Factorial

# Fix list: Factorial

From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/factorial, the October 2026 research run, assessed 8 October 2026. Grade B, 66.3 out of 100.

This is everything the published grade says the listing lacks, the biggest possible gain to the total first. It comes from the reason given for each score, the checklist each category was scored against (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist), the provenance checks, the deductions, what we couldn't check and what the review panel asked for. A fix counts at the next check, once it's public.

For a coding agent working on Factorial: work through the items below in the product, its docs and its public pages. Each category gives the reason for its score, with the points each checklist item earned, and the checklist itself, so the gap is the items that earned less than their points. Change the product, not the wording, and keep a note of what you changed and where it's published.

## 1. Payments & pricing, 10 out of 100, up to 11.3 more on the total

Why it scored 10: No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The pricing page gives one figure, from $8 per user per month, and quotes everything else, which we scored between contact sales and public plan pricing (5). The terms describe a trial of at most 15 days at Factorial's discretion. Whether it needs a card could not be read from the script-drawn sign-up page, and the demo API environment comes from an account manager (5). API keys and OAuth apps are created by an administrator in a browser, and the MCP server's dynamic client registration still ends in a human login (0).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-payments):

The published rubric, also on the [x402 page](https://www.anchorterminal.com/x402/).

- 40, a machine payment protocol (x402, MPP or L402) on the tool's own endpoints. 10 to 30 when it covers only some endpoints or only goes through a third party, and the note says which.
- 20, per-call or per-unit pricing published without a login. 10 for public plan-only pricing, 0 for "contact sales" or prices behind a login.
- 20, a free tier or trial that doesn't need a card.
- 20, autonomous onboarding, meaning an agent can get access without a person signing up in a browser (keyless use, x402, a programmatic key API).

Payment platforms and agent wallets rarely charge for their own API over a machine protocol, so the first line has steps for them, and the highest one that applies counts. 40 when x402, MPP or L402 runs on all their own endpoints, 30 when it runs on part of their own API, 25 when their merchants can accept one, 20 for running a facilitator, 15 for paying as a buyer, and 0 when the only protocol is their own. Merchant acceptance sits above a facilitator because the platform's own customers can charge agents through it, while a facilitator settles for sellers who wire up the protocol themselves. The counter-argument (a facilitator does more for the protocol as a whole) has a point. Each note says which step applied.

Open-source software you run yourself is scored on its hosted or paid option if it has one. A free, self-hosted package with nothing to buy gets 20, 20 and 20 for the last three lines, and 0 to 40 for the first only if it ships a payment protocol.

## 2. Agent ergonomics, 58 out of 100, up to 6.8 more on the total

Why it scored 58: List responses are capped at 100 records and can be narrowed by ID and date filters. No field selection was found, and the full definition is 1.2 MB (12). Cursor pagination on every list endpoint with `meta.total`, and filters such as `ids[]`, `emails[]` and `updated_at_gteq` (18). Status codes come with recovery advice and some 422 responses carry a `code`, but messages are localised, a credential from the wrong environment yields 200 with an empty body, and an expired version is served in an older schema with no error (9). No idempotency keys, and the docs say the API does not deduplicate requests. The MCP tool annotations were not read (4). Few required parameters, with official SDKs in TypeScript and Python and a Ruby SDK in the repository (15).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-ergonomics):

- 0 to 25, context cost. For MCP, the number and size of the tool definitions (25 for ten or fewer compact tools, 15 for 11 to 30, 5 for more than 30, plus up to 10 back for toolsets, dynamic loading or read-only subsets). For APIs, whether responses can be sized (field selection, limits, summaries).
- 20, pagination, filtering and output-size controls.
- 20, actionable, documented error responses, codes and messages an agent can recover from.
- 20, idempotency or safe retries, and for MCP the `readOnlyHint` and `destructiveHint` annotations.
- 15, sensible defaults, few required parameters, and official SDKs in at least two languages.

Models are read for tool use, structured output, prompt caching, context length, batch and SDKs. Frameworks for how much code and how many defaults a tool-calling agent with MCP needs.

## 3. Security & auth, 65 out of 100, up to 6.1 more on the total

Why it scored 65: OAuth 2.0 with 33 scopes, PKCE for public clients, 1-hour tokens, refresh and a revoke endpoint, and user tokens bound to a permission group. API keys are revocable and sent in a header, but grant every scope and never expire (25). An OAuth app without the `write` scope is read-only and a user token inherits one employee's permissions. No confirmation step was found for terminate or bulk delete calls (13). The API returns text written by employees. The webhook guide says to treat payloads as untrusted input, and no injection guidance was found for API or MCP responses (3). The trust centre says audit logs exist and links a help centre article that our reader could not extract, so API coverage is not established (7). SOC 2 Type 2, SOC 3, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, ENS High, annual third-party penetration tests and a HackerOne bounty per the trust centre. No security.txt (17).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-security):

