A miniature information kiosk with a speech-bubble sign and a shelf of code books — the Permit Assistant, open and staffed.
For Cities, Counties & Builders
CrossBeam Permit Assistant

Ask the code.

AI chat grounded in California state code and the local rules of each onboarded city and county. Answers come with citations — for staff, for builders, and for residents. It's live. Try it right now.

Live now — for cities, counties, builders, and residents.

Ask the Permit AssistantGet it for your city or county
Setbacks & heightsFees & submittalsPlain-language answersCitations included
1st Place — Anthropic's Claude Code Hackathon 2026 · 13,000 applicantsBuilt on 16,000+ pages of state code and local rules, with reviews on local code in California, Greater Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver and Kansas City.

Three people, one counter

For builders

Builder

Builders

Know what permits an address needs, for your scope, before you commit the site, the design, or the deposit.

For cities and counties

City & County

City & county staff

Setbacks, fees, submittal requirements — answered at the counter instead of a code-book hunt.

The community

Residents get a real walkthrough — steps, forms, links — without calling the counter or waiting on hold.

The counter can't scale.

Every code question funnels to the same counter — the builder waiting on a callback, the resident on hold, the plans examiner pulled off a review to explain a setback for the tenth time. The answer is sitting in the code; getting it means a phone call, a code-book hunt, or a drive downtown.

What it knows

Plain-language answers

Setbacks, height limits, sprinklers, owner occupancy, fees — ask in plain English, get the answer in plain English.

Citations, every time

Every answer shows its work: the code sections it came from, so you can verify it instead of trusting it.

The real library

16,000+ pages of California state code and local rules, with local rules for 549 jurisdictions.

Two versions, one counter

An internal version for the staff answering the phones, and a public version residents can actually use.

How it works

  1. 1

    Ask it the way you'd ask a colleague

    "What permits do I need at this address, for this scope?" "What's the height limit here?" Plain questions — no code-speak required.

  2. 2

    Get the answer with its citations

    A plain-language answer grounded in state code and your local rules, with the sections cited so you can check it yourself.

Built for Both Sides

Builder

For builders

  • "What permits do I need at this address, for this scope?" — answered before you commit the site, the design, or the deposit.
  • Grounded in the actual code, not a forum thread — with the citations to prove it.
  • The same code library Pre-Check enforces when your plans go in.
City & County

For cities and counties

  • An internal version for the people answering the phones — setbacks, fees, submittal requirements, cited to your own local code.
  • A public version residents can actually use, without calling the counter.
  • A real resident got a complete occupancy-permit walkthrough — steps, forms, links — in about five minutes. That's a phone call your staff didn't take.

How It Fits — The CrossBeam System

One source of truth, two ways to ask. The Assistant is grounded in the same code library the review engine enforces — what it tells you at the counter is what Pre-Check checks in the plans, so the chat and the review never disagree about what the code says.

Pre-CheckCore · Cities, Counties & BuildersOne review engine, two faces: builders run it before submitting, cities and counties run it after.ScoutBuilderScout any parcel before you commit: dimensions, zoning, codes, and what a build will take.

California-first, honestly scoped

The Assistant reads 16,000+ pages of state code and local rules, with local rules for 549 jurisdictions. ADU questions get the deepest answers today, and local answers are strongest where we've onboarded. Every answer carries its citations, so verify anything project-critical with your jurisdiction before you build.

5

areas with local code: California, Greater Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver and Kansas City

16,000+

pages of state code & local rules

Questions

Is it really live right now?

Yes. No waitlist, no demo call. Sign in and ask it something; your first 10 questions are free. The waitlist is only for getting it grounded in your specific local rules.

Where do the answers come from?

16,000+ pages of California state code and local rules, with local rules for 549 jurisdictions. Every answer cites the sections it came from so you can verify it yourself.

Are the answers official determinations?

No — they're grounded, cited reads of the code, not a jurisdiction ruling. California-first: ADU questions get the deepest answers today, and local answers are strongest where we've onboarded. Confirm anything project-critical with your city or county before you build.

It's live. Ask it something.

Ask the Permit AssistantGet it grounded in your local rules