A complete walkthrough of the local-first architecture, AI agent system, patent-specific tools, and exactly why zero data ever leaves your machine.
Patents are the single most valuable asset a technology company or independent inventor can hold. They represent years of R&D, strategic insight, and competitive advantage — all encoded in a document. Sending that document, or even the ideas within it, to a cloud server means trusting a third party with your most sensitive trade secrets.
With OpenPatent, you never have to make that trade. The entire AI inference pipeline runs on hardware you own — your laptop, your server, your air-gapped data centre. The LLM that drafts your patent claims never touches the internet.
Prior art search queries are the only network requests made, and those go directly to official patent databases (USPTO, EPO, WIPO) — no OpenPatent server sits in between.
The architecture is intentionally minimal: your input goes in, local LLM processes it, structured patent output comes out.
openpatent
command.openpatent/openpatent.json
for model & provider settingslocalhost
Start by running a compatible local LLM on your machine. OpenPatent connects to any
OpenAI-compatible local endpoint. The most common options are
Ollama (free, runs on CPU or GPU) and LM Studio
(GUI-based, Mac/Windows). Once your model is running at localhost:11434
or similar, configure your .openpatent/openpatent.json
to point to it.
For best results with patent drafting, we recommend models with at least 30B parameters (e.g., Llama-3 70B, Mistral Large, Qwen2.5 72B). Medium-quality results are achievable with 7B–14B models on standard laptops.
Launch OpenPatent from the terminal: openpatent --agent draft.
The draft agent is the default — it guides you through describing your
invention in plain, natural language. No patent jargon required. Just explain what the
invention does, how it works, and what problem it solves.
Everything you type stays in memory on your local machine. No keystrokes, clipboard activity, or file contents are transmitted anywhere. The session history is stored as a local JSON file only.
The prior-art subagent invokes the patent-search
tool to query official patent office databases — USPTO, EPO Espacenet, WIPO PatentScope, and
JPO. These are direct API calls to the patent offices, not routed through OpenPatent
servers.
The LLM analyzes the returned results locally, identifying relevant prior art, assessing patentability scope, and flagging potential §102/§103 issues. A patentability opinion is generated entirely locally and presented to you for review.
The draft agent uses a structured prompt pipeline to generate a complete patent application: independent claims → dependent claims → detailed description → abstract → drawing descriptions. The claims-analyst subagent critiques claim scope for over-breadth and under-breadth before the reviewer subagent performs a final quality check.
The document-writer
tool structures the output to match the chosen jurisdiction's filing format. The compliance-check
tool validates formatting requirements — page limits, claim numbering, dependency chains.
OpenPatent outputs structured Markdown and/or DOCX files that a registered patent attorney can review, annotate, and file directly. The platform is designed as an attorney amplifier, not a replacement — it handles the tedious groundwork while your attorney focuses on strategy and prosecution.
For prosecution, use openpatent --agent prosecute
to load an office action and generate a response. The agent is MPEP-aware and can construct
§102, §103, and §112 arguments with citation support.
With openpatent --agent manage,
track your entire portfolio: pending applications, issued patents, annuity deadlines, and
maintenance obligations. The docket-query
tool pulls live status from patent office APIs.
For our managed-hosting Professional plan, e-filing integrations are available through official USPTO and EPO APIs. For self-hosted installations, filing remains a manual step with the generated documents.
Each agent is a purpose-built prompt architecture with access to a curated subset of patent tools and subagents.
Default agent. Generates complete patent applications from natural language invention disclosures. Handles claims, specifications, abstracts, and drawing descriptions.
Responds to USPTO and EPO office actions. Drafts amendments, arguments, and claim traversals with MPEP awareness and citation support.
Read-only consulting mode. Patentability opinions, FTO analysis, prior art landscape studies, claim scope analysis, and validity opinions.
Litigation support: claim construction memos, infringement claim charts, invalidity contentions, and IPR/PGR petition drafts.
Portfolio management: docket tracking, deadline monitoring, status reports, annuity management, and portfolio visualisation.
Research and planning: white-space analysis, claim strategy, competitive IP landscape mapping, and patent portfolio offence/defence planning.
Seven tools exposed to the LLM during inference — each designed for a specific patent workflow operation.
Search USPTO, EPO, WIPO, and JPO patent databases via official APIs. Returns structured prior art results with publication numbers and cited claims.
Parse and analyse patent claim structure — identifies independent/dependent relationships, claim elements, and means-plus-function constructions.
Look up specific MPEP sections, 37 CFR rules, and USPTO examination guidelines by section number or natural language query.
Query live patent application status, bibliographic data, and prosecution history from USPTO PAIR/PatentCenter and EPO Register APIs.
Generate jurisdiction-specific patent application templates: US utility/provisional, PCT international, EPO, and select national phase filings.
Validate a patent application draft against USPTO, EPO, or PCT formatting requirements. Flags page limits, numbering, and §112 written description issues.
Format patent citations in Blue Book, USPTO, or EPO citation style — for use in office action responses, litigation briefs, and opinions.
The tool registry is open and documented. Add custom tools via the plugin API — connect to internal patent management systems, docket software, or proprietary databases.
Ollama runs popular open-source models locally on macOS, Linux, and Windows with a simple CLI. No GPU required for smaller models.
OpenPatent supports any endpoint that implements the OpenAI Chat Completions API — perfect for LM Studio, vLLM, LiteLLM, or self-hosted fine-tunes.
Compatible with:
Open source and free forever. Or sign up for our managed hosting — still zero data sharing.