smcronin/epo-cli/epo

EPO OPS CLI

Use this skill to run patent research and CLI QA against the local epo binary with reproducible commands and structured output.

Recipes

Find recent patents by a company:

epo pub search --query 'pa="SAP SE" and pd within "20250101 20260307"' --summary -f json -q

Get the patent family:

epo family summary EP4610885A1 -f json -q

Check prosecution/legal status:

epo status EP.4610885.A1 --register-ref EP22198765 -f json -q

Normalize a messy patent number:

epo number normalize EP04610885 -f json -q

Browse recent grants in a CPC class:

epo pub recent --cpc G06N --days 30 --summary -f json -q

Quick Start

1. Configure credentials:

• epo config set-creds --from-env
• epo config set-creds --from-dotenv .env
• or epo auth configure --client-id ... --client-secret ...

1. Inspect config when needed:

epo config show -f json -q

1. Use machine-readable output for all agent flows:

epo <command> -f json -q

1. Use the command catalog as source of truth:

epo methods --json -f json -q

Workflow

1. Classify task:

• publication search/retrieval
• family/legal/register timeline
• CPC/number conversion
• usage/quota diagnostics

1. Pick the smallest command that answers the question.

1. Start narrow, then fan out:

• search with bounded range or precise date window
• confirm schema with one item
• use --all only after confirming throttle headroom

1. Use agent-friendly projections:

• --summary, --flat, --pick, and stdin batch mode where useful

1. Handle throttle/errors with bounded retries.

1. Return concise evidence:

• key fields
• exact command used
• explicit unresolved gaps if endpoint fails

Research Defaults

• Prefer -f json -q.
• Prefer pub search --summary for quick answerability.
• Prefer family summary before family get for triage.
• Prefer legal get --flat and register get --summary for diligence timelines.
• Use status to merge legal + register + procedural data in one response.
• Use usage quota before large fan-out runs.
• Do not spend a turn on epo auth check before normal commands; the CLI already reports missing or invalid credentials.

Reference Files

• Command routing: references/commands.md
• End-to-end workflows: references/workflows.md
• Query/identifier patterns: references/query-patterns.md
• Error and throttle handling: references/errors-throttling.md