- 0 to 30, the credential model. 30 for OAuth 2.1 with scopes, or scoped and revocable keys with rotation. 20 for plain revocable API keys. 10 for one all-powerful key. 10 off when a secret can travel in a URL query string as a documented option.
- 0 to 20, read-only or least-privilege modes, and confirmation or approval for destructive actions.
- 0 to 15, prompt-injection posture where the tool returns untrusted content (documented mitigations or guidance). A tool that returns no untrusted content gets 10.
- 0 to 15, audit logs or per-call visibility for the operator.
- 0 to 20, a security programme. security.txt or a disclosure policy, a bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, advisories handled in public.

Models are read for retention, whether API data trains models (and whether that's off by default), zero-retention options and certifications. Frameworks for telemetry defaults, approval hooks, guardrails and sandboxing.

## 4. Schema & documentation, 77 out of 100, up to 3.7 more on the total

Why it scored 77: A public OpenAPI 3.1.0 definition at `https://api.factorialhr.com/oas/` covers 615 operations and 137 webhook events (25). `llms.txt` and a Markdown twin of every page (10). Every operation has a description, but most only restate the action, such as Creates a Leave, with few saying when to use an endpoint (9). Inputs are typed with required fields and 359 enum declarations, with IDs passed as strings (11). 566 operations carry examples, but the definition documents only 200 and 201 responses and errors are explained in one FAQ table (7). Dated versions in the path and quarterly release notes that mark new and removed items (15).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-schema):

APIs and MCP servers.

- 25, a machine-readable contract (a public OpenAPI file or similar; for MCP, typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool).
- 10, llms.txt or Markdown docs served for agents.
- 0 to 20, descriptions that say what a tool is for, when to use it and when not to, read from the tool definitions in the source or the API reference.
- 0 to 15, typed inputs with enums, constraints and required fields, and no free-form JSON blobs.
- 0 to 15, examples and documented error responses.
- 15, versioning and a public changelog.

Models are read from the API reference, the OpenAPI file, llms.txt, the structured-output and tool-use docs and the model cards. Frameworks from docs a model can follow, typed interfaces, examples and the API reference.

## 5. Reliability, 88 out of 100, up to 2.4 more on the total

Why it scored 88: Graded on the public REST API with the hosted lines. Statuspage at status.factorialhr.com with 14 components, API & backend among them (20). The incident feed's newest entry is 1 June 2026 (6 hours of degraded performance), so the 90 days to 8 October are clean (30). The FAQ gives one number, 200 `POST` requests a minute, and nothing for other methods (8). The docs advise exponential backoff on 429 and 5xx and a check before retrying a create, but no `Retry-After` header or idempotency key is documented (10). The trust centre publishes a 99.9 per cent monthly uptime SLA with a 5 per cent service credit, referenced from the terms (10). The API is generally available, with dated stable versions (10).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-reliability):

Hosted APIs, MCP servers, models and platforms.

- 20, a public status page with component history (Statuspage, Instatus, BetterStack or the vendor's own).
- 0 to 30, the incident record for the last 90 days on that page. 30 for a clean record or trivial incidents only, 20 for minor incidents only, 10 for one major outage (an hour or more of a core API down, or errors across the board), 0 for several. 5 when there's no history we could read, and the note says so.
- 15, rate limits documented with numbers.
- 15, documented 429 or overload handling (Retry-After, backoff guidance), and idempotency keys or safe-retry guidance where writes are involved.
- 10, an SLA published for any paid tier.
- 10, the surface agents use is generally available, not beta or preview.

Local packages, SDKs, frameworks and stdio MCP servers.

- 20, installs from an official package with supported runtimes stated.
- 25, a public CI and test suite, passing on the default branch.
- 0 to 25, open crash or regression issues relative to activity (25 for few and handled, 0 for many, old and unanswered).
- 15, semver discipline and breaking changes called out in a changelog.
- 15, version 1.0 or later, or declared stable.

Protocols are read from their reference implementations, the public facilitators or servers, spec stability and test vectors.

## 6. Transparency & trust, 78 out of 100, up to 1.9 more on the total

Made of editorial 73, provenance 82.

Why it scored 78: Closed service with public terms amended 12 December 2025, and MIT SDKs. Clauses 9.6 and 9.8 prohibit benchmarking, competitive evaluation and monitoring of availability (15). The terms and the trust centre agree on retention (30 days to request return of data, one year blocked for authorities, then deletion), the privacy policy of January 2026 covers Factorial's role as processor, and the trust centre says customer data is not used to train models. The DPA was not read (24). Each API version is supported for one year with dated release notes, but an expired version is served silently in an older schema, API keys for marketplace use are being phased out with no date, and the terms reserve the right to change or remove the public API (16). The trust centre lists sub-processors with purpose and location, and states EU storage on AWS Frankfurt and Azure Frankfurt and Sweden (18).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-transparency):

- 0 to 30, source availability and licence clarity. 30 for open source under an OSI licence, 15 for closed with clear terms, 0 for unclear terms.
- 0 to 30, data handling and retention statements that agree with each other (privacy policy, DPA, retention periods, subprocessors).
- 0 to 20, a deprecation policy or notices with dates.
- 0 to 20, telemetry disclosed with an opt-out (local software), or subprocessors and data locations disclosed (hosted).

