# Every government filing, behind one verb: FILE.

> ONE ENDPOINT · EVERY GOVERNMENT FILING · PRICED ON THE RECEIPT

filings.legal is the endpoint an agent POSTs to the moment a matter has to reach a government. One verb — FILE — across every agency, a typed response your code branches on, and a price you drop straight into a cost function. The pro-se provisional patent filing goes out today for $199 flat; every reserved filing routes to an independent licensed professional who signs under their own credential. Billing releases only on the government receipt.

**No filing, no charge — the Meter releases only on the government receipt.**

- **1 verb** — FILE — the whole surface is one action, the same shape across every agency
- **$199** — flat for a pro-se provisional patent filing — released only on the USPTO receipt
- **$0** — what your agent is charged when no receipt issues — the Meter never holds an unearned fee

*Government fees pass through at cost (Pass-Through), itemized and never marked up. Figures are targets, not live-service claims.*

## Quickstart

```sh
npx filings.legal                              # CLI quickstart
curl https://filings.legal/filings             # keyless status reads — typed OK envelope
curl https://filings.legal/pricing             # the Pricing Document ({"model":"free"})
curl -X POST https://filings.legal/file/provisional -d '{"title":"...","inventor":"..."}'
```

## Two kinds of filing. One typed boundary.

Every filing is classified by whether the law lets an agent complete it. Open filings your agent completes end to end, metered on the receipt. Reserved filings route to an independent licensed professional who signs under their own credential — your call returns a typed PENDING_SIGNER, never a dead end and never a forged signature.

- **status** (read) — File-wrapper, prosecution events, receipt confirmation. Reading a filing’s status is never reserved, no matter how much AI does it — so status reads are keyless from your very first call. `gate: none`
- **provisional** (act) — The pro-se provisional patent filing. An applicant may file their own; your agent assembles and submits on their behalf, and the Meter releases the $199 Product Fee only on the USPTO receipt. No credential, no signature, no Legal Fee. `gate: none · receipt-metered`
- **reserved** (act) — Utility filings, office-action responses, trademark OA responses. A credentialed human signs under their own license; your agent never signs. Described here, routed to a Signer on request — with a sovereign refusal and no ship date. `requiresSigner`

The Meter is the whole model: billing releases on a deterministic, government-issued fact — the USPTO receipt — and on nothing else. No state in the machine ever holds an unearned fee. That receipt is the ProofPredicate; if it never issues, nothing is ever charged.

## One verb, every agency, one typed catalog.

Reads are keyless. The one open filing act — the pro-se provisional — is live today, receipt-metered. The reserved filings are described in full and routed to a Signer on request; each lands as a ratified row does, agency by agency. The gate column tells your code the law before it calls.

### status — read — gate: none · keyless

| method | path | note | gate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/filings` | your filings — typed OK | EMPTY | BLOCKED | none |
| GET | `/filings/{id}` | one filing: stage, receipt, meter state | none |
| GET | `/filing/{agency}/{id}/status` | file-wrapper & prosecution events | none |

### file — open act — sold today · receipt-metered

| method | path | note | gate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| POST | `/file/provisional` | pro-se provisional patent — $199 flat, meter releases on the USPTO receipt | none |

### file — reserved act — described · routed to a Signer

| method | path | note | gate |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| POST | `/file/utility` | utility patent — a Signer signs & files | `requiresSigner: uspto-registration` ← reserved |
| POST | `/file/patent-oa` | patent office-action response — a Signer signs | `requiresSigner: uspto-registration` ← reserved |
| POST | `/file/trademark-oa` | trademark office-action response — an attorney signs | `requiresSigner: state-bar` ← reserved |

The shape holds across every agency: reading a filing’s status is never reserved, the pro-se provisional an applicant may file themselves is open and receipt-metered, and the reserved filings — a signature an agent definitionally cannot give — route to an independent credential-holder who signs under their own license.

The provisional files today. Utility, office-action, and trademark responses are described in full and route to a Signer as each row is ratified. (4 filing acts · 1 open today)

## Three calls: a keyless read, an open filing, a reserved act.

### curl · status · keyless

```
$ curl https://filings.legal/filings

{
  "type": "OK",
  "results": [
    {
      "id": "fil_8x2a",
      "filing": "patent.provisional",
      "status": "prepare",
      "meter": { "predicate": "uspto.receipt", "released": false, "amountUsd": 199 }
    }
  ]
}
```

