canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/va.gov

# VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) APIs

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs developer program (VA Lighthouse) publishes APIs that let approved third-party systems work with VA benefits data. Across these APIs an agent can look up VA form metadata and download links, confirm an individual's Veteran status, and submit and track benefits-claim documents directly into the Veterans Benefits Administration intake pipeline. All three APIs use a VA-issued API key and share a sandbox and production host on va.gov, so an agent built for one can reuse the same access model for the others.

## For AI agents

An agent can look up VA forms and their revision dates, confirm whether a person is a Veteran, and request a secure upload location to submit and track benefits-claim documents into the VBA intake process. The three APIs share one VA-issued API key, so an agent can chain form lookup, status confirmation, and document submission in a single workflow.

## Scope

Use for: Looking up VA form metadata, confirming an individual's Veteran status, and submitting or tracking benefits-claim documents into the VBA intake pipeline

Not supported:
- payment processing
- direct messaging
- real-time streaming
- claim adjudication
- eligibility calculation

## APIs

| API | Category | Endpoints | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Benefits Intake | storage | 6 | Request a secure upload location, submit benefits-claim documents to the VA, validate PDFs before sending, and track submission status. |
| VA Forms | crm | 2 | Programmatically returns all va forms and their last revision date, find form by form name. |
| Veteran Confirmation | developer-tools | 1 | Programmatically get confirmation about an individual's veteran status according to the va. |

## Which API to use

| Need | API | Why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Submit and track benefits-claim documents into VBA intake | benefits | Benefits Intake issues a secure upload location, validates PDFs, accepts the payload, and reports per-submission and batch status. |
| Look up VA forms and download links | forms | VA Forms returns all forms with revision dates and finds a specific form by name, so an agent fetches the right blank form before a claim. |
| Confirm a person's Veteran status | confirmation | Veteran Confirmation returns a Confirmed or Not Confirmed result for an individual, useful for verification before a submission or for discounts. |

## Cross-API use cases

### Verify a Veteran, then submit their claim

Before an agent submits a benefits-claim document, it confirms the individual is a Veteran, then requests a secure upload location and sends the PDF into VBA intake. This gives a casework assistant a single flow from identity check to a tracked submission.

Example prompt: Call POST /status to confirm Veteran status, then POST /uploads to request an upload location and PUT the claim PDF

### Fetch the right form, then file it

An agent looks up the correct VA form and its download link by name, then submits the completed document into the VBA intake pipeline and captures the submission id. This replaces manual form hunting and fax filing with one digital path.

Example prompt: Call GET /forms/{form_name} to get the form and its PDF link, then POST /uploads and submit the completed document

### Confirm, retrieve the form, and submit end to end

For a full intake workflow an agent confirms the person is a Veteran, pulls the matching form and its revision date, then validates and submits the claim document and monitors its status. All three steps run under the one VA API key.

Example prompt: Call POST /status, then GET /forms/{form_name}, then POST /uploads/validate_document and POST /uploads to file and track the claim

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the VA APIs by hand means passing the apikey header, choosing between the sandbox and production va.gov hosts, and coding the document upload flow for sensitive Veteran data yourself. Through Jentic you install Jentic One once, add the VA APIs from the Jentic directory, store the key once, and your agent calls any of them.
- **Permission scoping:** The VA APIs mix read-only lookups with a claim-submission path, so your own rules pin the agent to only the operations it needs, such as confirming a Veteran and reading a form while blocking document submission. You choose that allowed set, so nothing outside it runs.
- **Credential handling:** Your single VA-issued API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search the Jentic directory by intent such as 'submit a benefits claim document' or 'confirm an individual's veteran status', and Jentic returns the matching VA operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the VA reference docs.

## Related vendors

- **SAM.gov** — Another U.S. federal government API program for entities and awards, adjacent for agents automating government data workflows.
- **IRS** — U.S. federal agency APIs for tax and benefits data, complementary when confirming eligibility alongside VA benefits.
- **DocuSign** — Handles document signing and completion that often precedes submitting a form into VA Benefits Intake.
- **HubSpot** — CRM for tracking contacts and cases, adjacent to the VA Forms contact-management use case.

## FAQ

### What can an agent do across the VA APIs?

An agent can look up VA forms and their revision dates, confirm whether an individual is a Veteran, and submit and track benefits-claim documents into the Veterans Benefits Administration intake process. These steps can be chained into one workflow that verifies a person, fetches the right form, and files the completed document.

### Do the VA APIs share one credential?

Yes. All three APIs use a single VA-issued API key passed in the apikey header, so one credential from the VA developer program covers VA Forms, Veteran Confirmation, and Benefits Intake.

### How do I get access to the VA APIs?

Access is granted through the VA Lighthouse developer program at developer.va.gov. You apply for credentials, start against the sandbox host on va.gov, and request production approval before submitting real Veteran data.

### Are these official VA APIs?

Yes. They are published by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, so form metadata, Veteran-status confirmations, and the claim-intake path come directly from the VA rather than a third-party source.

### Is there a sandbox before production?

Yes. Each API exposes a sandbox host on va.gov for testing, and production access to submit real benefits-claim documents requires approval through the VA developer program.

### How do these APIs work with AI agents through Jentic?

Once Jentic One is installed, you or your agent can find and add any of these VA APIs from the Jentic directory to your workspace. The agent searches by intent, receives the matching operation schema, and executes the call while your Jentic One instance injects the stored API key.