VeteranHQ

Quality 69 / 100needs work

14 tools, about 8,615 tokens to load them all · tool set e1f2cf1cd520 · tools last changed 2026-10-12 · checked 2026-10-21 00:32 UTC

Tool changes

• 2026-10-12find_veteran_benefitsadded

  Use this when a veteran asks what VA benefits they may qualify for. It returns programs to check, not an eligibility decision: only VA decides who qualifies for a VA benefit, and the agency that runs any other program listed decides for that one. The inputs are the veteran's circumstances as fixed choices, every one optional: service status, combined VA rating or no rating, whether compensation is paid, marriage and whether the spouse is on the award, SMC, TDIU, permanent and total or temporary 100% status, family and TRICARE, VA health care enrollment, a recent paid trip to VA care, a VA home loan, and an honorable discharge. It asks for no names, Social Security numbers, VA file numbers or narrative, and has no field for any. An answer that does not apply given earlier answers is ignored, and nextQuestion names the next question that does. Each program carries why it matched, the steps, its source URL and application URL, and for a spouse not yet on an award an estimated monthly increase when the answers allow one. It covers selected federal programs, not every benefit, and does not screen state or local programs. It reads no account data and stores nothing.

• 2026-10-12get_guidechangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a slug from search_guides names the guide a veteran needs and the answer should carry what the guide says. Returns the slug, title and summary, the date the facts in it were last verified against its sources, the public URL of the guide on veteranhq.app, the body split into the sections the guide itself defines, each with a heading and its text, and the sources the guide cites, each with a title and a URL. A slug this library does not hold returns a tool error carrying GUIDE_NOT_FOUND, whose message says to call search_guides and use a slug from its results. A guide longer than one result can carry returns the sections that fit, plus omittedSections counting the sections left out and a note stating that count and the guide URL. A single section larger than the whole budget is served shortened at a paragraph or sentence boundary, with truncatedSection naming its heading and the note repeating it, so a section that was cut is distinguishable from one served whole. Those three fields are absent when the whole guide is returned, so a shortened answer is distinguishable from a complete one. A guide states the rules as VeteranHQ read them from the cited sources on the date it reports, and VA decides a claim. It reads no account data, so the answer is the same for every caller with the same inputs.

  after · 96% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran needs what a VeteranHQ guide on a VA topic says, given a slug from search_guides. A guide states the rules as VeteranHQ read them from the cited sources on the date it reports, and only VA decides a claim. Returns the slug, title and summary, the date the facts in it were last verified against its sources, the public URL of the guide on veteranhq.app, the body split into the sections the guide itself defines, each with a heading and its text, and the sources the guide cites, each with a title and a URL. A slug this library does not hold returns a tool error carrying GUIDE_NOT_FOUND, whose message says to call search_guides and use a slug from its results. A guide longer than one result can carry returns the sections that fit, plus omittedSections counting the sections left out and a note stating that count and the guide URL. A single section larger than the whole budget is served shortened at a paragraph or sentence boundary, with truncatedSection naming its heading and the note repeating it, so a section that was cut is distinguishable from one served whole. Those three fields are absent when the whole guide is returned, so a shortened answer is distinguishable from a complete one. It reads no account data, so the answer is the same for every caller with the same inputs.

• 2026-10-12search_guideschangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran asks about a VA topic VeteranHQ has written a guide on. Returns the guides whose text matches the query, highest scoring first, each carrying the guide slug, title, summary and public URL, and no body text. The ordering is lexical and deterministic, computed from where each word of the query appears: a match in the guide title scores above one in the summary, a summary match above one in a section heading, and a heading match above one in the body, with an added score when every word of the query appears somewhere and a further one when the whole query appears in a title. Guides tied on score are ordered by slug, so the same query returns the same list in the same order on every call. No model runs and no network call is made. The limit parameter caps how many guides come back, from 1 to 10, default 5. An empty results array means no guide in this library contains any word of the query, which is a fact about the library and not about VA rules or about what VA holds. Reading one is a second call: pass a returned slug to get_guide. It reads no account data, so the answer is the same for every caller with the same inputs.

