patent-search

Q: How do I install patent-search?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/robthepcguy/claude-patent-creator --skill patent-search in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/patent-search/ (personal) or .claude/skills/patent-search/ (project).

by robthepcguyBackend & APIs

Search 100M+ patents via the MCP server's BigQuery tools. No standalone scripts; everything goes through the MCP tools registered by the patent-creator server.

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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/robthepcguy/claude-patent-creator --skill patent-search

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads patent-search automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

Patent Search Skill

This skill points Claude at the BigQuery patent-search tools registered by the patent-creator MCP server. Call the tools directly; do not shell out to Python.

When to use

Find prior art by keyword, classification, or family.
Pull full patent records (title, abstract, claims, description) for US patents.
Cross-reference an EP/WO patent into its US family member to get full text.

Available MCP tools

Tool	What it does
`search_patents_google`	Recommended. Full-text keyword search worldwide (claims and description included), one search credit per call. Needs `SERPAPI_API_KEY` (free plan: 250/month).
`check_google_patents_status`	Is the key set, and how many searches are left this month (free to call).
`search_patents_bigquery`	Fallback keyword search across title / abstract / claims (US only for claims). ~341 GiB, about $2, per search.
`get_patent_bigquery`	Patent details by publication number: bibliographic data + claims by default; abstract and description are opt-in.
`get_patents_bigquery`	Same, for up to 50 patents in one query at the cost of one lookup.
`search_patents_by_cpc_bigquery`	Search by CPC classification prefix.
`search_patents_by_ipc_bigquery`	Search by IPC classification prefix (good for older or non-US patents).
`search_patent_family_bigquery`	All publications sharing a family ID across jurisdictions.
`check_bigquery_status`	Verify auth and quota project before a long workflow.

Cost notes

BigQuery on-demand pricing is $6.25 / TiB (1 TiB free per month). The MCP server enforces a per-query bytes-billed ceiling, defaulting to 350 GiB. Override via PATENT_BIGQUERY_MAX_BYTES_BILLED if you need a larger scan window.

The patents table is unclustered, so a detail lookup costs the same for one patent or fifty; the cost depends only on which sections are requested:

Detail lookup	Scan	Cost
Bibliographic only (`include_claims=False`): title, dates, family_id, CPC/IPC	~44 GiB	~$0.27
Default: + claims	~160 GiB	~$1
+ abstract (`include_abstract=True`)	+~200 GiB	exceeds the default cap together with claims
+ description (`include_description=True`)	~1.1 TiB	exceeds the default cap

So: batch with get_patents_bigquery, pass include_claims=False when you only need codes or family_id, and take abstracts from the search results rather than re-fetching them.

Choosing keywords

search_patents_google:

All words must match; "double quotes" match an exact phrase. No stemming, so search synonyms and plurals separately.
Lead with the invention's distinctive terms. Common words match thousands of patents and push the closest art down; in testing, adding "heart valve" to a query buried the target past #300, while its distinctive claim words found it at #48.
Use limit=100: it costs the same one credit as limit=10.
Stay inside a classification by adding a full CPC group: "voice biometric" CPC=G10L17/00 (a bare CPC=G10L17 finds nothing).
Results show one row per publication, so a US patent and its EP family member can both appear.

search_patents_bigquery (fallback):

2-3 keywords work better than long phrases (BigQuery LIKE matching is literal).
For non-US patents, claims is empty in the dataset; the MCP keyword tool already searches title/abstract for those jurisdictions. For full text on EP/WO, use the EPO OPS tools instead.
Use search_patent_family_bigquery to bridge from an EP/WO hit to its US family member when you need claims.

Common workflows

Prior art sweep:

search_patents_google(query=…, limit=100) — broad full-text scan, worldwide (fallback: search_patents_bigquery(query=…, country="US")).
Pick the top hits' CPC codes with one get_patents_bigquery(patent_numbers=[…], include_claims=False).
search_patents_google(query="<terms> CPC=<group>/00", limit=100) — pull adjacent technology (fallback: search_patents_by_cpc_bigquery, ~234 GiB a search).

Cross-jurisdiction lookup:

search_patents_google(query=…, country="EP") (fallback: search_patents_bigquery(query=…, country="EP")).
For the EP hits, one get_patents_bigquery(patent_numbers=[…], include_claims=False) to get their family_ids.
search_patent_family_bigquery(family_id=…) to find the US member with full claims.

FAQ

What does the patent-search skill do?

Search 100M+ patents via the MCP server's BigQuery tools. No standalone scripts; everything goes through the MCP tools registered by the patent-creator server.

How do I install patent-search?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/robthepcguy/claude-patent-creator --skill patent-search in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/patent-search/ (personal) or .claude/skills/patent-search/ (project).

Which AI agents can use patent-search?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is patent-search safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains patent-search?

It is published by robthepcguy in robthepcguy/claude-patent-creator. It has 72 recorded installs.