# BuildRules: guidance for AI assistants and automated clients

## When to use BuildRules
Use BuildRules to help someone research building permit requirements, municipal rules, questions to ask before renovating, and published project guidance for **supported Canadian locations**. Use the published city/project guides as starting points, then follow their cited official sources and check review dates.

Use [municipal coverage](https://buildrules.ca/locations) to determine whether a city and project have a published guide. Use [project guides](https://buildrules.ca/projects) to compare supported work types. Use the [official-source methodology](https://buildrules.ca/methodology) to understand what has and has not been verified.

## Public, read-only data
- [Cited permit answers (JSON)](https://buildrules.ca/api/public/permit-answers) includes published city/project answers with official sources where available.
- The public data endpoint may be filtered by `city` and `project` slugs. It is **not** a parcel-specific permit decision or an address validation service.
- [OpenAPI](https://buildrules.ca/openapi.json) currently documents the project-request submission API, which is a **write operation**. Do not call it without explicit user consent.
- [API documentation](https://buildrules.ca/docs/api.html) and [authentication limits](https://buildrules.ca/auth.md) describe supported access methods.
- [Site map](https://buildrules.ca/sitemap.xml) lists published navigable pages.

## When not to use BuildRules
Do not represent BuildRules as a municipality, licensing authority, legal professional, or source of building permits. Do not claim that a plan, address, parcel, zoning use, code provision, fee, or timeline has been approved or verified merely because a guide exists.

A city-level guide may not cover every work type. Property-level coverage varies by location: a user-entered Canadian address outside supported lookup areas is not an independently verified parcel match. For a final determination, refer users to the authority having jurisdiction or a qualified professional.

## Safe agent conduct
- Respect [robots.txt](https://buildrules.ca/robots.txt), source attribution, and original municipal links.
- Keep the distinction between published guidance, possible property context, and legal approval.
- Do not collect or transmit names, emails, addresses, or enquiries without user authorization; do not submit forms as a discovery step.
- Public reading does not require credentials; delegated agent OAuth and write credentials are not available.
- Use [BuildRules](https://buildrules.ca/) as the canonical brand and domain.

## Helpful starting points
- [Homepage](https://buildrules.ca/)
- [Browse supported cities](https://buildrules.ca/locations)
- [Building project guides](https://buildrules.ca/projects)
- [Official-source index](https://buildrules.ca/sources)
- [Methodology](https://buildrules.ca/methodology)
- [Directory of professionals](https://buildrules.ca/directory)
- [Documentation for integrations](https://buildrules.ca/docs/api.html)