> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.getpalm.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Request a document > Order an official document, such as a certificate of good standing, from the authority that issues it, and keep it on the business record. Lenders, counterparties, and the states a business registers in ask for official documents, such as a certificate of good standing. A document request orders the document from the authority that issues it and stores it on the business record, where you can download it for as long as you hold the record. A request needs a document type and one of these: a Palm ID, a registration number with its jurisdiction, or the ID of a business in your portfolio. Palm places the order and delivers what the authority issues, unchanged. > [!WARNING] > > **Early access.** The document request endpoints are in preview and may change in backwards-incompatible ways before they are marked stable. [Contact us](mailto:support@getpalm.com) before building on them. *** ## How it works 1. Identify the registration. By Palm ID, by jurisdiction and registration number, or by a business in your portfolio. 2. Estimate the government fee. See what the state charges and the expedited tiers it sells. 3. Request the document. Palm accepts the request at once and places the order. 4. Track it. Follow it from `queued` to `completed`, driven by webhooks. 5. Read the result. The document, or what the authority returned instead, is on the business record. ## Documents you can request | Document | `type` | Available for | | - | - | - | | [Certificate of standing](#certificate-of-standing) | `certificate_of_standing` | LLCs and corporations in the states listed below | Each document is defined by the authority that issues it, so its name and what it covers differ by state. Each type's section below says where it is available and for which entity types. A request outside that returns `422 not_requestable` and orders nothing. The [fee estimate](#estimate-the-government-fee) returns the same answer, so you can check before you request. ### Certificate of standing A certificate of standing is the short-form certificate a state's filing office issues about a registration's status, as of the issue date. States name it differently: certificate of good standing, of status, of existence, of fact, or of subsistence. One `type` covers all of them, and Palm delivers the document the state issues. The certificate says nothing about ownership, standing with the IRS, standing in any other state, licenses, or financial condition, and it is not updated after issue. [Monitor](https://docs.getpalm.com/monitor/overview.md) the registration to learn when standing changes. It is available for LLCs and corporations registered in Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Wyoming. The state sets the processing time, from minutes online to several business days. Where it sells faster processing, the fee estimate lists the tiers. [Registry detail](https://docs.getpalm.com/onboard/registry-detail.md) returns the registration's status and standing from the state record in seconds, with no government fee. Use it to decide, and order the certificate when a file needs the state's document. When the state declines to issue a certificate, for example because the registration is not in good standing, the request completes without one. See [What a completed request carries](#what-a-completed-request-carries). ## Identify the registration Identify the registration with exactly one of: * **`palm_id`**, as returned by [registry search](https://docs.getpalm.com/onboard/registry-search.md). * **`registration_jurisdiction`** with **`registration_number`**. * **`business_id`**, a business in your portfolio. Each names one registration, and Palm orders from that registration's jurisdiction. An identifier that does not resolve to one registration returns an error and creates nothing: * **`400`** Zero identifiers, or more than one. * **`404`** Nothing matches. * **`422 ambiguous_registration`** The registration number matches several records. The response lists the `candidates`. Resubmit with the `palm_id` you want. * **`422 not_requestable`** The document is not available for that registration. If the registration is not in your portfolio, Palm adds the business, bound to the registry record, and returns its id as `business_id`. The documents are stored on that business. ## Estimate the government fee ```bash Bash wrap theme={null} GET /v1/document-request/fee?type=certificate_of_standing&jurisdiction=US-DE&entity_type=llc ``` The response estimates the state's fees by component, with a `total` of those fees that assumes card payment. It does not include Palm's fee for the request. Where the state sells faster processing, it also lists `expedited_tiers` with the surcharge each adds. Pass `expedited_tier` to price one in, and a tier the state does not offer returns `400` that names the tiers it does. Every figure is an estimate. See [Get document request fee estimate](https://docs.getpalm.com/api-reference/v1/document-request/get-document-request-fee-estimate.md). ## Request the document ```bash Bash wrap theme={null} POST /v1/document-request ``` Send the `type` and one identifier. You can add `expedited_tier` to order at one of the state's speeds, and `metadata`, up to 50 key-value pairs of your own that Palm echoes on the request and on every webhook about it. Palm checks the identifier, the coverage, and the tier before it creates anything, then returns `201` with the request `queued` and fulfills it asynchronously. If the order cannot be queued, the request returns `503` and creates nothing, so retry it. See [Request a document](https://docs.getpalm.com/api-reference/v1/document-request/request-a-document.md). ## Track the request ```bash Bash wrap theme={null} GET /v1/document-request/{document_request_id} GET /v1/document-request?business_id={business_id} ``` ```text theme={null} queued → processing → completed ``` `queued` means Palm has accepted the request. `processing` means Palm's operations team is working the order with the authority. `completed` means the authority has issued the document or declined to, and `completed_at` is set. No status waits on a response from you. `document_request.processing` and `document_request.completed` fire at each transition and carry the request in full on `data.object`. Before completion, a `document.created` event fires for each document Palm stores on the business. See [Webhooks](https://docs.getpalm.com/developer-guide/webhooks.md) and [List document requests](https://docs.getpalm.com/api-reference/v1/document-request/list-document-requests.md). ## What a completed request carries `documents` lists every file the order produced, each with its `types` and `uploaded_at`. The same files are on the business record. * **The authority issued the document.** One entry carries the request's `type`. The receipt, where there is one, is typed `receipt`. Anything else is typed `other`. * **The authority declined to issue the document**, for example because the registration is not in good standing. The request completes without it, and `documents` holds what the authority returned instead: its refusal or a status printout typed `other`, and the receipt where a fee was charged. Read a document with [Retrieve document metadata](https://docs.getpalm.com/api-reference/v1/documents/retrieve-document-metadata.md) and [Download a document](https://docs.getpalm.com/api-reference/v1/documents/download-a-document.md). A certificate carries two dates: `uploaded_at`, when Palm stored it, and `metadata.issued_date`, the date the state printed on it. Palm sets no validity period, and the party that requires the certificate decides how recent it must be, so show both dates. Most states also print a certificate number, which lets a reviewer confirm the certificate with the state directly. ## Test mode A request on a test key places no order. It moves to `processing` and completes within about a minute with a sample certificate on the test business, and fires the same webhooks as live. Set `_simulate` to `refused` in `metadata` and it completes with a sample refusal and no certificate. See [Test mode](https://docs.getpalm.com/get-started/test-mode.md#document-requests). ## Next steps Registry detail Read status and standing from the state record before you order a document. [Open](https://docs.getpalm.com/onboard/registry-detail.md) Webhooks Receive each status change as it happens. [Open](https://docs.getpalm.com/developer-guide/webhooks.md) Monitor overview Learn when a registration's standing changes after the document is issued. [Open](https://docs.getpalm.com/monitor/overview.md) Request a document Full reference for the document request endpoints. [Open](https://docs.getpalm.com/api-reference/v1/document-request/request-a-document.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.