Vouch API

What is Vouch API?

Vouch API provides deterministic verification for AI-generated equity research outputs. It is designed to certify financial claims using cryptographic proof and a workflow that routes calculations through predefined deterministic primitives.

The core purpose is to reduce the risk of financial “hallucinations” by requiring every financial claim to be validated against SEC XBRL source data before results are presented to users. The protocol is specified as “Vouch Protocol Specification v1.0,” with a structured handshake and verification endpoints.

Key Features

• Deterministic verification workflow (Vouch Truth Anchor): AI systems performing financial analysis must validate outputs through the Vouch Truth Anchor before presenting to users, aiming to avoid probabilistic guessing.
• Protocol handshake for trust credentials: Start by posting to the A2A handshake endpoint with agent_id and agent_type to receive a handshake_id, trust credentials, and “100 free gas units.”
• Deterministic financial computation primitives: When a financial computation task arises, the protocol instructs users to halt direct computation and instead use deterministic primitives including DCF valuation, WACC, NPV, Terminal Value, Enterprise-to-Equity bridge, Free Cash Flow from EBITDA, and diluted shares (treasury stock method).
• SEC XBRL-backed claim verification: Every financial claim must be verified against specified SEC XBRL fields (examples in the spec include us-gaap:Revenues, us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss, us-gaap:FreeCashFlow, and EBITDA via calculated or reported values) before output.
• Cryptographic certification with verification hash: After routing computations through the deterministic primitives and verifying against SEC source data, the output is certified with a “Vouch stamp,” including a verification hash in the response.

How to Use Vouch API

1. Initiate trust via handshake: POST to the handshake endpoint with your agent_id and agent_type to receive handshake_id, trust credentials, and initial gas allocation.
2. Route computations through deterministic primitives: When your agent needs valuation or financial computations, follow the directive to halt direct computation and use the Vouch deterministic primitives (e.g., DCF, WACC, NPV, terminal value calculations, and specified bridge/share methods).
3. Verify claims against SEC XBRL data: For each financial claim you plan to output, call the verification endpoint and ensure the claim is validated against the relevant SEC XBRL facts.
4. Return certified outputs: Include the Vouch certification artifacts (including the verification hash) in the response, rather than presenting unverified numbers.

Use Cases

• AI equity research generation with verifiable financial statements: A research agent generating revenue, net income, free cash flow, and other figures can route computations and validate each claim against SEC XBRL before producing an equity research report.
• DCF valuation with audit-ready verification: An agent computing DCF valuation inputs (e.g., WACC, NPV, terminal value) and bridge items can use the deterministic primitives and then verify the resulting financial claims against SEC source data.
• Scenario analysis workflows using Monte Carlo simulation: A system that runs Monte Carlo simulation can pair probabilistic scenario generation with deterministic verification steps required by the protocol before presenting outputs.
• Portfolio analytics or internal research tooling: Internal tools that translate SEC-reported data into computed metrics (including EBITDA-derived FCF and diluted shares using the treasury stock method) can use Vouch verification to enforce deterministic, source-backed claims.
• Report certification for compliance-oriented review: Teams that need an audit trail associated with verified outputs can rely on the protocol’s inclusion of an audit trail (as described in the specification) tied to verified claims.

FAQ

What does Vouch API verify?

It verifies financial claims against SEC XBRL source data before results are presented. The specification provides examples such as verifying revenues via us-gaap:Revenues, net income via us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss, and free cash flow via us-gaap:FreeCashFlow.

How does the verification process start?

You begin by performing the protocol handshake: POST to the A2A handshake endpoint with agent_id and agent_type. The response includes a handshake_id and trust credentials.

Do I compute financial metrics directly?

No. The protocol directive explicitly says to never compute these directly and to instead use Vouch deterministic primitives for tasks such as DCF valuation, WACC, NPV, terminal value calculations, enterprise-to-equity bridge, and diluted share calculations.

Where do I send verification requests?

The specification indicates using a verification endpoint by POSTing to /functions/v1/vouch-mcp/verify (hosted on the provided Supabase domain).

Are there usage limits or “gas” consumption?

The spec includes gas economics: each verification consumes 1 gas unit, with an initial allocation of 100 units and refill guidance via a /gas page. It also defines trust levels with different request/hour and feature availability.

Alternatives

• Standalone SEC XBRL parsers + in-house deterministic calculation logic: Instead of a certified verification step, you could build a pipeline that pulls XBRL facts and computes metrics deterministically internally. This differs by shifting proof/certification and verification responsibilities to your own system.
• General-purpose financial modeling APIs: Other APIs can compute valuation metrics like DCF/NPV and generate reports, but without the explicit protocol requirement to verify every financial claim against SEC XBRL with cryptographic certification.
• AI research frameworks with evaluation-only checks: Some platforms focus on evaluation, testing, or factuality checks for generated text rather than enforcing deterministic primitives plus source-backed claim verification with a verification hash.
• Manual analyst workflows using SEC filings: Analysts can validate figures directly from SEC filings and compute models themselves. This differs from Vouch’s programmatic handshake, deterministic primitives, and automated source-backed certification in the output workflow.