patents.search

Search US patent applications and grants via the USPTO Open Data Portal. Query: q (required, 2+ chars), yearFrom / yearTo (optional filing-year bounds), applicationType (optional: Utility|Design|Plant|Reissue), limit (1-100, default 10), offset (0-based, default 0). Returns { total, returned, offset, limit, hits[{ applicationNumber, title, applicationType, firstInventor, inventors[], applicants[], filingDate, effectiveFilingDate, status:{ code, description, updatedAt }, cpcSymbols[], uspcSymbol, url }] }. URLs link to USPTO Patent Center for the public file wrapper.

price
$0.0018 USDC per call
method
GET/api/patents/search
payment
x402 v2 · USDC on Base (EIP-3009) or Solana (SPL transfer)
auth
None. Sign the payment, retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE.

Overview

The patent search API queries US patent applications and grants through the USPTO Open Data Portal and returns structured results agents can reason over.

Search free text across titles and abstracts, optionally bounded by filing year and application type (Utility, Design, Plant, Reissue), with paging via limit and offset. Each hit includes the application number, title, application type, first inventor and full inventor and applicant lists, filing and effective filing dates, current status, CPC and USPC classification symbols, and a link to the public file wrapper in USPTO Patent Center. No API key — pay per search with x402.

Use cases

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
qrequiredstring
min 2 chars · max 500 chars
yearFrominteger
min 1790 · max 2100
yearTointeger
min 1790 · max 2100
applicationTypestring
one of: Utility | Design | Plant | Reissue
limitinteger
min 1 · max 100
offsetinteger
min 0 · max 10000

Code samples

cURLbash
# 1. Probe with no auth → 402 envelope with PaymentRequirements
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/patents/search?q=xx&yearFrom=1790&yearTo=1790&applicationType=Utility&limit=10&offset=0'

# 2. Sign + retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE:
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/patents/search?q=xx&yearFrom=1790&yearTo=1790&applicationType=Utility&limit=10&offset=0' \
  -H 'PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: <base64-json-payload>'

# Or use the canonical runner (handles probe → sign → retry):
#   EVM_PRIVATE_KEY=0x... node --env-file=.env.local \
#     --experimental-strip-types scripts/x402-pay.ts \
#     'https://2s.io/api/patents/search?q=xx&yearFrom=1790&yearTo=1790&applicationType=Utility&limit=10&offset=0'
TypeScript / Node — @2sio/sdktypescript
import { TwoS } from '@2sio/sdk'

const client = new TwoS({
  privateKey: process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY as `0x${string}`,
})

const result = await client.patents.search({
  "q": "xx",
  "yearFrom": 1790,
  "yearTo": 1790,
  "applicationType": "Utility",
  "limit": 10,
  "offset": 0
})

console.log('endpoint:', result.endpoint)
console.log('cost:', result.costUsd, 'USDC')
console.log('tx:', result.settlement?.txHash)
console.log('data:', result.data)
Python — 2siopython
import os
from twosio import TwoS

client = TwoS(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])

result = client.patents.search(q="xx", yearFrom=1790, yearTo=1790, applicationType="Utility", limit=10, offset=0)

print("endpoint:", result.endpoint)
print("cost:", result.cost_usd, "USDC")
print("tx:", (result.settlement or {}).get("tx_hash"))
print("data:", result.data)
MCP — Claude Desktop / AgentKit / any MCP hostjson
// 1. Add @2sio/mcp to your MCP host config (Claude Desktop example below).
//    EVM_PRIVATE_KEY funds x402 payments per call.

// claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "2sio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@2sio/mcp"],
      "env": { "EVM_PRIVATE_KEY": "0x..." }
    }
  }
}

// 2. Once the server is running, agents call this tool via standard MCP:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "patents.search",
    "arguments": {
      "q": "xx",
      "yearFrom": 1790,
      "yearTo": 1790,
      "applicationType": "Utility",
      "limit": 10,
      "offset": 0
    }
  }
}
LangChain agent — langchain-twosiopython
# pip install langchain-twosio langchain-anthropic
import os
from langchain_twosio import get_twosio_tools
from langchain_anthropic import ChatAnthropic
from langgraph.prebuilt import create_react_agent

tools = get_twosio_tools(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])
llm = ChatAnthropic(model="claude-haiku-4-5", temperature=0)
agent = create_react_agent(llm, tools)

# The agent will pick "twosio_patents_search" when the prompt matches.
result = agent.invoke({
    "messages": [("user", "...prompt that requires patents.search...")]
})
print(result["messages"][-1].content)
LlamaIndex agent — llama-index-tools-twosiopython
# pip install llama-index-tools-twosio llama-index-llms-anthropic
import asyncio, os
from llama_index_tools_twosio import get_twosio_tools
from llama_index.llms.anthropic import Anthropic
from llama_index.core.agent.workflow import FunctionAgent

tools = get_twosio_tools(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])
llm = Anthropic(model="claude-haiku-4-5")
agent = FunctionAgent(tools=tools, llm=llm)

# The agent will pick "twosio_patents_search" when the prompt matches.
response = asyncio.run(agent.run("...prompt that requires patents.search..."))
print(response)

Response

FieldTypeDescription
okboolean
one of: true
itemsarray
totalintegerTotal matching rows upstream; null when unknown.
sourceobject
metaobject
Example response datajson
{
  "ok": true,
  "items": [
    {}
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "source": {
    "provider": "example",
    "url": "example",
    "license": "example"
  },
  "meta": {
    "query": {
      "q": "example",
      "yearFrom": 1,
      "yearTo": 1,
      "applicationType": "example",
      "offset": 1,
      "limit": 1
    },
    "returned": 1
  }
}

FAQ

What patent data does the search cover?
US patent applications and grants via the USPTO Open Data Portal. Results link to the public file wrapper in USPTO Patent Center.
Can I filter patent search by year or type?
Yes — yearFrom/yearTo bound the filing year, and applicationType filters to Utility, Design, Plant, or Reissue. Use limit (1-100) and offset to page through results.
Do I need an API key to use the search API?
No. patents.search is x402-native — there is no signup and no API key. Your client makes the call, receives a 402 with payment requirements, signs a USDC payment, and retries. Funds come from a wallet you control.
How much does the search API cost?
$0.0018 USDC per call, charged per request. There are no monthly fees, seats, or minimums — you pay only for the calls you make.
Can I try the search API for free first?
Yes. Add ?trial=1 (or the header X-2s-Trial: 1) to get a free real call per endpoint per hour, so you can verify the response shape before wiring payment.
Which networks and tokens are supported?
USDC on Base (via EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization) or Solana (SPL transfer), using the open x402 payment protocol.
How do I call patents.search from an AI agent or MCP host?
Use @2sio/sdk (TypeScript), 2sio (Python), or the @2sio/mcp server for any MCP host — each handles the probe → sign → retry loop for you. See the code samples on this page.

Discovery

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