The other half of Transparency and trust is the provenance score, computed from checked facts (below). The category score is the mean of the two.

Provenance checks not met in full (half of this category, computed from checked facts):

- Domain age: factorialhr.com, registered 2016-11-10 (9 years) (11 of 15)
- Terms of service: read, states 5 of the 7 things a reader expects, and has 1 clause that costs points (6.3 of 10)
- Privacy policy: read, states 7 of the 8 things a reader expects (9.3 of 10)
- security.txt: not found (0 of 10)

## 7. Maintenance & community, 84 out of 100, up to 1.4 more on the total

Why it scored 84: API version 2026-10-01 was released on 5 October 2026, with SDK 3.0.0 the same day (30). In the 90 days before, the changelog has the MCP server on 14 July and entries on 1 and 5 October, and the SDK repository has five Python releases from 22 July to 5 October (20). A dated changelog with RSS, two support forms, a published first-response target of 4 hours for 90 per cent of tickets, and a public SDK repository whose issues we could not read (11). Current official SDKs in TypeScript and Python (15). The SDK repository has CI, release automation and npm trusted publishing, with daily beta builds for the next API version (8).

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-maintenance):

- 0 to 30, time since the last release, or the last published model or API change for a closed service. 30 within 30 days, 20 within 90, 10 within 180, 0 older.
- 20, at least three releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days.
- 0 to 25, responsiveness. Issues and pull requests answered on GitHub (the open issues and how recent the replies are). For closed services, a public changelog and a support or community channel that answers, 0 to 15.
- 15, presence in the official MCP registry under a verified namespace (MCP servers), or current official SDKs (APIs and models).
- 10, package health, current dependencies and CI.

Models are read for deprecation notice periods and model churn rather than release counts.

## What we couldn't check

What we couldn't read counted as absent. Publishing it on a page a plain HTTP fetch can read (not only in a browser) lets the next check count it.

- unchecked: the MCP server's tool list, input schemas and annotations, which need an OAuth login
- unchecked: the sign-up page at app.factorialhr.com/users/sign_up, which is drawn by script, so the trial's length and whether it needs a card are not established
- unchecked: the help centre article on audit logs, whose text our reader could not extract, so whether API calls are logged is not established
- unchecked: the Data Processing Agreement and the full SLA exclusions
- unchecked: the official MCP registry, which did not answer from our shell
- unchecked: the HackerOne programme page named in the trust centre, and open issues on the SDK repository
- Whether rate limits apply to GET, PUT and DELETE requests, and whether 429 responses carry `Retry-After`
- Whether API access or the MCP server depends on the plan. The pricing page does not say
- The lead gave factorialhr.com as the site, which now redirects to factorial.com, and did not mention the MCP server or the SDKs

## Weaknesses

- An API key grants every scope, cannot be narrowed and does not expire
- No idempotency keys. The docs say the API does not deduplicate requests, so a blind retry can create a duplicate record
- A request to an unsupported API version is served in the oldest supported schema with no error
- The only published rate limit is 200 `POST` requests a minute, and no `Retry-After` header is documented
- The terms prohibit benchmarking, competitive evaluation and monitoring of availability, and pricing beyond a $8 starting figure is by quote

## What costs an agent a turn today

The notes we give agents before they call it. Each one is a workaround an agent shouldn't need.

- Send an API key in `x-api-key` and an OAuth token in `Authorization: Bearer`. The key is JWT-formatted but is rejected as a bearer token
- Pin the version in the path, such as `/api/2026-10-01/resources/...`, and migrate within a year. Expired versions answer in an older schema without an error
- Treat a 200 with an empty body as a credential from the other environment. Production is `api.factorialhr.com` and demo is `api.eu2.demo.factorial.dev`
- Page with `limit=100` and pass `meta.end_cursor` as `after_id`. A larger limit is capped at 100
- Check whether a record exists before retrying a create. Retry only 429 and 5xx with backoff, and branch on `code` for 422 because messages are localised

## When it's done

Send what changed and where it's published as a dispute (https://www.anchorterminal.com/builders/#disputes, or `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/contact` with `"kind": "dispute"`). Disputes are answered in public, and the listing is checked again by the same checklist. Paying for an audit or a listing claim changes nothing here.