Access construction activity, contractor intelligence, and local government decisions through a single API. Query by address, geography, contractor, or permit type with sub-second response times.
01
Query permits, contractors, and local government decisions using the same geographic hierarchy, from a single address to an entire state. Analyze local markets or build nationwide applications without changing your integration.
resolve → geo_id: "ZIP94549"
one key · consistent response structure across every endpoint
02
Filter construction activity by permit type, project value, status, property type, contractor, and more. Flexible search tools make it easy to narrow large datasets down to the records that matter.
GET /v2/permits/search
?permit_status=final
&permit_tags=solar
&permit_min_job_value=25000
&property_type=residential
&size=100
200 OK
{ "total_count": 847,
"next_cursor": "eyJvIjoxMDB9" }03
Search contractors by location, license, or specialty and connect them to permits, inspections, employees, and project history. Build a complete view of company activity, performance, and market presence.
/contractors/search
Find by trade, location, or license
/contractors/{id}/permits
Linked permit and project history
/contractors/{id}/employees
Crew and license holders
/contractors/{id}/metrics
Pass rates, volume, performance
04
Planning, zoning, and land-use decisions often happen months before permitting. Surface activity early in the lifecycle with Shovels Decisions, so you can spot opportunities before competitors do.
05
Shovels publishes on a regular, predictable release schedule.
GET /v2/meta/release
200 OK
{ "released_at": "2026-06-15" }
# new release on the 1st and 15th
# 5–10M new permit records each06
Every permit is standardized, classified, and enriched during ingestion.
Reroof + 6.4 kW rooftop solar · $64,200
AI-applied tags · normalized on ingestion
Prefer working from the terminal?
The Shovels CLI gives you access to the same data from the command line.
Create a free account to access your API key and full documentation from the dashboard.
Use RESTful endpoints to pull exactly the data you need. Filter by permit type, geography, work category, and more.
Integrate into your application, pipeline, or warehouse. Most teams are in production within a sprint.
We source data from thousands of jurisdictions online and offline through public records. New jurisdictions are added continuously based on market trends & customer demand, with coverage spanning all major metros and expanding rural markets.
Need this data delivered directly to Snowflake, BigQuery, or Databricks?
Shovels Enterprise Data License drops permit and contractor data straight into your warehouse with no ETL required.
The Shovels API provides building permit records, contractor profiles, property details, and government decisions data from 2,770+ jurisdictions across all 50 states. All records are AI-enriched and normalized to a single schema, with derived metrics like inspection pass rates and green permit classification included.
Sign up at app.shovels.ai to get your API key. The REST API uses standard HTTP methods and returns JSON. Full documentation, quickstart guides, and endpoint references are at docs.shovels.ai.
Yes. Beyond the REST API, Shovels offers native data delivery to Snowflake, BigQuery, and Databricks through our Enterprise plan. If you want to trial permit data in your own warehouse environment before committing, talk to our team.
The database is refreshed on the 1st and 15th of each month. Each cycle adds 5–10 million new records and up to 1–5 million status updates. Processing takes up to a week after each refresh.
Yes. Our terms are designed to give developers maximum flexibility, including the right to reuse and resell API output. No lengthy legal negotiations required.
All Shovels data is sourced from public government records. Building permits are public documents filed with and maintained by local jurisdictions. Shovels is also SOC 2 Type II certified, and our team is happy to discuss security questionnaires or DPAs. Just let us know.
Get your API key, read the docs, and make your first query in minutes. No sales call required.