# Registered agent

URL: /systems/legal-and-corporate/registered-agent · Id: `capability:registered-agent`

> Registered agent accepts legal process and state mail for the Company wherever it registers, and routes each item within the hour.

Registered agent accepts legal process and state mail for the [Company](/business/nouns/company) in every state where it is formed or registered. Each item reaches an officer within one hour.

## Contract
| Clause | Terms |
| --- | --- |
| Starts | [Company formation](/systems/legal-and-corporate/entity-formation), or registration in a new state. |
| Done by | A commercial registered agent with an address in each state. |
| Served process | Opens a high-stakes [Task](/business/nouns/task) to an officer within one hour and holds the affected records from change. |
| State mail | Arrives as a [File](/business/nouns/file) with a Task for the [Compliance Officer](/agents/legal/compliance-officer). |
| Promise | The Company is never without an agent. Each appointment renews ahead of its date ([Standing](/systems/legal-and-corporate/floor/standing)). |
| While held | Inherited. The Studio-held entity’s agent covers the [Startup](/business/nouns/startup). |

## Verbs
| Verb | Object | Event |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Task.assign](/business/nouns/task/assign) | [Task](/business/nouns/task) | [`Task.assigned`](/business/events/Task.assigned) |

## Interfaces
- [API](/code/api/reference)
- [SDK](/code/sdk/reference)
- [CLI](/code/cli/reference)
- [MCP](/code/mcp/reference)

## Upstream
filings.legal, under an Agreement.

## Example
An expense-report app is served with a subpoena for one employer’s records. Within the hour the scan sits on the Company record, a Task waits for the officer, and that employer’s data is held from deletion.