Hoist exists for a narrow reason: make Australian business, asset, and regulatory data usable by AI agents without pretending the agent is the source of truth.
The agent can draft, triage, and explain. The answer still needs to point back to a source that actually ran, such as available ABN, GST, or ASIC checks. PPSR remains product direction only: Hoist preview and paid search are currently unavailable and fail closed.
Why PPSR was first
Asset finance teams may conduct PPSR checks directly with AFSA outside Hoist. Hoist does not currently offer those checks. The external pattern can be slow and manual: sign in, search, download a certificate, name the file, put it in the deal folder, and later work out which copy was current when a decision was made.
That is a bad fit for agents. An agent needs a structured answer it can cite, and a human needs a record they can inspect later. Hoist is designed to package checks that actually ran with source, timestamp, target, summary, and record identity. It does not currently run PPSR preview or paid search; use AFSA direct for that today.
The product boundary
Hoist is not trying to be a full broker platform, CRM, credit bureau, legal opinion, or replacement for AFSA's source records. The product is the data layer between Australian sources and the software or agents that need to ask questions of those sources.
That boundary matters because it keeps the answer honest. If Hoist has a source-cited answer, the agent can use it. If a source is unavailable, out of scope, or needs human review, the agent should say that instead of filling the gap with confident noise.
Three surfaces, one contract
The same job should work through API, CLI, and MCP. API is the canonical surface. CLI is for operators and scripts. MCP is for agent hosts that can call tools directly.
The important part is not the protocol. It is that every surface returns the same kind of answer: source-cited, timestamped, scoped, and written plainly enough for a user to understand what the agent relied on.
What we do not do
- No searches on people by name. Hoist is designed around organisation and serial-number checks.
- No credit scoring. CreditorWatch, Equifax, illion, and others already do that job.
- No legal or financial advice. Hoist returns source evidence. Customers decide what to do with it.
- No generic dashboard sprawl. If a feature does not make Australian source data easier to ask for, cite, or verify, it is probably not our product.
Why agents change the shape
When a person reads a dashboard, vague copy is annoying. When an agent reads a tool description, vague copy becomes behaviour. The tool name, description, inputs, and failure states all affect what the agent does next.
So Hoist copy has to be plain. "Search this ACN." "Report that PPSR is unavailable for this VIN." "Return the source and timestamp." "Say no when the data is outside scope." That is the voice we want in the product and in the public pages.
Current status
The pricing, availability, and source-access pages are the maintained source of truth. This post explains product direction, not current PPSR capability. Preview and paid search are unavailable; credentials, OAuth scopes, an account, or a plan do not unlock them.
By the Hoist team. 2026-05-15. Updated 2026-06-06. Read the docs · Get in touch.