Cursitor

A litigation kit for Claude Code: a court-day calendar engine that prints every date with its arithmetic, California and federal pleading paper, exhibit packages with Bates numbers, OCR, page:line search in PDFs, a read-the-record gate before a paper goes out, muzzle lists, fork cards for decisions, and a Claude Code plugin that wires them into a session.

It runs on your Mac with Python 3.9 and two Python packages. The calendar, pleading, paste, gate, muzzle, fork and OCR code make no network calls. Two commands reach the network, and only when asked: brief reads a CourtListener feed when matter.json names a docket_url, and desk serves a page on 127.0.0.1.

The example matter, Jane Doe v. Roe Holdings, LLC, Case No. 26CV000000, is fictional. So is every name, address and number in it.

Install

git clone <this repository> cursitor
cd cursitor
python3 -m pip install --user -r requirements.txt     # pypdf, reportlab
brew install ocrmypdf tesseract ghostscript poppler   # OCR and pdftotext (optional)
bin/cursitor --help

Put bin/ on your PATH, or symlink bin/cursitor into a folder that is, to type cursitor anywhere. python3 -m cursitor works from the repository folder.

Without ocrmypdf, OCR falls back to tesseract with ghostscript. Without those, the OCR step names what to install and the rest of the kit works on PDFs that already carry text.

A matter folder

cursitor new-matter ~/Matters/doe-v-roe --plaintiff "Jane Doe" --defendant "Roe Holdings, LLC" \
    --case-no 26CV000000 --county Alameda --reader-tz Europe/London

matter.json      caption, parties, identifiers, reader_tz, docket_url
calendar.json    dates; each SCHEDULED only when `order` names a file on disk
STATUS.md        narrative, append-only; the last dated block wins
DONE.md          ledger; a dated line is done
muzzles.txt      words, names and patterns that stay off paper
CLAUDE.md        the matter's rules for Claude
served/          discovery and papers you served
received/        responses, notices and orders you received
drafts/  exhibits/  out/  forks/  paste/

new-matter also records the folder in ~/.cursitor/matters.txt, which guard reads.

Commands

Command	What it does
boot [matter]	Prints the boot order: last STATUS block, dated DONE lines, next dates, open forks
brief [matter] [--today D]	Due today, next 7 days, clocks running, PROPOSED items, flags, open forks, docket check
deadline from --served D --method M --rule R	One deadline, forward from service, with its arithmetic
deadline back --hearing D --rule R	One deadline, counted back from a hearing
deadline brief-schedule --hearing D --rules ca	Last day to serve the motion by each method, opposition and reply (fed.cdcal too)
deadline list	Rules, periods, citations, service methods
deadline ics calendar.json out.ics	Calendar file with the arithmetic in each event
deadline holidays --year Y --jurisdiction ca --write	Prints or writes a holiday table
pos proof.pdf [--confirm]	Reads a proof of service, prints the deadlines it starts as PROPOSED
plead in.txt out.pdf [--caption c.json] [--format ca|federal|letter] [--signed NAME]	Pleading paper or a letter
paste-clean in.txt [-o out.txt]	Repairs text pasted from a PDF, Word or a court site
ocr file.pdf...	Searchable PDFs, written as file.ocr.pdf
exhibits folder out --prefix DOE	Ordered, OCR'd, slip-sheeted, Bates-stamped package with index.txt
ask file.pdf words...	Matching passages cited page:line
gate draft [matter] [--read]	Passages in served/, received/, notes/ on the draft's subject; BLOCKED until --read
muzzle draft [matter]	Exit 1 on any muzzles.txt entry, with line numbers
voice files...	Filler, throat-clearing and absolute-assurance check, word lists per firm
fork new / list / decide	Fork cards in forks/, decisions appended to forks/decisions.jsonl
link add / list / prune / mv	Short ASCII symlinks in ~/cursitor-links/
txt in.md [out.txt]	Markdown to plain text, one paragraph per line
guard [repo] / guard install [repo]	Blocks a push carrying a matter's identifiers; writes a pre-push hook
send [matter] [N] --reveal|--copy|--mail	A recent output: Finder, clipboard, or a Mail draft with it attached
desk	Large-type window in the browser at 127.0.0.1:8765

The calendar engine

Rules live in rules/ca.json and rules/federal.json, one entry per rule with its period, direction and citation. Holidays live in holidays/*.json, written by holidays.py from the rules that define them, each table with a source and a verify field. Edit a table to match a court's own closures; the engine reads the table when it exists and computes the year when it does not.

