# format.openverbs.com Canonicalize

> format.openverbs.com Canonicalize is a paid API for AI agents from format.openverbs.com, paid per call via x402, $0.004/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Parses a document in any supported format and re-emits it as RFC 8785 JSON Canonicalization Scheme output with a SHA-256 hash for stable signing, hashing, and deduplication.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://format.openverbs.com/v1/canonicalize
- Price: $0.004/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/format-openverbs-com-canonicalize-36118b29
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_i6cFvQeWlE7rpqJC6rH2v

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability format-openverbs-com-canonicalize-36118b29 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Take this YAML config and give me the RFC 8785 canonical JSON form with its SHA-256 hash so I can use it for signing: `name: acme\nversion: 1.2.3\nenabled: true`.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need a deterministic, cryptographically stable representation of a structured document — especially for digital signing, content-addressable storage, or deduplication across format variants. It uniquely supports ingesting 13+ source formats (YAML, XML, TOML, CSV, INI, etc.) and emitting RFC 8785-compliant canonical JSON with an attached SHA-256, avoiding the need to chain a separate parser and hasher.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or unparseable input document returns a parse error indicating the detected format issue
- Input exceeds 1,000,000 character limit returns a payload-too-large error
- Unrecognized or ambiguous source format with no `from` hint may cause a format detection failure
- Malformed JSON5 or JSONC (e.g. unclosed comments) causes a parse error
- Payment not provided or insufficient USDC causes a 402 Payment Required response

## How this service works

Parse a document (in any format) and re-emit it in the RFC 8785 JSON Canonicalization Scheme form — sorted keys, canonical number/string formatting — plus the SHA-256 of the canonical bytes for stable hashing, signing and dedup.

## Output

Returns the input document re-emitted as RFC 8785 JSON Canonicalization Scheme bytes — keys sorted lexicographically, numbers and strings in canonical form — along with the SHA-256 digest of those canonical bytes, suitable for use in digital signatures, content addressing, or deduplication pipelines.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "type": "string",
     "enum": [
      "POST"
     ]
    },
    "bodyType": {
     "type": "string",
     "enum": [
      "json",
      "form-data",
      "text"
     ]
    },
    "body": {
     "type": "object",
     "properties": {
      "data": {
       "type": "string",
       "minLength": 1,
       "maxLength": 1000000,
       "description": "The document to canonicalize, as a string in the `from` format."
      },
      "from": {
       "type": "string",
       "enum": [
        "json",
        "json5",
        "jsonc",
        "yaml",
        "xml",
        "csv",
        "tsv",
        "toml",
        "ndjson",
        "ini",
        "env",
        "properties",
        "plist",
        "querystring"
       ],
       "description": "Source format of `data`. Default json."
      }
     },
     "required": [
      "data"
     ],
     "additionalProperties": false
    }
   },
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method",
    "bodyType",
    "body"
   ],
   "additionalProperties": false
  }
 },
 "required": [
  "input"
 ]
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/format-openverbs-com-canonicalize-36118b29/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from format.openverbs.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/format.openverbs.com/llms.txt)