Pro Se USPTO MCP

The patent tools the USPTO assumes you have an attorney to use.

Most patent MCPs in the wild are built for attorneys, researchers, or developers analyzing the patent landscape. They wrap database APIs, run heavy RAG pipelines, and ship with infrastructure that requires a Python environment and a 500MB download. They are not wrong. They are just for someone else.

This MCP is built for the person filing their own patent. A pro se inventor sitting at their kitchen table trying to figure out their entity status before the filing deadline. A garage founder budgeting the actual out-of-pocket cost of a nonprovisional including the surcharges nobody warned them about. An academic researcher whose university tech transfer office handed them the application and walked away. Anyone navigating the USPTO without an attorney on retainer.

The philosophy is education paired with tools, not automation that replaces understanding. Every tool returns the answer, the rule citation, and the practical "why this matters" note in plain language. The goal is that an inventor using this MCP walks away knowing more about the patent system than they did before, not less.

What this does

Pro Se USPTO MCP gives Claude six tools that codify USPTO procedural rules and the published fee schedule. The tools run pure rule-based logic. No API key, no external calls, no setup beyond a single config edit. Install it, restart Claude, ask questions in plain English.

Some things you can ask Claude when this MCP is connected:

• "I made $78,000 last year, never filed a patent before, and my employer doesn't have any claim to this invention. What entity status do I qualify for?"

• "How much will my nonprovisional cost if I file with 5 independent claims and 28 total claims as a micro entity?"

• "My provisional was filed on March 19, 2026. When is my nonprovisional due and when should I internally target the filing?"

• "I got a non-final Office Action on November 14, 2026. What's my response deadline and what does it cost to buy extensions?"

• "I just learned about a prior art reference relevant to my application. Do I need to file an IDS and what form should I use?"

• "I want to certify my micro entity status. What form do I use?"

The tools return enough context that a first-time inventor can act on the answer and learn the underlying rule at the same time.

Related MCP server: USPTO Patent MCP Server

What this tool covers

In scope for v0.1:

• Nonprovisional utility applications: filing, search, and examination fees under 37 CFR 1.16(a), 1.16(k), and 1.16(o), plus excess claim fees, multiple dependent claim fee, application size fee, non-DOCX surcharge, and late filing surcharge.

• Provisional applications: filing fee under 37 CFR 1.16(d), application size fee, and late cover sheet surcharge.

• Design applications: filing, search, and examination fees under 37 CFR 1.16(b), 1.16(l), and 1.16(p).

• PCT international stage: USPTO transmittal fee under 37 CFR 1.445(a)(1)(i)(A) and the headline international search fee under 37 CFR 1.445(a)(2)(i) when USPTO is selected as the International Searching Authority.

• Office Action response deadlines and extensions: 37 CFR 1.134, 1.136(a), and all five extension tiers under 1.17(a).

• Entity status determination: small (37 CFR 1.27) and micro (37 CFR 1.29).

• Information Disclosure Statement timing: all four 1.97 filing windows including the post-final 1.97(d) window.

• Form lookup: the PTO/SB and PTO/AIA forms a pro se filer is most likely to need.

Out of scope for v0.1:

• Plant patent applications: 37 CFR 1.16(c) filing fee, 1.16(m) search fee, and 1.16(q) examination fee are NOT bundled. Pro se filers rarely file plant patents; if you are filing one, verify fees directly against the USPTO schedule.

• Reissue applications: 37 CFR 1.16(e) filing fee, 1.16(n) search fee, and 1.16(r) examination fee are NOT bundled. Reissues are almost always handled by attorneys for issued patents that need correction.

• PCT national stage search fee sub-tiers: 37 CFR 1.492(b) has four sub-tiers depending on whether USPTO was the ISA, whether the international preliminary examination was completed, and so on. The bundled value reflects the headline international-stage search fee under 1.445(a)(2)(i), not the national-stage sub-tier structure. National-stage filers should verify the applicable sub-tier against the current schedule.

• Issue fees and maintenance fees: 37 CFR 1.18 and 1.20 are not yet bundled. calculate_filing_fees flags both as excluded post-filing costs in its return.

Coming in v0.2:

• Plant patent and reissue fee support, extending the filing_type enum on calculate_filing_fees.

• PCT national stage sub-tier expansion under 37 CFR 1.492(b), with a new parameter to select the applicable tier.

• Trademark search and detail lookup via the USPTO TSDR and Open Data Portal (requires free USPTO ODP API key).