### curl · file · open act

```
$ curl -X POST https://filings.legal/file/provisional \
     -d '{"title":"Distributed ledger for credential attestation","inventor":"Ada Inventor"}'

{
  "type": "ACCEPTED",
  "verb": "file",
  "filing": "patent.provisional",
  "trackingId": "fil_8x2a",
  "meter": { "predicate": "uspto.receipt", "released": false, "amountUsd": 199 },
  "passThrough": { "usptoFeeUsd": 65, "markedUp": false },
  "eta": "PT6H",
  "next": { "status": "/filings/fil_8x2a" }
}
```

### json · file · reserved act

```
// POST /file/utility  —  the reserved boundary, typed
{
  "type": "PENDING_SIGNER",
  "verb": "file",
  "filing": "patent.utility",
  "reserved": true,
  "gate": { "requiresSigner": "uspto-registration" },
  "signer": { "source": "https://gigs.lawyer", "liveness": "verified-at-sign" },
  "refusal": "An agent cannot sign a reserved filing, and filings.legal will not forge a signature. This act is signed by an independent licensed professional under their own credential; their refusal is final.",
  "shipDate": null,
  "note": "Described, not sold — awaiting ratification (the Rule 5.4 survey)."
}
```

Same endpoint across the whole surface. Reads return instantly and keyless. The open provisional returns a typed ACCEPTED with an unreleased Meter — you are charged nothing until the receipt. Reserved acts return a typed PENDING_SIGNER: honest progress your UI can render, never a silent failure and never an implied signature.

## Your agent never signs a reserved filing.

A signature on a utility patent, an office-action response, or a trademark OA is reserved to a licensed human — definitionally, not as a model-quality problem. filings.legal turns that boundary into a typed contract: the reserved endpoints return PENDING_SIGNER, describe exactly what would happen, and route the act to an independent professional. They are described here, never sold, until the row is ratified.

1. **Call the open surface freely.** Read any filing’s status keyless; file a pro-se provisional and watch the Meter stay at $0 until the USPTO receipt lands. Everything the law leaves open, end to end.
2. **Hit a reserved filing — and get a typed answer, not a dead end.** The call returns PENDING_SIGNER: the credential the act requires, the sovereign refusal that says an agent cannot sign it, and where the Signer comes from. No ship date is promised — the row awaits ratification.
3. **When ratified, the receipt comes back on the same Meter.** A licensed human on the network reviews and, in their own judgment, signs and files under their own credential. The government receipt releases the fee — and if it never issues, nothing is charged.

### what the endpoint promises

- No filing, no charge — billing releases only on the government-issued receipt (the ProofPredicate).
- Flat, posted pricing — fixed before your agent calls; nothing hourly, nothing percentage-based.
- A live credential at every reserved act — verified at signing; an agent is never routed to sign.
- Independent judgment, structurally protected — the professional who signs can refuse, and nothing can commit past their refusal.

The people who sign reserved filings come through [gigs.lawyer](https://gigs.lawyer/) — independent attorneys and USPTO patent agents on the network, claiming work under their own license, with coverage in force on every act. filings.legal never runs a second marketplace: every supply path funnels to their one door.

## Priced on the receipt, not the clock.

- **status** — Keyless and free. A filing’s status is a fact, and facts aren’t metered — read them from your first call, no key.
- **provisional** — One line, $199 flat. Government fees pass through at cost, itemized, never marked up. The Meter releases the fee only on the USPTO receipt — if no receipt issues, nothing is charged.
- **reserved** — Flat per act, fixed before your agent calls — floored by the professional’s own flat Legal Fee, released on the government receipt. Described today; sold when the row is ratified. No unearned fee is ever held.

*Exact rates publish with the surface. The ceiling is hard: your agent can never spend past what you set — and if no filing issues, nothing is charged.*

## Point your agent at the endpoint.

Reads are keyless — start now. File a pro-se provisional and the Meter stays at $0 until the receipt. Reserved filings return a typed PENDING_SIGNER you can render honestly today.

```sh
npx filings.legal
curl https://filings.legal/filings
curl -X POST https://filings.legal/file/provisional -d '{"title":"...","inventor":"..."}'
```

Credentialed professional? You sign the reserved filings — [gigs.lawyer](https://gigs.lawyer/join)

*Preview build — in-memory demo state on the substrate, no live government filings. Nothing on this page is a live-service claim, and nothing on it is legal advice.*

## Machine surfaces

- llms.txt (the model front door): https://filings.legal/llms.txt
- capability card + AXP probe manifest: https://filings.legal/.well-known/agents.json
- OpenAPI 3.1 contract: https://filings.legal/openapi.json
- documentation (HTML register): https://filings.legal/docs

---

filings.legal · preview build · nothing here is a live-service claim