GET /v1/answer

Ask a hemp-compliance question in plain English and get back a verified, statute-cited answer — or an honest "we can't verify that yet" gap. This is the same deterministic Verified Answer Engine that powers hempdata.io/ask: there is no language model in this path, so it physically cannot invent a regulatory number. Every asserted figure carries a verification object with the backing statute and primary sources.

Auth & rate limit

Requires a HempData API key: Authorization: Bearer hda_live_sk_....
Subject to your tier's per-minute rate limit.

Request

GET /v1/answer?q=Is+CBD+legal+in+Kentucky%3F
Authorization: Bearer hda_live_sk_...

Query param	Type	Required	Notes
`q`	string	yes	The question, 1–500 chars
`state`	string	no	Two-letter jurisdiction code (e.g. `KY`, `DC`). Scopes the question when the text doesn't name a state

Response — 200 OK (answered)

data.status is "answered" when the engine can answer from verified data.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "status": "answered",
    "intent": "fact",
    "parsed": { "states": ["KY"], "...": "..." },
    "answer": {
      "text": "… answer text with inline [1] citation markers …",
      "citations": [
        { "n": 1, "label": "…", "url": "https://…" }
      ],
      "verification": {
        "status": "verified",
        "confidence": 1,
        "factId": "…",
        "statute": "…",
        "lastVerified": "…",
        "primarySources": ["https://…"]
      },
      "data": { "...": "structured tool output" }
    }
  },
  "meta": { "api_version": "v1" },
  "errors": null
}

answer.verification.status is "verified" only when the figure traces to a

tracked, human-reviewed fact with primary sources. Treat anything else as orientation, not a compliance decision.

answer.citations[] matches the inline [n] markers in answer.text.

Response — 200 OK (gap)

data.status is "gap" when verified data can't answer. A gap is a valid 200, not an error — the engine refuses to guess, and the gap is logged server-side to drive the verification backlog.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "status": "gap",
    "intent": "substance_legality",
    "gap": {
      "reason": "substance_specific_unverified",
      "missing": "…what's missing / how to rephrase…"
    }
  },
  "meta": { "api_version": "v1" },
  "errors": null
}

Errors

HTTP	Code	When
400	`VALIDATION_ERROR`	`q` missing/too long, or `state` isn't a two-letter US jurisdiction code
401	`UNAUTHORIZED`	Missing or invalid API key
429	`RATE_LIMITED`	Per-minute limit exceeded for your tier
503	`ANSWER_UNAVAILABLE`	Engine unavailable (should not happen — please report the `request_id`)

What happened to POST /v1/regulations/ask?

The retrieval-augmented POST /v1/regulations/ask endpoint is disabled and returns 503 FEATURE_DISABLED with a doc_url pointing here. GET /v1/answer is the supported question-answering surface: deterministic, verification-first, and incapable of hallucinating a number.