  after · 98% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran asks about a VA topic VeteranHQ has written a guide on. It searches only the VeteranHQ guide library and reads no account data, so the answer is the same for every caller with the same inputs. Returns the guides whose text matches the query, highest scoring first, each carrying the guide slug, title, summary and public URL, and no body text. The ordering is lexical and deterministic, computed from where each word of the query appears: a match in the guide title scores above one in the summary, a summary match above one in a section heading, and a heading match above one in the body, with an added score when every word of the query appears somewhere and a further one when the whole query appears in a title. Guides tied on score are ordered by slug, so the same query returns the same list in the same order on every call. No model runs and no network call is made. The limit parameter caps how many guides come back, from 1 to 10, default 5. An empty results array means no guide in this library contains any word of the query, which is a fact about the library and not about VA rules or about what VA holds. Reading one is a second call: pass a returned slug to get_guide.

• 2026-10-12find_claim_helpchangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran asks who can help them with a VA disability claim, or when they describe a crisis. The Veterans Crisis Line comes first, in full, when need is crisis, and no other need returns crisis content. Setting urgent true puts the veteran’s first action at the top of routeNow and does not change the crisis routing. Every result carries accredited representation routes: VA accredited Veterans Service Organizations, whose services on VA benefit claims are free, and accredited attorneys and claims agents, who may charge fees only for representation provided after VA issues notice of an initial decision on the claim (38 CFR 14.636(c) and 38 U.S.C. 5904(c)(1)). It also returns the VA Office of General Counsel accreditation search and the VA.gov find a representative tool, the state or territory veterans agency matching a two-letter state code, VA phone numbers suited to the need, the documents worth bringing, and links to the VA forms that need points at. It names no individual, firm or private directory. It does not prepare, submit or file any form, and it reads no account data, so the answer is the same for every caller with the same inputs. A two-letter code with no agency on file returns stateAgency null and coverage.stateResolved false, with the national routes unchanged. The askedFor argument carries the veteran’s own words. It does not change the routing and does not withhold it: a request that this tool or the model calling it act as the veteran’s attorney, agent or representative before VA, a request to supply words for a veteran or a clinician to use, which covers asking for a personal, buddy or lay statement, a statement in support, or a nexus letter the veteran already has to be rewritten, polished, tightened or cleaned up, to choose a decision review lane for the veteran, or to prepare or file a claim returns status ok with the same findings, plus a boundary object whose kind names the primary boundary crossed and whose kinds lists every boundary the request crossed, in the fixed precedence representation_request, then words_for_testimony, then review_lane_choice, then preparation_request, so a request that crosses two keeps both. Its opening, rule and route state what VeteranHQ does not do, one sentence per kind in kinds, the accreditation rule (38 CFR 14.629) and the fee rule (38 CFR 14.636, 38 U.S.C. 5904(c)(1)), and where the work belongs; those instruments are merged into sources and the same paragraph leads message, behind the Veterans Crisis Line when need is crisis. Provenance is indexed rather than repeated: sources is the registry of full references, each with a stable id, and every guidance line and the boundary carry sourceIds into it. A line’s citation is the sources entry whose id it names, and its passage is line.quote when that field is present and that entry’s quote otherwise. An id is the citation for a regulation or statute (38 CFR 14.636(b)), a short slug for a VA page or form (va-find-accredited-rep, va-form-21-526ez), and product-boundary for the one entry that states what VeteranHQ does and does not do, which carries no url because there is no document to open. A form is cited by its number, with its name in title. One kind of provenance is absent from sources and stays on the line as authority: the state veterans agency page, which is one state’s own contact page and changes with the state argument.

