canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/app.clio.com/clio

# Clio API Documentation

This page describes a curated, agent-optimized Jentic OpenAPI specification for the Clio API on the US host, kept validated and agent-ready. Clio also publishes its own OpenAPI document on its developer-documentation site, one region-generic file covering all four production regions and a broader set of operations; the Jentic variant is pinned to the US base URL, and the FAQ below links Clio's document so you can compare the two. Clio is the dominant cloud practice management platform for law firms, covering matters, contacts, activities, billing, calendar entries, documents, and trust accounting. The v4 API exposes 282 endpoints across more than 40 resource families - activities, bills, bank accounts, calendar entries, documents, matters, tasks, trust requests, and many more - so integrators can build deep practice-management workflows. The API is regional (US, EU, AU, CA), uses OAuth 2.0 authorisation, and supports versioned minor releases via the X-API-VERSION header.

## For AI agents

Manage Clio matters, contacts, activities, bills, calendar entries, documents, and trust accounting through a 282-endpoint OAuth-secured legal practice API.

## Scope

Does not handle e-signature delivery, document automation logic outside Clio, or external court e-filing - use for Clio practice management, billing, calendar, and trust accounting operations only.

## Capabilities

- Manage matters, contacts, and activities across the legal practice lifecycle
- Create and progress bills, bill themes, and allocations for time and expense recovery
- Schedule and update calendar entries and calendar entry event types
- Track bank accounts, bank transactions, and bank transfers for trust accounting
- Manage activity rates and activity descriptions to drive consistent billable entries
- Pin specific minor API versions via the X-API-VERSION header for stability

## Use cases

### Time Capture from External Tools

Lawyers capture billable activity from Outlook, Word, or a phone-call assistant rather than logging into Clio directly. POST /activities.json records the entry against a matter and an activity description, while GET /activity_rates.json supplies the right billable rate so timekeepers do not have to look it up. The activity then flows naturally into Clio's billing cycle.

Example prompt: Call POST /activities.json with the matter ID, activity description ID, quantity, and date for the work done.

### Trust Accounting Reconciliation

Operations teams reconcile firm and client trust bank balances against external bank feeds. GET /bank_accounts.json lists the configured accounts, GET /bank_transactions.json walks the underlying ledger, and bank transfers move funds between trust and operating accounts so the books match the bank without manual key-in.

Example prompt: List bank accounts via GET /bank_accounts.json, pull GET /bank_transactions.json for the trust account, and match each transaction to the matter it relates to.

### Calendar and Court Date Sync

Practice administrators synchronise court dates and meetings between Clio and Outlook or Google Calendar so missed appearances do not happen. The Calendar Entries family creates and updates events, and Calendar Entry Event Types lets administrators standardise the categories firm-wide.

Example prompt: Create a calendar entry on a matter for an upcoming court date with the appropriate event type and attendees.

### Billing and Invoice Automation

Billing teams trigger draft bills, apply themes, and progress matters through to payment without clicking through every screen. The Bills, Bill Themes, Billable Clients, and Billable Matters resources together let an integration pre-stage every billable matter at month end and surface them in Clio for the partner to approve.

Example prompt: List billable matters, generate draft bills against each, apply the firm's standard theme, and surface them for partner review.

### AI Agent Legal Assistant

An AI assistant that helps a lawyer summarise a matter, log time, or schedule a court date uses Jentic to call Clio without managing OAuth tokens directly. Jentic exposes the matter, activity, calendar, and document operations by intent across 282 endpoints, so the agent only has to express what the lawyer wants to do.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'create a Clio activity', load the POST /activities.json schema, and execute it with the matter ID and the lawyer's quantity for the day.

