patent v0.4.0

patent 0.4.0 adds clipboard copy, CI-friendly exit codes, a Docker image, and a round of bug fixes.

Highlights

Clipboard copy. Press y on any match to yank its URL to the clipboard. Works in both the list and detail views, with a brief status confirmation.

Graduated exit codes. The process now exits 0 (Open), 1 (Crowded), or 2 (Saturated), so you can gate CI pipelines on prior-art density without parsing JSON.

Docker image. Community-contributed Dockerfile for running patent in containers (thanks @mdeville).

Nix flake. Community-contributed flake.nix for Nix users (thanks @mdeville).

Bug fixes

• Fix infinite loop in is_whole_word on empty match name.
• Fix RubyGems .take(20) before .filter() dropping valid results.
• Remove duplicate User-Agent headers on 4 source adapters.
• Only retry on transient errors (Http/LlmUnreachable), not model errors.
• Add max_tokens: 512 on the OpenAI-compatible path.
• Maven no longer reports versionCount as a popularity signal (thanks @Arvuno).
• crates.io adapter now honors base_url when building result URLs.

Install

cargo install patent

Or grab a prebuilt binary / one-line installer from the assets below.

---

Install patent 0.4.0

Install prebuilt binaries via shell script

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/r14dd/patent/releases/download/v0.4.0/patent-installer.sh | sh

Download patent 0.4.0

File	Platform	Checksum
patent-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.xz	Apple Silicon macOS	checksum
patent-aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz	ARM64 Linux	checksum
patent-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.xz	x64 Linux	checksum

patent v0.3.0

patent 0.3.0 brings sharper search recall, a redesigned detail view, and pre-built binaries.

Highlights

Better search recall. GitHub now searches in:description,readme sorted by stars; npm and Hacker News use the full idea string instead of extracted keywords. More relevant results, especially for niche queries.

Redesigned detail popup. Hit Enter on any match for a score-coloured popup (green → yellow → red), scrollable description, and a clean single-line metadata row. ↑/↓ or j/k to scroll.

Smarter verdict. The LLM prompt takes a sceptical stance and filters gap claims that name a top match directly. One automatic retry on transient backend errors.

Pre-built binaries. No Rust toolchain required. Grab a one-line installer or a binary from the assets below.

Install

cargo install patent

Or grab a prebuilt binary / one-line installer from the assets below.

Usage

patent "interactive cli to kill whatever's on a port"

# no model warmup
patent "kubernetes log viewer" --fast

# pipe to jq
patent "react component for infinite scroll" --json | jq .

patent v0.2.0

patent 0.2.0 adds support for any LLM backend and sharpens the verdict.

Highlights

• Use any LLM, not just Ollama. --api-base (with --api-key or the
  OPENAI_API_KEY env var) points the verdict at any OpenAI-compatible API —
  OpenAI, OpenRouter, Groq, vLLM, LM Studio, llama.cpp. Local Ollama stays the
  default, and --fast still skips the LLM entirely.
• Better verdicts on close matches. A near-identical result is no longer
  reported as "no matches found," and a single very-close match (similarity
  ≥ 0.70) is treated as a crowded space rather than open.
• More robust fallback. Any backend failure — unreachable endpoint, wrong
  model or key, malformed response — degrades to a search-only result instead of
  aborting the run.

Install

cargo install patent

Or grab a prebuilt binary / one-line installer from the assets below.

Usage

# local Ollama (default)
patent "kubernetes log viewer"

# any OpenAI-compatible API
patent "kubernetes log viewer" --api-base https://api.openai.com/v1 --model gpt-4o-mini

patent v0.1.0

A prior-art search for your code ideas. Describe a dev-tool idea in plain English and patent searches the open-source ecosystem, ranks matches with local semantic search, and writes an honest, scoped verdict — all in your terminal.

Highlights

• 11 registries in one command — crates.io, npm, PyPI, GitHub, Go, Maven, NuGet, RubyGems, Docker Hub, VS Code Marketplace, and Hacker News.
• Local semantic ranking (fastembed) + a local Ollama verdict — Open / Crowded / Saturated, with the gaps you could still fill.
• Interactive TUI (ratatui) — detail view, sortable columns, filtering, and mouse support — or --json for scripting.
• --fast for an instant, search-only result with no model warm-up.
• Fully local & private, with an integrity rule baked in: it can prove something exists, never that it doesn't.

Install

cargo install patent

Docs: https://docs.rs/patent · Crate: https://crates.io/crates/patent