# Sterling

**Canonical:** https://apis.io/providers/sterling-check/  
**Website:** https://www.sterlingcheck.com  
**APIs profiled:** 7

Sterling (Sterling Check Corp) is a global background and identity screening provider offering criminal checks, employment and education verifications, drug and health screening, identity verification, and continuous (recurring) monitoring. The Sterling API is a documented RESTful, OAuth2-secured developer API that lets platforms, ATS/HRIS systems, and marketplaces initiate background checks, manage candidates and screening packages, retrieve results and reports (PDF/HTML), send candidate invites, and receive real-time status updates via webhook callbacks. Access is gated - developers request a Client ID and Client Secret per screening region (US, EMEA, Canada, or APAC) - and the docs are published via a Postman-hosted portal at apidocs.sterlingcheck.app with a developer portal at developer.sterlingcheck.app. Sterling was acquired by First Advantage Corporation for $2.2 billion, with the deal closing on October 31, 2024; Sterling now operates as "a First Advantage company."

## Kin Score — 38.0 / 100 (thin)

Scored 2026-08-21 under rubric 0.12.0. Trend: flat (+0.0 from 38.0).

| Facet | Score |
|---|---|
| Discoverability | 74.1 |
| Contract Quality | 55.2 |
| Governance | 0.0 |
| Contract Governance | 0.0 |
| Operational Transparency | 31.6 |
| Developer Ergonomics | 23.8 |
| Commercial Clarity | 39.5 |
| Access Clarity | 39.5 |

## Agent readiness — 34.1 (agent-ready)

| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Spec Presence | yes |
| Agentic Access | derived |
| Reversibility Documented | documented |
| MCP Server | no |
| Auth Clarity | yes |
| Idempotency | no |
| Error Semantics | no |
| OpenAPI Examples | partial |
| Rate Limit Signal | documented |
| Event Surface Described | no |
| Agent Skills | no |
| Well Known Catalog | no |
| Consent Identity | no |
| Agent Card | no |
| Dry Run Mode | no |

## Access

Enterprise · Self-serve signup — onboarding: self-serve, pricing: enterprise, trial: no (confidence: high).

## APIs (7)

- **Sterling Authentication API** — OAuth2 token exchange using your Client ID and Client Secret.
- **Sterling Candidates API** — Candidate (subject) records that screenings are run against.
- **Sterling Invites API** — Candidate invitations to complete consent and data collection.
- **Sterling Packages API** — Screening packages (groups of screening products) available to your account.
- **Sterling Reports API** — Results of completed screenings, with per-item statuses (PDF or HTML).
- **Sterling Screenings API** — Screening orders and their lifecycle, including recurring/continuous screening.
- **Sterling Webhooks API** — Real-time screening status callbacks.

## Agentic access (1)

- **Sterling Check Agentic Access** — 15 operations · 8 acting

## Security (2)

- **Sterling Check Authentication** — http/oauth2 · 2 schemes
- **Sterling Check Domain Security** — TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

## Plans (1)

- **Sterling Check Plans Pricing**

## Tags

Background Screening, Identity Verification, Background Check, HR Tech, Compliance, Gated API

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Profiled by [API Evangelist](https://apievangelist.com) and published on [APIs.io](https://apis.io/providers/sterling-check/). Scores are computed from the provider's own public artifacts under a published rubric.