  after · 58% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran asks who can help with a VA disability claim, or describes a crisis. VeteranHQ does not prepare or file claims or forms, and only VA decides a claim. need crisis puts the full Veterans Crisis Line first and alone returns crisis content; urgent true tops routeNow with the first action, crisis routing unchanged. Results list accredited Veterans Service Organizations (free), attorneys and claims agents (fees only for representation provided after VA’s notice of an initial decision, 38 CFR 14.636(c), 38 U.S.C. 5904(c)(1)), VA’s accreditation search and representative finder, VA phone numbers, documents to bring, form links, and the veterans agency for a two-letter state code (none on file: stateAgency null, coverage.stateResolved false). It names no individual, firm or private directory and reads no account data. askedFor (the veteran’s words) does not change or withhold the routing: a request to act as the veteran’s attorney, agent or representative before VA, to supply words for a veteran or a clinician to use (statements or nexus letters, new, rewritten, polished, tightened or cleaned up), to choose a decision review lane for the veteran, or to prepare or file a claim returns status ok, the same findings and a boundary. Its kind names the primary boundary crossed; kinds lists every boundary the request crossed, in the fixed precedence representation_request, then words_for_testimony, then review_lane_choice, then preparation_request. Its opening, rule and route state, one sentence per kind in kinds, what VeteranHQ does not do, the accreditation and fee rules and where the work belongs, and lead message after any crisis line. sources holds each reference once by stable id (citation, VA page or form slug, or product-boundary, no url), cited by sourceIds; a line’s passage is line.quote or its entry’s quote; state agency pages stay on the line.

• 2026-10-12compute_retroactive_paychangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran gives an effective date and a rating increase and asks what the retroactive amount would be. Returns an estimate of the difference in monthly compensation for each month of the period, with a per-month breakdown, the assumptions behind it, and its own disclaimer. Under 38 CFR 3.31 payment starts on the first day of the month FOLLOWING the month the award became effective, with no exception when the effective date is itself the first of a month, and the period runs through the month of adjudication, which is counted in full. VA rate tables take effect on December 1, so a payment year runs from December 1 through November 30 and December of one year is paid at the next payment year rates. Each month of the breakdown reports the payment year it was paid from (rateYear), that table effective date (rateTableEffectiveDate) and where the table came from (rateSource), and the tables the period drew on are listed once each in rateTables; a published table carries the VA page it was transcribed from, and a reconstructed table carries none, because it is derived rather than transcribed. Monthly rates for payment years 2000 onward are read from VA published rate tables; earlier years are reconstructed from the current published table back-adjusted by the SSA cost-of-living chain, and the result states which of the two the requested period used. A month past the newest published table is served from the newest one available, and the result then reports totalIsExact false with incompleteReason naming those months. The total is an estimate either way, because dependent status is taken as constant across the period. It handles an increase only: the new rating has to be higher than the previous one, and effective dates before 1990 are refused. It does not set an effective date and it does not report an amount VA has authorized.

  after · 100% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran gives an effective date and a VA rating increase and asks what the retroactive amount would be. It does not set an effective date and it does not report an amount VA has authorized. Returns an estimate of the difference in monthly compensation for each month of the period, with a per-month breakdown, the assumptions behind it, and its own disclaimer. Under 38 CFR 3.31 payment starts on the first day of the month FOLLOWING the month the award became effective, with no exception when the effective date is itself the first of a month, and the period runs through the month of adjudication, which is counted in full. VA rate tables take effect on December 1, so a payment year runs from December 1 through November 30 and December of one year is paid at the next payment year rates. Each month of the breakdown reports the payment year it was paid from (rateYear), that table effective date (rateTableEffectiveDate) and where the table came from (rateSource), and the tables the period drew on are listed once each in rateTables; a published table carries the VA page it was transcribed from, and a reconstructed table carries none, because it is derived rather than transcribed. Monthly rates for payment years 2000 onward are read from VA published rate tables; earlier years are reconstructed from the current published table back-adjusted by the SSA cost-of-living chain, and the result states which of the two the requested period used. A month past the newest published table is served from the newest one available, and the result then reports totalIsExact false with incompleteReason naming those months. The total is an estimate either way, because dependent status is taken as constant across the period. It handles an increase only: the new rating has to be higher than the previous one, and effective dates before 1990 are refused.