Who it's for

Independent inventors filing their own patents. Small business owners filing their own trademarks (coming in v0.2). Garage founders, academic inventors, and university tech transfer staff coordinating disclosures. Anyone navigating USPTO procedure who would rather understand the system than pay $450 an hour to have someone navigate it for them.

If you have a patent attorney handling everything, you don't need this MCP. Your attorney already knows what your entity status is. If you're filing yourself, this is for you.

Quick start

No API key required for v0.1. No USPTO account required. No ID.me verification.

Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pro-se-uspto": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@parissharpe/pro-se-uspto-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The tools become available in any conversation.

Streamable HTTP (Claude.ai web and mobile)

Add this to your Claude.ai connector settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pro-se-uspto": {
      "url": "https://uspto.parissharpe.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

That's it. No environment variables to set, no keys to generate.

Tools

check_entity_status

Runs the eligibility analysis under 37 CFR 1.29 for micro and small entity status. Pro se inventors regularly default to "large entity" when they qualify for micro entity, paying four times the fees they should.

Parameters:

• gross_income_usd: Your individual gross income from the previous calendar year. 37 CFR 1.29(a)(3) tests the applicant's individual income, NOT household income. If you file taxes jointly, use your share of the joint income, typically your earned income plus your share of joint investment income.

• prior_us_filings: Number of prior US nonprovisional applications you've been named on, excluding any you assigned away under an employment-based obligation per 37 CFR 1.29(b). Provisionals, foreign applications, and PCT applications that did not enter US national phase are also excluded.

• has_employer_assignment_obligation: Boolean, whether your employer or contractor has any obligation to claim ownership

• university_or_nonprofit_affiliation: Optional, default false

Returns: Entity status determination, full reasoning walking through 37 CFR 1.29(a) prongs, the form needed to certify (SB15A for micro), and any common gotchas.

Example invocation:

"Run my entity status for last year. I made $72K, never filed before, no employer claim."

calculate_filing_fees

Returns itemized USPTO fees for a specific filing scenario, including the surcharges that catch first-time filers off guard.

Parameters:

• filing_type: provisional, nonprovisional, pct, or design

• entity_status: micro, small, or large

• independent_claim_count: Default 3 (the included count)

• total_claim_count: Default 20 (the included count)

• has_multiple_dependent_claims: Default false

• specification_page_count: Default 50

Returns: Itemized breakdown including base filing fee, search fee, examination fee, excess claim fees, multiple dependent claim fee, and application size fee. Citations to 37 CFR 1.16 subsections. Plain-language note about which fees commonly surprise people.

Example invocation:

"What's the total cost for a nonprovisional with 4 independent claims and 25 total claims at micro entity?"

track_provisional_deadlines

Given a provisional filing date, returns every date that matters.

Parameters:

• provisional_filing_date: ISO date format

• jurisdiction_priorities: Optional array of country codes if foreign filings are planned

Returns: Twelve-month statutory nonprovisional deadline (35 USC 119(e)), month-ten internal target (best practice, not statutory), one-year inventor disclosure grace period boundary (35 USC 102(b)(1)), PCT twelve-month deadline if applicable. Citations and practical note about why month-ten matters as an internal target distinct from the statutory deadline.

Example invocation:

"My provisional was filed March 19, 2026. Walk me through every date I need to know."

calculate_response_deadline

Office Action response math with full extension cost analysis under 37 CFR 1.134 and 1.136.

Parameters:

• office_action_mailing_date: ISO date format

• action_type: non_final, final, restriction_requirement, or advisory_action

• entity_status: micro, small, or large

Returns: Statutory deadline (typically three months from mailing), maximum deadline with extensions (six months total), per-month extension fees by entity status, citations to 37 CFR 1.134 and 1.136, and practical note about why responding inside the statutory period is usually better than buying extensions.

Example invocation:

"Non-final Office Action mailed November 14, 2026, small entity. When's my deadline and what do extensions cost?"

check_ids_requirement

Determines if and when an Information Disclosure Statement is required, and which form to use. The duty of disclosure under 37 CFR 1.56 catches more pro se filers than any other procedural rule.

Parameters:

• application_filing_date: ISO date format

• last_office_action_date: Optional, if any

• last_office_action_type: Optional, one of non_final | final | restriction_requirement | notice_of_allowance | none. Provide this if you have received an Office Action. It enables the stricter 37 CFR 1.97(d) branch when the last action was a final rejection or Notice of Allowance, which is the most expensive IDS window and the one pro se filers are most likely to mishandle.

