PatentRef

io.github.patentrefPublished by GitHub account patentrefv0.4.0Updated Nov 6, 2026

PatentsView-compatible US patent API: claim trees, patent briefs and search, grants 1976 to now.

The publisher's own server: Patent Connector

VerifiedSTDIODesktop onlyKnowledge & MemoryData & Analytics

Overview

AI-generated overview

PatentRef gives an assistant US patent data: status checks, claim trees, briefs, search, and cited patent-office rules.

What you can do
  • Check one US patent's status with basis, as-of date and data version
  • Search granted US patents with the PatentSearch v1 grammar and find similar patents by title and abstract
  • Read a patent's claims as a tree with offsets, or get a token-budgeted brief of one patent
  • Look up office rules with official sources and quotes: representation, fees, route windows, PPH, AI-use statements, grace periods
  • Inspect the rules dataset index, changelog and build facts
  • Search public disclosure records in the PatentRef registry
When to use it
Useful when you need to look up US patent status, claims or text, or check cited patent-office rules for a given office, and want every answer tied to a data version, as-of date and official citation.
Requirements
Runs locally over stdio as a Python package. Requires a PATENTREF_API_KEY, obtainable as a free key from the provider's signup page. Optional PATENTREF_BASE overrides the API scheme and host (default Network access to that API is needed.
Before you install
The API key is a secret sent to the provider's API. Status and rule answers are record facts and citations, not legal conclusions or advice; the server itself says to quote its plain sentence and cited rows rather than paraphrase. Rule tools take an office, not an application number or date, and compute no deadlines for a specific application.

Installation

In SourceWeft

  1. Open PatentRef in the dashboard and add it to a workspace.
  2. Enable the server for the chats that should use its tools.

Desktop only via STDIO. STDIO servers start a local process, so they need the SourceWeft desktop host.

Tools

15

check_patent_status

The one-call verdict for one US patent: status (active, expired_term, expired_fee_nonpayment, withdrawn, unknown), basis entries, reinstatement_possible with its 37 CFR 1.378 basis, as_of, data_version, the versioned permalink, a one-sentence `plain` record statement and next_steps. Record facts only.

Parameterspatent_idrequired

search_patents

Search granted US patents with the PatentSearch v1 grammar: q is one JSON object with one key (for example {"patent_title": "laser"} or {"_and": [{"_gte": {"patent_date": "2015-01-01"}}, {"cpc_current.cpc_group_id": "H01S3/00"}]}), f the fields to return (add "lapse" for the expiry group: expiry_status, expiry_date_estimated, expiry_basis, reinstatement_possible, fee_status, lapse_date), s the sort (for example [{"patent_date": "desc"}]), size up to 1000, after the cursor from the previous page's last sort values.

Parametersfqrequiredssizeafter

similar_patents

The n (1 to 20) US patents nearest to a title plus abstract by FTS5 bm25 over title and abstract, with data_version and as_of. A record of what the corpus contained, not a search opinion.

Parametersntextrequired

get_claim_tree

The claims of one US patent as a tree, from the claim text the USPTO published: per claim its number, category, dependency, preamble, transition, elements, term mentions with the earlier mention each "the"/"said" phrase was matched to, claim references and flags; the relations between those parts; structure_version, data_version, text_data_version and as_of. Every part carries start and end offsets into its claim's text (text[start:end] is the part). Flags describe the text and the data only. GET /api/v1/structure/claims/<patent_id>/.

Parameterspatent_idrequired

get_patent_brief

A brief of one US patent that fits max_tokens (300 to 32000, default 2000), in a fixed order: identity and dates, the status record with its basis, each independent claim as its elements with start and end offsets into the claim text, each dependent claim on one line, and the claim term keys; the first item that does not fit ends the brief, and truncated and omitted say what was left out. tokens counts the answer by the stated proxy in tokenizer (UTF-8 bytes / 3, rounded up), never over max_tokens. Every claim and element carries anchor: page + "#" + anchor opens it on the record page. Quotes are the claim text as published. GET /api/v1/structure/brief/<patent_id>/?max_tokens=.

Parameterspatent_idrequiredmax_tokens

rep_required

Representation rules of a patent office (office: US, EP, CN, JP, KR, AU, or PCT for the international phase): whether and when an applicant must act through a registered agent, each row with its official source and quote. act keeps the rows of one act of the vocabulary (rules_index lists it).

Parametersactofficerequired

fee_schedule

Official fees of a patent office in force on as_of (YYYY-MM-DD, default today UTC): filing, search, examination, grant, renewal and other fees with their currency, each row with its official source and quote.

Parametersas_ofofficerequired

route_windows

Generic windows of a patent office, such as the PCT national phase time limit in months from the priority date. Never a last day for a specific application; it takes no application number or date.

Parametersofficerequired

pph_routes

Patent Prosecution Highway rows of to_office whose cited source names from_office as a partner office.

Parametersto_officerequiredfrom_officerequired

ai_use_statement_required

Rows on whether a patent office requires a statement on the use of AI. An empty answer means the dataset holds no cited rule for that office; nothing follows from its absence.

Parametersofficerequired

grace_period

What the cited law of an office says about disclosures before filing (the grace period). Citations only: it does not say whether any disclosure falls inside the period.

Parametersofficerequired

rules_changelog

The rules dataset's releases, newest first, after since (a version x.y.z or a date YYYY-MM-DD).

Parameterssince

rules_index

The rules dataset: its version and date, the offices with their row counts, the tools and the act vocabulary.

Takes no parameters.

build_facts

The build in service: data_version, as_of, refreshed_at, snapshot hash, superseded versions, table delta.

Takes no parameters.

search_disclosures

Public records of the PatentRef registry (dated technical disclosures) whose title or abstract match q (web search syntax: words, "a phrase", -word, or), newest first, up to 20. Each record carries its permalink (https://patentref.io/r/<id>), server_time, bundle_hash and proof_status; the submitter's text is inside user_content, as entered. A record shows what was published and when, not a patent or an opinion.

Parametersqrequired

Version history

1
  1. v0.4.0LatestNov 6, 2026

Score

65% of the applicable checks met

How complete this listing is, computed from the registry entry, the endpoint and public sources. Not a rating of the server and not a statement that it is safe or working today: reachability is a dated check, and no installs or reviews go into the score.

  • Reached in the last 30 days25 pts
  • Auth declared10 pts

    Declare the credential headers in the registry entry, or keep the endpoint answering the probe so its auth can be classified.

  • Tools listedRequired15 pts
  • DescriptionRequired15 pts
  • Logo10 pts
  • Documentation15 pts

    Declare a GitHub repository with a README, or serve resource_documentation in the OAuth protected-resource metadata.

  • License10 pts

    Declare a license in the repository or the registry entry.

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