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | /activities.json | List activity entries across the firm. |
| POST | /activities.json | Create a new activity entry. |
| PATCH | /activities/{id}.json | Update a single activity entry. |
| GET | /activity_rates.json | List configured activity (billable) rates. |
| GET | /bank_accounts.json | List bank accounts for trust and operating accounting. |
| GET | /bank_transactions.json | List bank transactions for reconciliation. |
| POST | /bank_accounts.json | Create a new bank account record. |
| GET | /allocations.json | List allocations of payments across bills. |

## Key resources

- **Activities** — Time and expense activity entries that drive billing - list, create, update, delete.
- **Activity Rates** — Billable rates applied to activities; managed centrally so timekeepers stay consistent.
- **Activity Descriptions** — Reusable descriptions for activities to standardise narrative across the firm.
- **Allocations** — Read allocations of payments and credits across bills.
- **Bank Accounts and Transactions** — Trust and operating account ledger - accounts, transactions, and transfers.
- **Bills and Bill Themes** — Draft, generate, and theme bills for billable matters.
- **Calendar Entries** — Schedule and manage calendar events tied to matters; event types standardise the calendar firm-wide.

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring Clio by hand means running its OAuth2 flow, refreshing tokens, and navigating more than 40 resource families across its practice-management surface yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the Clio API from the API Directory, store the OAuth token once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** Clio puts record ids in the URL path (/activities/{id}.json), so a rule can pin your agent to specific resources like activities while you keep it read-only where you want. You choose the operations it may call, so writes such as creating activities or bank accounts are not included unless you add them.
- **Credential handling:** Your Clio OAuth token is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'create a Clio activity' or 'list trust account transactions', and Jentic returns the matching operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without navigating the docs for the right resource family.

## Related APIs

- **Salesforce API** — Sync Clio matters and contacts into Salesforce for cross-functional CRM and intake reporting.
- **HubSpot Marketing API** — Surface Clio matter activity in HubSpot for legal-marketing teams running intake campaigns.
- **ClickTime API** — General-purpose time tracking and billable-hour platform without legal-specific trust accounting.

## FAQ

### Which OpenAPI specification does this Clio API Documentation page describe?

A curated, agent-optimized Jentic specification covering 282 Clio operations pinned to the US base URL https://app.clio.com/api/v4. Clio also publishes its own OpenAPI document at https://docs.developers.clio.com/openapi.json, one region-generic file that lists all four production servers (US, EU, Canada, and Australia) across 166 paths and 301 operations, so Clio's document is the broader of the two. The Jentic variant is a curated Jentic spec validated against the live US host and kept up to date, not a silent substitute for Clio's document; read Clio's file when you need an operation Jentic has not curated. Get started with Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### What authentication does the Clio API use?

Clio uses OAuth 2.0 authorisation. Register a developer application in the Clio Developer Portal, send the user through the authorisation flow, exchange the code for an access token, and pass it as a bearer token on every call. Through Jentic the OAuth credential is stored encrypted in the vault and injected at call time, so the agent never sees the raw token.

### Can I pin a specific minor version of the Clio API?

Yes. Send an X-API-VERSION header (for example X-API-VERSION: 4.0.13) on any request to pin the response shape to that minor version. If the header is missing you receive the current default version, and an unsupported value returns 410 Gone. Successful responses echo the active version back to you.

### Is the Clio API available in Europe and other regions?

Yes. Clio runs region-specific data centres and the API mirrors them: app.clio.com (US), eu.app.clio.com (EU), ca.app.clio.com (Canada), and au.app.clio.com (Australia). Use the host that matches the firm's data residency; this spec documents the US host.

### What are the rate limits for the Clio API?

Clio applies per-application and per-user rate limits described in the Clio Developer Hub at docs.developers.clio.com/api-docs/rate-limits, which surface as 429 responses when exceeded. For bulk reads, paginate results and respect the Retry-After header rather than retrying immediately.

### How do I create a Clio activity through Jentic?

Run pip install jentic, then search Jentic for 'create a Clio activity', load the schema for POST /activities.json, and execute it with the matter ID, activity description, quantity in seconds, and date. Jentic injects the OAuth token from your stored Clio credentials. Run it through Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Clio API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Clio operations and credentials the agent may use, so you can keep it read-only on resources like activities, bank accounts, and calendar entries while excluding writes such as POST /activities.json or POST /bank_accounts.json. Clio puts record ids in the URL path, for example /activities/{id}.json, so a rule can pin the agent to specific records rather than the whole firm. Write operations like creating activities or bank accounts are only available to the agent if you explicitly add them.