Make the first useful call in under 60 seconds
The free namespace exists for discovery and onboarding. It lets agents inspect Orrery's freshness, find a market, fetch safe snapshot-lite context, and generate a market-level Verification Brief before paying for why, resolution risk, wallets, share cards, or decision bundles.
Free does not mean unbounded intelligence.
Free calls answer discovery questions. Paid x402/API-credit calls answer decision questions: why it moved, whether source risk matters, how to summarize a watchlist, and what an agent should verify next.
1. Open the catalog
curl -s https://orrery.me/api/free/v1/catalog | jq
The catalog returns the free endpoints, paid boundary, schema version, and upgrade links.
2. Search a market
curl -s 'https://orrery.me/api/free/v1/markets/search?q=bitcoin&limit=3' \
| jq '.data.results[] | {slug,question,probability}'Use the returned slug as the stable id for snapshot-lite or paid market endpoints.
3. Fetch snapshot-lite
SLUG="will-bitcoin-hit-150k-by-june-30-2026"
curl -s "https://orrery.me/api/free/v1/markets/$SLUG/snapshot-lite" \
| jq '{status:.data.derived_status.status, bucket:.data.research_bucket}'Snapshot-lite intentionally includes status guardrails so a rail price does not get misread as official settlement.
4. Generate a Verification Brief
curl -s "https://orrery.me/api/free/v1/markets/$SLUG/verification-brief" \
| jq '.data.verification_brief.criteria[] | {id,label,prompt}'Verification Briefs turn a market into criteria, controlled source-drop prompts, research-only Telegram pilot copy, and X/Twitter-ready verification posts with the market link kept in the reply.
5. Upgrade only when depth is needed
curl -i "https://orrery.me/api/x402/v1/markets/$SLUG/why" # Expected without payment: # HTTP/1.1 402 Payment Required
This is the boundary: discovery stays free; interpreted intelligence is paid by API key credits or x402 proof.
Free endpoints
GET /api/free/v1/catalogWhat can this free layer do?
GET /api/free/v1/healthIs Orrery fresh enough to call?
GET /api/free/v1/brief/previewWhat moved today, without paid depth?
GET /api/free/v1/markets/movers?limit=5Which markets deserve first attention?
GET /api/free/v1/markets/search?q=bitcoin&limit=5Find a relevant market slug.
GET /api/free/v1/markets/{id}/snapshot-liteFetch safe price/status context before paid why/risk.
GET /api/free/v1/markets/{id}/verification-briefMap source requests to resolution criteria.