Shovels website screenshot

Shovels

Shovels is the intelligence layer for the built world, providing building permit data and contractor intelligence aggregated from 1,800+ jurisdictions across the United States. The platform offers 130M+ building permits, 2.3M+ contractor profiles, property details, resident information, and geographic market metrics. Shovels helps materials suppliers, construction tech companies, energy and climate firms, home services companies, real estate professionals, and telecommunications providers identify qualified contractors, understand work history, and power sales and marketing with rich permit data.

Shovels publishes 6 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Addresses API, Contractors API, Geography API, and 3 more. Tagged areas include Construction, Building Permits, Contractors, Real Estate, and Property Data.

The Shovels catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.

Shovels’ developer surface includes authentication, engineering blog, and 5 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
50.3/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 38/100 agent ready Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-08-05 · rubric v0.9.1
AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try
6 APIs
ConstructionBuilding PermitsContractorsReal EstateProperty DataMarket Intelligence

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-08-05 · rubric v0.9.1
Composite quality — 50.3/100 · developing
Contract Quality 19.7 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 2.6 / 20
Commercial Clarity 9.5 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.1 / 13
Governance 7.0 / 12
Discoverability 7.4 / 10
Agent readiness — 38/100 · agent ready
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/shovels: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 6

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Shovels Addresses API

The Addresses API from Shovels — 4 operation(s) for addresses.

Shovels Contractors API

The Contractors API from Shovels — 5 operation(s) for contractors.

Shovels Geography API

The Geography API from Shovels — 7 operation(s) for geography.

Shovels Lists API

The Lists API from Shovels — 1 operation(s) for lists.

Shovels Meta API

The Meta API from Shovels — 2 operation(s) for meta.

Shovels Permits API

The Permits API from Shovels — 2 operation(s) for permits.

Open Collections 1

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Shovels API

OPEN COLLECTION

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Shovels Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Shovels Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Shovels Finops

FINOPS

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Shovels Context

22 classes · 13 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 2

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Shovels API Rules

5 rules · 4 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

Shovels API Rules

10 rules · 5 errors 5 warnings

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 2

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

Shovels Contractor

15 properties

JSON SCHEMA

Shovels Permit

12 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 1

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Shovels Permit Structure

0 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 2

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Shovels Search Contractors Example

4 fields

EXAMPLE

Shovels Search Permits Example

4 fields

EXAMPLE

Security Posture 3

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Shovels Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Shovels Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DMARC

SECURITY

Shovels Trust Center

SOC 2

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Shovels Agentic Access

21 operations

21 operations · 0 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Agent Surfaces 2

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess
 LlmsText
LlmsText

Access & Security 3

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

TrustCenter
TrustCenter
 DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Company 2

The organization behind the API

LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Blog
Blog

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: shovels
name: Shovels
description: Shovels is the intelligence layer for the built world, providing building permit data and contractor intelligence
  aggregated from 1,800+ jurisdictions across the United States. The platform offers 130M+ building permits, 2.3M+ contractor
  profiles, property details, resident information, and geographic market metrics. Shovels helps materials suppliers, construction
  tech companies, energy and climate firms, home services companies, real estate professionals, and telecommunications providers
  identify qualified contractors, understand work history, and power sales and marketing with rich permit data.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: high
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/shovels.png
tags:
- Construction
- Building Permits
- Contractors
- Real Estate
- Property Data
- Market Intelligence
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/shovels/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-05-02'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/shovels-agentic-access.yml
- type: TrustCenter
  url: security/shovels-trust-center.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/shovels-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/shovels-authentication.yml
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shovels
- type: LlmsText
  url: https://docs.shovels.ai/llms.txt
- url: https://www.shovels.ai/feeds/all.atom.xml
  type: Blog
apis:
- aid: shovels:shovels-addresses-api
  name: Shovels Addresses API
  description: The Addresses API from Shovels — 4 operation(s) for addresses.
  humanURL: https://www.shovels.ai/api
  baseURL: https://api.shovels.ai/v2
  tags:
  - Addresses
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/shovels-addresses-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.shovels.ai/pricing
  - type: Signup
    url: https://app.shovels.ai
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ShovelsAI
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-permit-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-contractor-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/shovels-permit-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/shovels-context.jsonld
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/shovels-rules.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/shovels-vocabulary.yml
- aid: shovels:shovels-contractors-api
  name: Shovels Contractors API
  description: The Contractors API from Shovels — 5 operation(s) for contractors.
  humanURL: https://www.shovels.ai/api
  baseURL: https://api.shovels.ai/v2
  tags:
  - Contractors
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/shovels-contractors-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.shovels.ai/pricing
  - type: Signup
    url: https://app.shovels.ai
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ShovelsAI
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-permit-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-contractor-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/shovels-permit-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/shovels-context.jsonld
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/shovels-rules.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/shovels-vocabulary.yml
- aid: shovels:shovels-geography-api
  name: Shovels Geography API
  description: The Geography API from Shovels — 7 operation(s) for geography.
  humanURL: https://www.shovels.ai/api
  baseURL: https://api.shovels.ai/v2
  tags:
  - Geography
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/shovels-geography-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.shovels.ai/pricing
  - type: Signup
    url: https://app.shovels.ai
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ShovelsAI
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-permit-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-contractor-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/shovels-permit-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/shovels-context.jsonld
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/shovels-rules.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/shovels-vocabulary.yml
- aid: shovels:shovels-lists-api
  name: Shovels Lists API
  description: The Lists API from Shovels — 1 operation(s) for lists.
  humanURL: https://www.shovels.ai/api
  baseURL: https://api.shovels.ai/v2
  tags:
  - Lists
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/shovels-lists-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.shovels.ai/pricing
  - type: Signup
    url: https://app.shovels.ai
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ShovelsAI
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-permit-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-contractor-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/shovels-permit-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/shovels-context.jsonld
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/shovels-rules.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/shovels-vocabulary.yml
- aid: shovels:shovels-meta-api
  name: Shovels Meta API
  description: The Meta API from Shovels — 2 operation(s) for meta.
  humanURL: https://www.shovels.ai/api
  baseURL: https://api.shovels.ai/v2
  tags:
  - Meta
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/shovels-meta-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.shovels.ai/pricing
  - type: Signup
    url: https://app.shovels.ai
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ShovelsAI
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-permit-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-contractor-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/shovels-permit-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/shovels-context.jsonld
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/shovels-rules.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/shovels-vocabulary.yml
- aid: shovels:shovels-permits-api
  name: Shovels Permits API
  description: The Permits API from Shovels — 2 operation(s) for permits.
  humanURL: https://www.shovels.ai/api
  baseURL: https://api.shovels.ai/v2
  tags:
  - Permits
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/shovels-permits-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Authentication
    url: https://docs.shovels.ai/docs/shovels-api-introduction
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.shovels.ai/pricing
  - type: Signup
    url: https://app.shovels.ai
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/ShovelsAI
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-permit-schema.json
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/shovels-contractor-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/shovels-permit-structure.json
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/shovels-context.jsonld
  - type: SpectralRules
    url: rules/shovels-rules.yml
  - type: Vocabulary
    url: vocabulary/shovels-vocabulary.yml
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com