• references_known_to_inventor: Boolean

• references_first_known_date: Optional

• has_rce_been_filed: Default false

Returns: Whether IDS is currently required, which filing window the application is in (before first OA, between OA and final, after final, or with RCE), the correct form (SB08A for patent citations, SB08B for non-patent literature), whether certification or a fee is required at this stage. Citations to 37 CFR 1.56 and 1.97/1.98, and plain-language note about why the duty of disclosure matters even when the inventor is filing pro se.

Example invocation:

"I just found a prior art reference I should have disclosed. Application was filed June 1, 2026, no Office Action yet. What do I file?"

find_uspto_form

Maps an inventor's stated intent to the correct USPTO form. The USPTO maintains more than 200 PTO/SB and PTO/AIA forms. Knowing which to use is its own skill.

Parameters:

• purpose: Natural language description of what the inventor wants to do

• entity_status: Optional, helps narrow form selection

Returns: Matching form number(s), full form name, direct USPTO download URL, brief description of when the form is used, and one or two common gotchas.

Example invocation:

"I want to certify my micro entity status. Which form do I use?"

How this differs from existing patent MCPs

Several capable USPTO MCPs already exist, and they're well-built for their audiences. None of them are built for pro se inventors.

RobThePCGuy's Claude-Patent-Creator is a 35-plus tool patent creation system targeting Claude Code developers. It downloads ~500MB of MPEP PDFs, builds a FAISS vector index, runs a RAG pipeline over MPEP/USC/CFR, and includes BigQuery access to 76 million patents. The autonomous patent creation workflow runs 55 to 80 minutes per invention. It's a research and drafting tool for developers building patent automation.

riemannzeta's patent_mcp_server is a 52-tool USPTO data wrapper covering PPUBS, ODP, PTAB, PatentsView, Office Actions, and Litigation APIs. Setup requires Python's uv package manager, a USPTO ODP API key (which requires ID.me verification), and an environment file. The stated audience is researchers and legal professionals.

Both are technically impressive. Both assume the user is a developer, an attorney, or both.

This MCP makes different choices. Six focused tools instead of 35-plus or 52. No Python environment, no local downloads, no API key, no ID.me verification. The tools encode the rules an inventor needs to apply to their own filing, not the database surface area of USPTO public data. The audience is the person filing the patent, not the person researching the patent landscape.

The competitive gap is real. The pro se filer category is genuinely underserved by existing tools, and that's the gap this MCP fills.

Roadmap

v0.1 ships the six tools described above. All pure logic, no API key required.

v0.2 expands the fee coverage to include plant patent applications (37 CFR 1.16(c)/(m)/(q)) and reissue applications (37 CFR 1.16(e)/(n)/(r)), and breaks out PCT national stage search fees into their four sub-tiers under 37 CFR 1.492(b). v0.2 also adds trademark search and trademark detail lookup via the USPTO TSDR and Open Data Portal APIs (tools: search_trademarks_by_name, get_trademark_details, check_nice_classification). The trademark tools require a free USPTO Open Data Portal API key, which the MCP guides the user through obtaining when they first invoke an API-requiring tool. The v0.1 tools continue to work without any key.

v0.3 adds check_continuation_eligibility for evaluating whether a continuation, CIP, or divisional is still available given the parent application's current status. Adds calculate_patent_term for basic 20-year term calculation with optional Patent Term Adjustment estimation. Adds validate_claim_structure for checking claim formatting against USPTO Construction Bible standards including antecedent basis, single-sentence rule, transitional phrases, and multiple dependent claim format.

v0.4 adds PEDS application status lookup, Office Action retrieval and basic interpretation, and prosecution history summaries via authenticated USPTO ODP endpoints.

Each version expands the scope while preserving the educational return shape and the no-friction install path. API-requiring tools are always optional and never block the use of the pure-logic tools.

Built by

Paris R. Sharpe. Pro se inventor with seven USPTO provisional patent applications filed in 2026 across the SkyVoyance ecosystem and HODOS identity architecture. Polymath operating at the intersection of aviation infrastructure, sovereign identity, and independent ownership systems. More work at parissharpe.com.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests welcome. The educational return shape is the brand. If you contribute a new tool or modify an existing one, the answer + citation + practical note structure is non-negotiable. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

The bundled USPTO fee schedule and forms index need quarterly review against the current published USPTO schedules. Contributors who want to help maintain those data files are especially welcome.

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for the full text.

The choice of Apache 2.0 over MIT is intentional. Apache 2.0 includes an explicit patent grant from contributors and patent retaliation protection, which matters for a tool built in adjacent IP territory.