• 2026-10-12lookup_compensation_ratechangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran wants the monthly VA disability compensation amount for a given rating percentage and dependent situation. Returns the monthly and annual amounts from the VA compensation rate table in effect, with the rate year and effective date. The rating is read to the nearest 10 percent, and dependents change the amount only at 30 percent and above. Children are counted as children under 18; school-age children 18 to 23, dependent parents and aid and attendance are outside what it models. It gives the published rate for that combination, not what a specific veteran is paid, and it is not a back-pay calculation for a past period.

  after · 100% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran wants the monthly VA disability compensation amount for a given rating percentage and dependent situation. It gives the published rate for that combination, not what a specific veteran is paid, and it is not a back-pay calculation for a past period. Returns the monthly and annual amounts from the VA compensation rate table in effect, with the rate year and effective date. The rating is read to the nearest 10 percent, and dependents change the amount only at 30 percent and above. Children are counted as children under 18; school-age children 18 to 23, dependent parents and aid and attendance are outside what it models.

• 2026-10-12prepare_cp_examchangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran has a VA compensation and pension examination scheduled for a condition and wants to know what it involves. Returns the examination type and typical length, what the examiner does, the questions examiners commonly ask, the Disability Benefits Questionnaire sections that apply, and records worth bringing. It does not return advice about what to describe, emphasize or omit at the examination. For a condition with a guide on file it also returns the diagnostic code for that condition and where its rating criteria are published, which are what the examiner's findings are scored against; any other condition returns a general exam guide. Educational reference about the examination process. It does not schedule, reschedule or contact VA, and the examiner's findings and VA decide the rating.

  after · 100% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran has a VA compensation and pension examination scheduled for a condition and wants to know what it involves. It does not schedule, reschedule or contact VA, and the examiner's findings and VA decide the rating. Returns the examination type and typical length, what the examiner does, the questions examiners commonly ask, the Disability Benefits Questionnaire sections that apply, and records worth bringing. It does not return advice about what to describe, emphasize or omit at the examination. For a condition with a guide on file it also returns the diagnostic code for that condition and where its rating criteria are published, which are what the examiner's findings are scored against; any other condition returns a general exam guide. Educational reference about the examination process.

• 2026-10-12search_legal_authoritychangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a question calls for the text of a VA rating regulation, the wording of a legal standard, or case law, searched by keyword, by exact citation, or by diagnostic code. Returns 38 CFR rating criteria for matching conditions; doctrine entries quoted verbatim from the regulation, statute or decision they come from, each with pinpoint citations, the date the text was captured, when that text took effect, and the reviewed holdings that construe it; and excerpts from Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decisions with docket number, case name and relevance score. CAVC decisions are binding precedent for the Board of Veterans' Appeals. The citation parameter takes a section such as "3.310", "38 CFR 3.310(b)" or "38 U.S.C. 5107(b)", and a citation that cannot be read as a section matches nothing rather than being guessed at. A citation on its own is a complete call: query is optional when citation is supplied, and a call carries query, citation, or both. The limit parameter caps results per source, default 5 and maximum 10; the doctrine block is capped at four entries per response and reports the true total. The status field describes the answer in one of four words. "ok" means every component answered and this response carries each matched result it selected. "partial" means a matched result is missing from it, whether shed for the size budget, withheld as a criterion text too long to fit, or unreachable because a component could not complete its search. "no_match" means every component answered and none of them matched. "unavailable" means a component did not answer, so nothing in that response is readable as an absence of authority. statusReason gives the reason for that word in one sentence, derived from the same values as the word itself. A truncation object reports what was shortened, whatever the status: doctrinePropositionsTrimmed counts entries serving their first propositions while reporting their own true total, textBounded says a criterion text was withheld whole rather than cut, and resultsDropped counts the matched results this response does not carry, under regulatory, caseLaw and doctrine. Shortening that keeps every selected result arrives as status "ok" with truncation populated. Docket numbers and case names come only from the returned results, and when the case-law corpus is empty the response says so and returns the regulatory and doctrine results alone. When a response would exceed its size budget it sheds results rather than overrunning, reports responseTrimmedForSize alongside the true totals, and withholds a criterion text too long to fit whole rather than cutting it: that row carries criteriaOmitted and the length of what was withheld, so a partial rule does not arrive as a complete one. citationResolved says whether any source carries the citation supplied: true on positive evidence, false only where the corpus-wide membership scan completed and nothing named the section, and null where that scan did not complete, which is an open question rather than a finding of absence. citationStatus renders the same answer as resolved, unresolved, unknown, unparsed or not_supplied. The coverage block reports how far the search reached: citationScanComplete for that membership question, candidateScansComplete with incompleteCandidateScans for components whose scan window filled before every candidate was examined, truncatedComponents for the sources whose results were shortened, doctrineMatchedOn for whether the doctrine entries came from the citation, the query or the standing authorities, and searchComplete for the conjunction of all of it. totalsAreMeasuredCounts says whether the totals count everything that matched; where it is false a zero is bounded by this search rather than by the corpus. It does not read an individual claim, it does not predict how a claim will be decided, and it is not legal advice.

