoices cannot be created or edited through the API, and there are no line items. One trap worth knowing: the invoice list defaults to only those enabled for online payment, so a query that looks complete can be silently partial.
Webhooks cover cases, clients, companies, events, leads and messages. Nothing financial, and nothing for tasks or documents. Anything money-related has to be polled, which shapes both freshness and cost.
The single most useful thing to know about the MyCase API is that documents are better than you expect and trust data is not there at all.
What this means for a scope
Document filing, expense entry, intake logging and task or calendar automation are all straightforward to commit to. Anything touching trust balances needs its delivery route agreed and proven before it is priced. Anything touching email needs a decision about which path the firm accepts. And anything financial needs to be designed as a scheduled pull rather than an event stream.
If a vendor quotes you a fully automated trust report on MyCase without mentioning any of this, ask them which endpoint they plan to use.
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