FAQ

Questions a developer or agent operator typically asks first. The full surface is in the documentation; this is the entry point.

Do I need an account?

No, not for the lodestone path. Sign an EIP-3009 payment authorization off-chain, attach it as a PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header, send a single POST /v1/envelopes request, and you get back a signing URL. No signup, no dashboard, no email confirmation.

If you want history reads later, the same wallet address can sign in via the wallet JWT path and see its own envelopes. If you want a single API key for many calls without per-request signing, sign up with Google or GitHub at app.verafirma.com and mint one. Both are optional layers on top of the per-call path.

How does x402 work?

The wallet signs an EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization for the call’s exact amount, off-chain (no gas). The signature carries the wallet address, the recipient (the facilitator), the amount, a validity window, and a replay-protected nonce. The signature lands as a request header; the API verifies it, settles synchronously through the facilitator, and runs the wrapped operation. By the time the response returns, the wallet has been debited.

x402 is not EIP-191, SIWE, or personal_sign — those are for wallet-as-identity signin (the wallet JWT path), which is a different flow. See /concepts/x402 for the wire format.

What’s the price?

$0.10 per envelope for signing. ID verification starts at $0.08 per check; add face matching, AML, address verification, or voice authentication only when you need them — typical full identity check totals $0.12–$0.25. Pay per call — no minimum, no commitment. Envelopes refund automatically on terminal failure (REJECTED, EXPIRED, CANCELLED) up to a per-envelope cap. Verifications refund on verification.failed up to a per-call cap.

The full breakdown — every check, every add-on, and the per-call payment modes — is at /pricing.

Why so much cheaper than the incumbents?

Two reasons. (1) We host battle-tested open-source software ourselves on cheap infrastructure — our per-call cost is server time, and we pass that to you with a markup. Not pass-through SaaS licensing where someone else takes the margin. (2) We don’t sell the enterprise wrappers — regulated KYC pipelines, AML screening, anti-fraud scoring, liability transfer, account management, contract minimums, compliance reporting bundles. If you need those, the incumbents are still your path. If you just need the core capability — sign this contract, verify this person — we’re 10-30x cheaper at feature parity.

Concrete envelope comparison: DocuSign charges roughly $3 per envelope for the same signing capability bundled with enterprise wrappers; we sell the signing for $0.10. Concrete verification comparison: most providers charge a single bundled price between $1 and $4 per session regardless of which checks you actually used; we sell each check separately starting at $0.08.

Is this a “lite” version of e-signature / ID verification?

No. The feature set is full: eIDAS-Advanced signing, X.509 certificates, multi-document envelopes, 5 recipient roles, 10 field types, templates, webhooks, OCR, liveness, face matching, deterministic decisions, GDPR. Same capabilities you’d expect from a mature platform. What we don’t sell is the bundle of enterprise services around them.

What’s verification?

A one-call API for checking that someone is who they claim to be. POST to /v1/verifications, we return a hosted URL the customer’s end-user opens to upload their ID and selfie. We webhook you the result. Starts at $0.08 per check with à la carte add-ons (face matching, AML, address verification, voice authentication) — see /pricing for the full catalog.

How is verification different from the incumbents?

Same underlying ID-check capability; different pricing model. The incumbents charge a single bundled price between $1 and $4 per session because they bundle the check with liability coverage, AML screening, KYC pipelines, anti-fraud scoring, and enterprise compliance reporting. Most developers don’t need that whole bundle — they need the ID check. We sell each component separately, at the cost of running it.

If you need the full bundle (you’re a bank, an exchange, a regulated entity that needs liability transfer), the incumbents are still your answer. If you just need “is this person who they say they are,” we’re 10-30x cheaper at feature parity.

Do I need a separate account for envelopes and verification?

No. One verafirma account, one API key, one balance, both products. Use whichever calls you need; the balance draws down at the per-call price (envelope $0.10; verification charged per check + add-ons selected) regardless of which product. Same on the x402 path — the wallet that signs the payment authorization is the identity across both products.

Where’s the OpenAPI spec?

https://api.verafirma.com/openapi.json — full machine-readable surface.

The web-rendered version with audience-augmented metadata is at /api-reference. Generate a typed client from the JSON in your language of choice; the spec is OpenAPI 3.1.

Where’s the MCP endpoint?

https://api.verafirma.com/mcp — streamable-HTTP MCP server. Tools wrap the same handlers as the REST API; auth flows through the same modes (API key, x402, wallet JWT).

The current V1 tool set: verafirma.create_signing_request, verafirma.get_envelope_status, verafirma.list_envelopes, verafirma.register_webhook. The authoritative list is in the tools/list response from the endpoint. See /concepts/mcp for client config patterns.