  after · 51% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran's question needs VA regulations, legal standards or case law by keyword, citation or diagnostic code. It does not read a claim, predict a decision or give legal advice. Returns 38 CFR rating criteria, verbatim doctrine (pinpoints, capture and effective dates, reviewed holdings) and Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) excerpts (docket, case name, relevance); precedential CAVC decisions bind the Board of Veterans' Appeals; memorandum decisions do not. citation is a section ("3.310", "38 U.S.C. 5107(b)"); unreadable ones match nothing; query is optional when citation is supplied. limit: per-source results, default 5, maximum 10; doctrine caps at four with the true total. status: "ok" (all answered, each selected match carried), "partial" (a match missing, a component unfinished), "no_match" (all answered, none matched), "unavailable" (a component silent: nothing reads as absence of authority); statusReason says why. A truncation object (any status): doctrinePropositionsTrimmed counts entries serving only their first propositions (each with its true total); textBounded, a criterion withheld whole (row: criteriaOmitted, withheld length); resultsDropped, uncarried matches per regulatory, caseLaw and doctrine; responseTrimmedForSize, shed for size. Dockets and case names come only from results; it says if the case-law corpus is empty. citationResolved: true on positive evidence, false only after a full corpus scan, else null (open); citationStatus: resolved, unresolved, unknown, unparsed or not_supplied. coverage: citationScanComplete, candidateScansComplete, incompleteCandidateScans (components whose scan window filled before all candidates were examined), truncatedComponents, doctrineMatchedOn (doctrine from citation, query or standing authorities), searchComplete; with totalsAreMeasuredCounts false, a zero speaks for this search only.

• 2026-10-12check_presumptive_eligibilitychangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran asks whether a condition is presumptively service connected, or which conditions are presumptive for a given exposure or service era. Returns matching presumptive conditions with the service era, exposure type, required service, legal authority and evidence needed for each, and repeats that legal authority in a provenance block on every row, with the date the presumption took effect where one date is true of the whole row; that date can be null for a row that groups conditions added on different dates. At least one of condition, serviceEra or exposureType is required. Filters combine with AND: condition plus exposureType or serviceEra narrows to their intersection, and each filter needs at least one word of three or more characters or the query is refused. A condition description that names a qualifying circumstance, such as a diagnosis that has to come after the qualifying service, states a limit of the presumption rather than a detail beside it. An empty result means no entry satisfies that exact combination, not that the condition is non-presumptive. Whether a particular veteran meets the service requirement depends on service records this tool does not read.

