DingDuff Setup Guide

Set DingDuff up to do its deepest research.

Everything to get DingDuff running in Claude, in six steps — sign up, add the connector, set your Claude settings, add an optional backup key, install the plugin, and add one standing instruction. Read it yourself, or paste this link to Claude and have it walk you through.

Want Claude to set it up for you?

Open Claude and paste this — it’ll read this page and take you through all six steps below:

Walk me through setting up DingDuff using dingduff.com/dingduffsetup, one step at a time.
Step One

Sign up for DingDuff

Create your free account — this is the email and password you’ll use when you connect in Step Two. DingDuff is for licensed attorneys.

Sign up for DingDuff
Step Two

Add DingDuff from Claude’s connector directory

a) Open the DingDuff listing, click add, and sign in with the account you just made. Or find it in Claude: Customize → Connectors → + → Browse connectors, then search DingDuff and add it.

Open the DingDuff listing

b) Then turn on all of DingDuff’s tools — set them to always allow so you’re not asked on every request.

Step Three

Claude settings

This is where DingDuff goes from “it works” to benchmark-grade. What you turn on decides how deeply Claude can research — and the right settings depend on which kind of Claude account you have.

The goal: get Claude to operate in Tier 1, with Tier 2 set up as an automatic backup. Tier 3 is the least optimal version of DingDuff.

1
fetch_opinion_file

Claude saves the full text of each opinion to a folder on your computer and reads the source itself. This is exactly how DingDuff runs in our benchmark tests.

Best · benchmark-grade
2
opinion_extract

Claude pulls the most relevant passages from each opinion. Needs your own Anthropic API key (BYOK) — a dependable backup for when Tier 1 isn’t available.

Good backup
3
opinion_view

Claude reads cases directly in the chat. You’ll still get an answer — just a less thoroughly researched one.

Fallback

Which Claude account do you have?

This decides who controls the settings DingDuff needs. Pick your path.

Path A

Personal — Pro or Max

You control your own settings, so you can switch on everything Tier 1 needs yourself. Four quick toggles — open to see them.

These let Claude use fetch_opinion_file to save and read full opinions.

  1. Turn on code execution

    Lets Claude do the work of saving and reading files.

    Settings → Capabilities → Code execution On

  2. Turn on network egress

    Lets Claude reach out and download each opinion. Without it, downloads silently fail.

    Settings → Capabilities → Network egress On

  3. Turn off Cloud to keep tasks on your computer

    Turn this off so Claude runs locally — right where your connected folder lives (next step).

    Cowork → Run new tasks in the cloud Off

  4. Connect a folder each time you start a new CoWork chat

    Claude saves each opinion as an .md file in that folder, then reads it back. This is what makes fetch_opinion_file work — and it lets DingDuff research more, not less. If it isn’t attached to a folder, it should save them in a virtual machine, but attaching a folder is the best way to ensure it uses this tool.

Path B

Teams or Enterprise

Some settings are held by your organization’s admin. Open to get the short request we’ve written for you to send.

On a work plan, these settings live in your organization’s controls. Send your admin this short request — it’s everything they need.

  1. Approve the DingDuff connector

    Add DingDuff to the organization’s list of approved connectors.

    Organization settings → Connectors → Approved

  2. Turn on network egress

    Lets Claude download the full text of opinions.

    Organization settings → Network egress On

  3. Allowlist the DingDuff domain

    Where the setting says “package managers only,” add DingDuff’s domain to the allowlist.

    app.dingduff.com

  4. Connect a folder when you use it

    Once your admin approves the settings above, connect a folder each time you start a new CoWork chat — that’s where Claude saves each opinion as an .md file and reads it back, which is what makes fetch_opinion_file work.

Copy-and-send request for your admin

Hi — I’d like to use DingDuff (a legal-research connector) inside Claude. Could you please, in our organization settings: 1. Add the DingDuff connector to our approved connectors. 2. Turn ON network egress. 3. Add app.dingduff.com to the allowlist (where it says “package managers only”). Thank you!

Can’t get admin approval?

Set up the BYOK backup below on your own. It unlocks opinion_extract (Tier 2) — noticeably better results than going without, for roughly $5–15/month paid to Anthropic.

Step Four Optional — but recommended

Set up BYOK (BYO-API Key) — your Tier 2 backup

Adding your own Anthropic API key to your DingDuff profile unlocks opinion_extract (Tier 2), so DingDuff has somewhere to fall back to if fetch_opinion_file ever isn’t available. The earliest version of DingDuff ran entirely this way.

Typical cost, even with heavy research: $5–15 / month, billed by Anthropic

How to set it up

  1. Create an API key in the Anthropic Console (add a payment method first).
  2. Open your profile at dingduff.com/profile.
  3. Paste the key in and save.

Two safety rules (required by our Terms)

We’ve implemented safety measures to protect your API key, but the internet is full of bad actors. We require all our users to:

  • 1Use an API key unique to DingDuff. If anything ever looks off, you can deactivate that one key instantly — without touching anything else.
  • 2Turn off auto-reload. So you can never be hit with an unexpected large charge.
Step Five

Install the DingDuff plugin

It bundles the connector with the skills that drive it, and installing it always pipes the latest copy of every skill straight to your Claude account.

In Claude: Customize → Plugins → Add marketplace, add the repository below, then install the dingduff plugin.

DingDuff/dingduff-public

See what each skill does → — or download them by hand there if you can’t add the plugin.

Step Six

Add one standing instruction

Paste this into Settings → General → Instructions so you never have to ask twice. It’s what makes Claude reach for DingDuff and the fetch_opinion_file tool on its own.

Always use DingDuff to access primary legal sources while conducting legal research. When you use DingDuff for conducting legal research, always use the dingduff-legal-research skill from the DingDuff Legal Research plugin.
✓

Confirm it’s working

Start a fresh chat and ask Claude:

Use DingDuff to find one Texas Supreme Court opinion on the economic loss rule and save it with fetch_opinion_file.

If a file lands in your connected folder and Claude reads it back to you, you’re fully set up — DingDuff is now doing its deepest research.