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Three steps to make a document searchable:
  1. Create a vault (once per case)
  2. Upload your file
  3. Process it (we call this “ingest”)
After processing, the document is fully searchable by meaning.

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Step 1: Create a vault

A vault is a container for your documents. Create one per case or matter.
Endpoint
POST /vault

import Casedev from 'casedev';

const client = new Casedev({ apiKey: 'sk_case_YOUR_API_KEY' });

const vault = await client.vault.create({
  name: 'Smith v. Hospital 2024',
  description: 'Discovery and depositions'
});

console.log(vault.id);  // Save this—you'll use it for everything
Response
{
  "id": "vault_abc123xyz",
  "name": "Smith v. Hospital 2024",
  "description": "Discovery and depositions",
  "createdAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

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Step 2: Upload a file

Uploading is two parts: get a secure URL, then PUT your file to it.
Endpoint
POST /vault/:id/upload

// Get an upload URL
const upload = await client.vault.upload(vault.id, {
  filename: 'deposition-johnson.pdf',
  contentType: 'application/pdf',
  metadata: {
    witness: 'Dr. Sarah Johnson',
    date: '2024-11-04'
  }
});

// Upload the file directly to S3
await fetch(upload.uploadUrl, {
  method: 'PUT',
  headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/pdf' },
  body: fileBuffer
});

console.log(upload.objectId);  // Use this for the next step

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Why two steps?

Security and speed. Your file goes directly to encrypted storage—we’re never a bottleneck for large uploads.

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Supported file types

TypeExtensions
Documents.pdf, .doc, .docx, .txt, .rtf, .xml
Images.png, .jpg, .jpeg, .tiff, .bmp
Audio.mp3, .m4a, .wav, .flac, .ogg
Video.mp4, .webm, .mov
Court recordings.ftr

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Step 3: Process the file

This is where the magic happens. Processing (we call it “ingest”) does different things based on file type:
File typeWhat we do
Scanned PDF, imagesOCR to extract text
Audio, videoTranscribe with speaker labels
FTR recordingsConvert → Transcribe
Digital PDF, DOCX, TXT, RTF, XMLExtract text directly
Then for all files: split into chunks, convert to vectors, index for search.
Endpoint
POST /vault/:vaultId/ingest/:objectId

const result = await client.vault.ingest(vault.id, upload.objectId);

console.log(result.status);  // 'processing'

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Processing time

FileTime
10-page clean PDF~10 seconds
50-page scanned PDF~2-3 minutes
300-page scanned PDF~12-15 minutes
1-hour audio/video~5-10 minutes
Processing is async—you get an immediate response while we work in the background.

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Check status

// Poll until complete
let obj = await client.vault.objects.retrieve(vault.id, objectId);

while (obj.ingestionStatus === 'processing') {
  await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 5000));
  obj = await client.vault.objects.retrieve(vault.id, objectId);
}

if (obj.ingestionStatus === 'completed') {
  console.log('Ready to search!');
}

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Complete example

Upload an entire folder of discovery documents: 
import Casedev from 'casedev';
import fs from 'fs';
import path from 'path';

const client = new Casedev({ apiKey: process.env.CASEDEV_API_KEY });

async function uploadDiscovery(folderPath: string) {
  // 1. Create vault
  const vault = await client.vault.create({
    name: 'Matter 2024-1234 Discovery'
  });

  // 2. Upload each file
  const files = fs.readdirSync(folderPath);

  for (const file of files) {
    const filePath = path.join(folderPath, file);
    if (!fs.statSync(filePath).isFile()) continue;

    // Get upload URL
    const upload = await client.vault.upload(vault.id, {
      filename: file,
      contentType: 'application/pdf'
    });

    // Upload to S3
    await fetch(upload.uploadUrl, {
      method: 'PUT',
      body: fs.readFileSync(filePath)
    });

    // Process
    await client.vault.ingest(vault.id, upload.objectId);

    console.log(`✓ ${file}`);
  }

  console.log(`\nVault ready: ${vault.id}`);
  return vault.id;
}

uploadDiscovery('./discovery_documents');
Metadata matters. Add metadata like witness, document_type, or date when uploading—you can filter search results by these fields later.

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Next: Search your documents

Now that your documents are processed, learn how to search them →