  after · 98% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran asks whether VA treats a condition as presumptively service connected, or which conditions are presumptive for a given exposure or service era. Whether a particular veteran meets the service requirement depends on service records this tool does not read. Returns matching presumptive conditions with the service era, exposure type, required service, legal authority and evidence needed for each, and repeats that legal authority in a provenance block on every row, with the date the presumption took effect where one date is true of the whole row; that date can be null for a row that groups conditions added on different dates. At least one of condition, serviceEra or exposureType is required. Filters combine with AND: condition plus exposureType or serviceEra narrows to their intersection, and each filter needs at least one word of three or more characters or the query is refused. A condition description that names a qualifying circumstance, such as a diagnosis that has to come after the qualifying service, states a limit of the presumption rather than a detail beside it. An empty result means no entry satisfies that exact combination, not that the condition is non-presumptive.

• 2026-10-12find_secondary_conditionschangeddescription
  before

  Use this when a veteran names a service-connected condition and asks what other conditions can follow from it. Returns the records whose own primary condition is the one searched for, each with the strength of the supporting evidence, the medical rationale, key studies, filing notes, the diagnostic codes involved, and the primary condition the record itself names, so a row can be read against the query it answers. Other primary conditions that the search terms reached are summarised separately under relatedPrimaries, with the term that matched and a count, rather than being returned among the rows. Each row carries its provenance: the paragraph of 38 CFR 3.310 the link rests on, the rating schedule section and diagnostic code its evaluation comes from, the eCFR URLs for those sections, and the date the codes and percentages were checked against the rating schedule. That check establishes that a code exists in the schedule and that an evaluation is one the schedule offers for it, which is a question of validity rather than of whether a code fits a particular veteran. The key studies were drafted from published research and have not been verified citation by citation, which every row states in its provenance note. The limit parameter sets how many records one response carries, default 5 and maximum 15, and offset is how many records of the same result are skipped before the first one returned, default 0 and maximum 100000. Records are ordered by strength of evidence and then by their primary and secondary condition names, so the order is the same on every call. A response is also held to a size budget of about 12 KB: when the records within the limit would exceed it, the last of them are left out whole rather than shortened, a response with any record to serve carries at least one, and responseTrimmedForSize is true. totalExactCount is every record on file for the search, count and exactCount are the records in the response, hasMore says whether any records follow them, and nextOffset is the offset that returns the next records and is null when none follow. relatedPrimaries is returned whole on every response. A totalExactCount of 0 means nothing is on file for that search term, not that no link exists. An offset past the last record returns no records, while totalExactCount still counts the records on file. It does not diagnose, it does not establish that a particular veteran's condition is secondary, and it does not supply the medical nexus opinion a secondary claim needs.

  after · 79% of words in common

  Use this when a veteran names a VA service-connected condition and asks what other conditions can follow from it. It does not diagnose, establish that a particular veteran's condition is secondary, or supply the medical nexus opinion a secondary claim needs. Returns the records whose own primary condition is the one searched for, each with evidence strength, medical rationale, key studies, filing notes, diagnostic codes and the primary condition the record itself names. Other primaries the search terms reached are summarised under relatedPrimaries, with the matched term and a count, not returned as rows. Each row carries provenance: the 38 CFR 3.310 paragraph the link rests on, the rating schedule section and code, their eCFR URLs, and the date codes and percentages were checked against the schedule, which is a question of validity, not of whether a code fits a particular veteran. The key studies were drafted from published research and have not been verified citation by citation, which every row states in its provenance note. limit sets the records per response, default 5 and maximum 15, and offset skips records of the same result, default 0 and maximum 100000. Records are ordered by strength of evidence and then by their primary and secondary condition names, the same on every call. Past a budget of about 12 KB the last records are left out whole rather than shortened (at least one is kept) and responseTrimmedForSize is true. totalExactCount counts every record on file, count and exactCount those returned; hasMore says more follow and nextOffset fetches them, null when none do. relatedPrimaries is returned whole on every response. A totalExactCount of 0 means nothing is on file for that search term, not that no link exists. An offset past the last record returns no records, while totalExactCount still counts the records on file.

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Checks run on what our credential-free, read-only probes observe; tools are never called and no code audit is performed. How it is computed.