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 API contracts indexed 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 11 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

46.0/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 30/100 agent ready Front door AI 2/6 trace Heartbeat 34/100 slowing saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-13 · rubric v0.28.0 · Show this score on your site →

AccessFreemiumSelf serve⚡ Free to try

1 published contract

Construction Building Permits Contractors Real Estate Property Data Market Intelligence

What this lets a business do 1

Business capabilities this provider's published APIs can perform, derived from its own contracts. Browse all capabilities →

Data & Reference Information Services

AE-230

AddressesContractorsPermits

GET /addresses/search GET /addresses/{geo_id}/residents GET /permits/search GET /contractors/search

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-13 · rubric v0.28.0

Composite quality — 46.0/100 · developing

Contract Quality 13.6 / 21

Developer Ergonomics 6.1 / 17

Access Clarity 9.0 / 17

Operational Transparency 1.3 / 11

Contract Governance 2.8 / 10

Discoverability 6.2 / 9

Regulatory Posture 2.4 / 15

Agent readiness — 30/100 · agent ready

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 12

Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10

Idempotency 9 / 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 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics does not apply to this provider. The published contracts declare no write operations, and a read-only API cannot create-or-update. The facet is excluded from this provider's denominator entirely — not scored zero. A reference or data API is not deficient for being unable to upsert.

The six quality facets above are damped to 85 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 15. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 85% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship Ask about this →
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0 Ask about this →
Request/Response Examples +7 pts — share of operations carrying request/response examples; else an Examples / Code Samples link Ask about this →
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document Ask about this →
Delegated User Identity +6 pts — a served discovery document listing authorization_code in grant_types_supported (served), else an oauth2 authorizationCode flow or openIdConnect declared in an OpenAPI (documented) Ask about this →
Typed Event Surface +6 pts — AsyncAPI document, OR webhooks/callbacks objects in the as-published OpenAPI, OR common[].type includes Webhooks Ask about this →

5 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Developer Ergonomics scores 35.7 — up to +12.9 composite points Ask about this →
Operational Transparency scores 11.9 — up to +11.5 composite points Ask about this →
Access Clarity scores 53.2 — up to +9.4 composite points Ask about this →

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Not sure how this applies to your stack? Ask about any one item. Kin Lane reads every question, looks at your profile and your situation, and replies with what a fix would take — scoped to that one area, priced up front, yours whether you ship it or not. Ask a question →

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/shovels/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/shovels to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
Data Marketplaces (data providers on cloud data platforms)	distribution	9.6 (thin)	-	-

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

Standards implemented 1

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

OpenAPI

measured — observed by APIs.io (published)

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 7

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

Shovels Addresses API

OPEN COLLECTION

Shovels Addresses Contractors API

OPEN COLLECTION

Shovels Addresses Geography API

OPEN COLLECTION

Shovels Addresses Lists API

OPEN COLLECTION

Shovels Addresses Meta API

OPEN COLLECTION

Shovels Addresses Permits API

OPEN COLLECTION

Shovels API

OPEN COLLECTION

Scroll for all 7

Shovels API pricing

Prices published by Shovels, read 2026-10-28 from www.shovels.ai/pricing.

Plan	Price
Free	$0/mo Includes: 500 credits / mo, 1 year of record history, 1 seat, Knowledge Base + email support
Basic	$599/mo Includes: 25,000 credits / mo, full historical records, 1 seat
Pro	$999/mo Includes: 50,000 credits / mo, full historical records, up to 2 seats
Enterprise	Custom Includes: Custom seats, credits sized with you

Plan details, limits and sources →

Rate limits

Free Tier Default: 10 requests per minute
Free Tier Monthly Quota: 1000 requests per month
Professional Tier Default: 100 requests per minute

Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against Shovels's documentation. All 5 limits →

Billed by: subscription · FinOps profile →

Pricing Plans 2

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Shovels Plans Pricing

4 plans

PLANS

Shovels Price Estimates

0 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Shovels Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

Compliance 1

Attestations the provider states (SOC 2, ISO 27001 and others), quoted from its own trust page. APIs.io verifies none of them.

Shovels

1 quoted statement, read from Shovels's own page on 2026-11-10.

COMPLIANCE

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. Counts are the severity each rule declares, not results of running them.

Shovels — jsonschema rules

5 rules · 4 warn-severity 1 info-severity

SPECTRAL

Shovels API Rules

10 rules · 5 error-severity 5 warn-severity

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 (API Evangelist recommendations) 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

Operate 1

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

RateLimits

RateLimits

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Plans

Plans

FinOps

FinOps

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Website

Website

LinkedIn

Blog

Blog

Other 2

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

CapabilityMap

CapabilityMap

Attestations

Attestations

Source (apis.yml)

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
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: true
  public: false
  gated: none
  gated_source:
  - onboarding
  label: Freemium · Self-serve signup
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  - authentication
  - security
  generated: '2026-11-13'
  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
tags_raw:
- Construction
- Building Permits
- Contractors
- Real Estate
- Property Data
- Market Intelligence
- Real-Estate
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/shovels/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-05-02'
modified: '2026-05-19'
specificationVersion: '0.23'
common:
- type: CapabilityMap
  url: capabilities/shovels-capability-edges.yml
  name: Shovels Business Capability Map
- type: Plans
  url: plans/shovels-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/shovels-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/shovels-finops.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://www.shovels.ai/
- 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
- type: Attestations
  url: compliance/shovels-compliance.yml
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:
  - List
  tags_raw:
  - 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

Shovels API — frequently asked questions

Does Shovels have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 6 APIs from Shovels, including Shovels Addresses API, Shovels Contractors API and Shovels Geography API, and 3 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the Shovels API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 6 OpenAPI specifications for Shovels, each linked for download from this page.

How do I authenticate with the Shovels API?

Shovels uses bearer-token authentication (apiKey · 1 scheme). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Shovels Authentication.

How much does the Shovels API cost?

Shovels publishes its prices; its Free plan is $0/mo as of 2026-10-28. APIs.io lists 4 pricing plans for Shovels, with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.

Is the Shovels API ready for AI agents?

Shovels has a Kin Score of 46.0 out of 100 (developing) and an Agent Readiness score of 30.0 (agent-ready), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-13.

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