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Kyle Dingman edited this page Jun 29, 2026 · 8 revisions

DingDuff Installation & Help

DingDuff is a legal-research connector for Claude. It links your own Claude account to a database of millions of court opinions, federal and state statutes and rules, and federal court filings (PACER) — so you can do real legal research right inside Claude, with citations.

This wiki is written so you can either read it yourself or point Claude at it and ask Claude to walk you through everything. The easiest path:

Open Claude, paste the link to this page, and say: "Walk me through installing DingDuff, one step at a time."

Pages in this wiki

  • Install DingDuff (this page) — the main setup, start to finish.
  • Browser Setup — extra steps if you use Claude in a web browser instead of the desktop app.
  • Team & Enterprise — what to do if you're on a work plan and can't add the connector.
  • Troubleshooting — fixes for common problems (a tool isn't working, you can't sign in, etc.).
  • Skills & Settings — optional add-ons that make DingDuff noticeably better.
  • How Citation Checking Works — what the cite-checker does, and the design behind its reliability and privacy.

Before you start

DingDuff itself is free while in beta. To use it you need two things:

  1. Your own Claude account — a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise) is recommended. The Claude desktop app with Cowork mode is the best experience; a web browser also works (see Browser Setup). (The Free plan technically works but allows only one custom connector.)
  2. A DingDuff login — sign up at https://dingduff.com to create your account. This gives you the email + password you'll use when connecting. DingDuff is for licensed attorneys (per the Terms of Service).

If you haven't created a DingDuff account yet, do that first at https://dingduff.com (click Sign Up). You'll need that email and password during Step 2.

Install DingDuff

These steps are for the Claude desktop app (recommended). If you're in a browser, do these same steps and then read Browser Setup for the one extra setting browsers need.

Step 1 — Open the connector settings

  1. In Claude, open Customize from the left sidebar.
  2. Go to Connectors.
  3. Click the + button, then choose Add custom connector.

On a Team or Enterprise plan, you may not see "Add custom connector" — only an organization owner can add it. If so, go to Team & Enterprise.

Step 2 — Add DingDuff

  1. In the dialog, give it a name (e.g., DingDuff).

  2. In the URL field, paste exactly:

    https://app.dingduff.com/mcp

  3. Click Add.

  4. Claude will send you to the DingDuff sign-in page. Enter the email and password for the DingDuff account you created at dingduff.com, then approve the connection. You'll be returned to Claude automatically.

A small browser/login window normally opens for sign-in. If nothing appears, see "Sign-in window doesn't open" in Troubleshooting.

Step 3 — Allow DingDuff's tools

After connecting, DingDuff appears in your connector list with its tools. We recommend setting each tool to always allow (the checkmark, not the hand icon) so you aren't asked for permission on every research request.

Step 4 — Confirm it works

In a chat, ask Claude:

"Does the DingDuff connector have the opinion_search tool?"

If yes, the connector is working. Now try a real query, e.g.:

"Using only DingDuff, find recent Texas appellate cases on the economic loss rule and give me citations."

BYOK / API key — (Legacy)

Most users don't need this — skip it unless you're in a locked-down environment (read on).

DingDuff works best when Claude can save the full text of a case or statute to your working folder with opinion_store / statute_store and read the actual source. That needs Claude's code-execution environment with network access turned on (Settings → Capabilities → Code execution and file creation + Allow network egress; the desktop Cowork app already has it — see Browser Setup).

The BYOK (bring-your-own-key) path is the older way, for when you can't turn those settings on — e.g. a corporate Team / Enterprise account whose admin won't enable code execution or network egress. Without those, the store tools can't download files, so instead you add your own Anthropic API key to your DingDuff profile. That unlocks three tools that run on DingDuff's back end — opinion_extract, submit_batch_screen, and retrieve_batch_screen — which hand Claude focused excerpts of the relevant material, so it can read what matters without downloading anything and without flooding the chat with full opinions.

Which one applies to you?

  • You can change Claude's settings (most Pro/Max users; Cowork desktop) → turn on code execution + network egress and use opinion_store / statute_store. Better results, no key needed. Skip BYOK.
  • You can't change those settings (locked-down work account) → set up BYOK:
    1. Get an Anthropic API key from the Claude Console (console.anthropic.com) — add a payment method and create a key (ask Claude to walk you through it).
    2. Log in to your profile on dingduff.com and paste the key in.
    3. Use a dedicated key and turn off auto-reload (required by our Terms).

Cost is small — typically a few dollars a month, billed by Anthropic, not DingDuff.

Recommended settings (optional but worth it)

These take a few minutes and noticeably improve results. Full details on Skills & Settings:

  • Install the dingduff-legal-research skill — it improves the quality and depth of research answers.
  • Install the dingduff-legal-analysis skill — the reasoning step that frames the issues and organizes the proof from a research answer.
  • Install the dingduff-citation-check skill — verifies every citation in a drafted memo against the stored sources.
  • Add a custom instruction (Profile → Instructions for Claude) telling Claude to always use DingDuff for legal research, so you don't have to ask each time.
  • Turn off chat training in your Claude privacy settings.

Using DingDuff on mobile

You can add the DingDuff connector on the Claude mobile apps the same way (Connectors → add the custom connector → sign in), and research tools (searching and viewing cases, statutes, and PACER) work fine.

However, the features that need a working file environment — saving sources (opinion_store / statute_store) and the citation-check skill — rely on the desktop app or browser. For full functionality, use the desktop app (Cowork) or a browser; treat mobile as read-and-research on the go.

Quick fixes

For everything else, see Troubleshooting.

DingDuff Help

Connector URL: https://app.dingduff.com/mcp

Questions? hello@dingduff.com

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