practicepanther-mcp
MCP server for PracticePanther legal practice management software. Enables reading and creating matters, contacts, time entries, invoices, and more via natural language.
README
PracticePanther MCP
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for PracticePanther — cloud-based legal practice management software for solo and small-to-mid law firms.
Talk to PracticePanther from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client. Read matters (cases), client accounts, contacts, time entries (billable hours), invoices, activities, tasks, calendar events — and create new records. Built against PracticePanther's public OAuth 2 + REST + OData API.
No existing MCP for PracticePanther — this is the first.
What you can do with it
You: "List open matters for account 'Acme Corp' and show last week's time entries."
Claude: *find_accounts → find_matters (odata filter status=open) → find_time_entries*
You: "Log 2.5 hours on matter 4421 for Sarah Lee today — research on the deposition brief."
Claude: *create_time_entry with matterId=4421, userId=<Sarah's>, date=today, hours=2.5,
description="Research: deposition brief", billable=true*
You: "Show all unpaid invoices over 60 days old across the firm."
Claude: *find_invoices (status=sent/overdue, startDate=2024-04-01) → summary*
You: "Book a hearing for matter 7788 on Friday May 30 at 2pm — judge Miller, courthouse 5."
Claude: *create_event with matterId=7788, startsAt, attendees, location*
Why this exists
- PracticePanther's web UI is fine for solo use but doesn't expose firm-wide rollups (which matters are bleeding hours, which clients are slow-paying, who's about to blow a statute).
- Logging billable hours from the UI requires click-through per entry — Claude can batch-log 10 entries in a single conversation.
- The legal vertical has had Clio MCP servers for over a year; solo and small firms on PracticePanther had nothing equivalent.
- For solo/small-firm attorneys, automating "what did I bill this week?" / "what's overdue?" / "log these 6 hours" is the most concrete, recurring time-save.
Install
pip install -e .
Authenticate (one-time)
PracticePanther uses OAuth 2 authorization-code flow. The included helper script runs the full flow locally and prints the env vars to set:
practicepanther-mcp-auth --client-id <your_client_id> --client-secret <your_client_secret>
This opens your browser, walks you through PracticePanther login, captures the redirect on http://localhost:8765/callback, exchanges the code for tokens, and prints:
export PRACTICEPANTHER_ACCESS_TOKEN="..."
export PRACTICEPANTHER_REFRESH_TOKEN="..."
export PRACTICEPANTHER_CLIENT_ID="..."
export PRACTICEPANTHER_CLIENT_SECRET="..."
To register an OAuth app, contact PracticePanther support or your account manager — they issue client_id + client_secret per integration.
Configure
Once you have tokens, set them in your shell (or paste into the Claude Desktop config below):
export PRACTICEPANTHER_ACCESS_TOKEN="..."
export PRACTICEPANTHER_REFRESH_TOKEN="..."
export PRACTICEPANTHER_CLIENT_ID="..."
export PRACTICEPANTHER_CLIENT_SECRET="..."
Refresh tokens last 60 days. The MCP client auto-refreshes the access token; when the refresh token expires, just re-run practicepanther-mcp-auth.
Use with Claude Desktop
{
"mcpServers": {
"practicepanther_mcp": {
"command": "practicepanther_mcp",
"env": {
"PRACTICEPANTHER_ACCESS_TOKEN": "...",
"PRACTICEPANTHER_REFRESH_TOKEN": "...",
"PRACTICEPANTHER_CLIENT_ID": "...",
"PRACTICEPANTHER_CLIENT_SECRET": "..."
}
}
}
}
Tools (25)
| Tool | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
health_check |
Diagnostic | Verifies credentials by listing users |
find_matters |
Read | Search matters (cases) — supports OData $filter, $orderby, $select |
get_matter |
Read | Single matter with full detail |
create_matter |
Write | Open new matter |
update_matter |
Write | Patch matter fields |
find_accounts |
Read | Search client accounts |
get_account |
Read | Single client account |
create_account |
Write | New client account |
find_contacts |
Read | List contacts on accounts |
create_contact |
Write | New contact |
find_time_entries |
Read | The killer feature — billable hours across the firm |
get_time_entry |
Read | Single time entry |
create_time_entry |
Write | Log billable/non-billable time |
update_time_entry |
Write | Patch time entry |
find_invoices |
Read | List invoices (filter by status, matter, account, date) |
get_invoice |
Read | Single invoice with line items |
create_invoice |
Write | New invoice |
find_activities |
Read | Calls, emails, meetings |
create_activity |
Write | Log activity against matter |
find_tasks |
Read | Tasks (to-dos) |
create_task |
Write | New task |
find_events |
Read | Calendar events (hearings, deadlines) |
create_event |
Write | New calendar event |
list_users |
Reference | Firm staff (attorneys, paralegals) |
list_practice_areas |
Reference | Practice areas (Family Law, PI, etc.) |
list_expense_categories |
Reference | Expense categories |
API coverage
Maps MCP tools to PracticePanther's OData-enabled REST API (/api/v2/*). The full surface is exposed via Swagger UI: https://app.practicepanther.com/swagger/ui/index.
This MCP exposes the resources a solo/small-firm attorney most often needs: matters, accounts, contacts, time entries, invoices, activities, tasks, calendar. Document management and trust accounting endpoints are intentionally out of scope for v0.1 — open an issue if you need them.
Rate limits
PracticePanther throttles at the OAuth-app level. The client auto-retries once on 401 (refreshes the access token) but does not retry on 429 — slow down if you hit rate limits.
Development
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest
ruff check src tests
practicepanther_mcp
See also
- PracticePanther API docs
- PracticePanther Swagger UI
- Model Context Protocol
- More vertical MCPs from sanjibani
Need a custom MCP for your SaaS?
I build production-grade MCP servers for vertical SaaS — insurance, dental, veterinary, legal, property mgmt, home services. Typical engagement: 2-4 weeks, $25K-$120K. Source-owned, MIT-licensed, no vendor lock-in.
See sanjibani/mcp-services or email schoudhury1991@gmail.com.
Ships in the sanjibani vertical-MCP portfolio — see also hawksoft-mcp, open-dental-mcp, ezyvet-mcp, jobber-mcp, mcp-vertical-template.
MIT.
Acknowledgements
- PracticePanther for the public REST + OData API + OAuth flow
- Built using mcp-vertical-template
- Inspired by sanjibani/hawksoft-mcp and the rest of the sanjibani vertical-MCP portfolio
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