Every result is one line:

Due Wed Sep 9 2026 — served by email Aug 5 + 30 days (CCP §2030.260) = Fri Sep 4; + 2 court days e-service (§1010.6(a)(3)(B)), skipping Mon Sep 7 Labor Day = Wed Sep 9.

California: CCP §12 and §12a counting, §12c backward counting, §1013(a) mail (+5 / +10 / +20 calendar days), §1013(c) overnight and §1010.6(a)(3)(B) e-service (+2 court days), discovery responses (§2030.260, §2031.260, §2033.250), motions to compel further (§2030.300(c), §2031.310(c), §2033.290(c)), answer (§412.20(a)(3), with the service-complete rules of §415.20, §415.30, §415.40), notice, opposition and reply (§1005(b)), case management statement (CRC 3.725). Holidays: CCP §135, Gov. Code §6700, CRC 1.11.

Federal: FRCP 6(a) counting, 6(a)(5) backward, 6(d) +3 days for mail, clerk and consented service (none for electronic service), answer (12(a)(1)(A)(i) and (ii)), discovery responses (33(b)(2), 34(b)(2)(A), 36(a)(3)), and the C.D. Cal. motion schedule (L.R. 6-1, 7-9, 7-10). Holidays: 5 U.S.C. §6103. A California holiday on a federal due date shows as a note (FRCP 6(a)(6)(C)); --state-holidays applies it.

Status in calendar.json: SCHEDULED when order names a file on disk, PROPOSED otherwise. An entry with moved: true needs moved_by naming the signed stipulation or order, or brief flags it. So does a date with no rule and no arithmetic, and a stated date that differs from what its rule computes.

Claude Code plugin

The plugin is in plugin/. The repository root carries .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, so the repository is also a marketplace.

claude --plugin-dir ./plugin                 # one session
claude plugin marketplace add ./             # or, inside a session: /plugin marketplace add ./
claude plugin install cursitor@cursitor

It adds:

• slash commands: /cursitor:boot, brief, deadline, plead, exhibits, ocr, paste, gate, fork, link, send;
• skills: calendaring, pleading-paper, exhibits-and-pdfs, read-the-record-gate, forks, file-links;
• hooks: after Write or Edit on a file under a matter's drafts/, muzzle and voice run and report hits back to Claude (exit 2); before a Bash command containing git push, guard runs and blocks the push on a hit.

The plugin finds the engine through plugin/scripts/cursitor: $CURSITOR_ROOT/bin/cursitor, then the repository folder above the plugin, then cursitor on PATH. When the plugin is installed from a copy without the engine, set CURSITOR_ROOT to the repository folder.

The desk

cursitor desk --matter ~/Matters/doe-v-roe (or double-click Cursitor.command in Finder) opens a page with six buttons: Paste a lawsuit, Add PDFs, Make pleading paper, What's due, Ask a PDF, Send. The server listens on 127.0.0.1 only, answers requests addressed to 127.0.0.1 or localhost, and checks a token printed into the page at start-up. Uploads and results go to ~/.cursitor/desk/.

Tests and samples

python3 tests/run.py               # uses pytest when installed, else a small built-in runner
python3 scripts/make_example.py    # rebuilds the example matter's PDFs and the messy paste
python3 scripts/make_samples.py    # rebuilds docs/samples/ from the example matter

Layout

cursitor/        the package (python3 -m cursitor)
bin/cursitor     command-line shim
rules/           rule tables, one citation per rule
holidays/        holiday tables with source and verify fields
templates/       paper formats: ca, federal, letter
desk/            the desk page
plugin/          Claude Code plugin
examples/        the fictional example matter
tests/           tests
scripts/         example and sample builders
docs/samples/    outputs generated from the example matter