Permit Scouter API

Building permits from Tampa Bay, Florida, collected every morning and cleaned into one format. Every paid call is settled with x402: no account and no API key, just a wallet with USDC on Base.

Getting started

The API lives at https://api.permitscouter.com. All responses are JSON. Try a free route first:

curl https://api.permitscouter.com/sample

An interactive reference with every parameter is at /docs on the API.

Paying with x402

Call a paid route without paying and you get 402 Payment Required. The PAYMENT-REQUIRED header holds the price, the network and the address to pay. Your client signs a USDC authorization for that amount and repeats the request with it in the PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header. The response's PAYMENT-RESPONSE header holds the settlement receipt, including the transaction hash.

You don't need ETH for gas: the payment is settled for you. Any x402 client works. In Python:

pip install "x402[httpx,evm]"

import asyncio
from eth_account import Account
from x402 import x402Client
from x402.http.clients import x402HttpxClient
from x402.mechanisms.evm.exact import register_exact_evm_client
from x402.mechanisms.evm.signers import EthAccountSigner

async def main():
    client = x402Client()
    register_exact_evm_client(client, EthAccountSigner(Account.from_key("0xYOUR_PRIVATE_KEY")))
    async with x402HttpxClient(client) as http:
        response = await http.get(
            "https://api.permitscouter.com/permits/search",
            params={"trade": "roofing", "since": "2026-10-01", "min_value": 10000},
        )
        print(response.json())

asyncio.run(main())

Keep your agent's spending wallet separate from any wallet holding savings, and fund it with only what it needs.

New permits, newest first. Within each day, permits with a job value and contractor come first. Up to 25 per call; page with offset.

{
  "total": 21,
  "next_offset": 5,
  "results": [
    {
      "permit_key": "tampa:BTR-27-0633248",
      "jurisdiction": "City of Tampa",
      "permit_number": "BTR-27-0633248",
      "record_type": "Residential Roof Trade Permit",
      "status": "Issued",
      "description": "re-roof",
      "address": "4202 W CLEVELAND ST",
      "city": "TAMPA",
      "zip": "33609",
      "applied_date": "2026-10-10",
      "valuation": 16998.05,
      "contractor_name": "EXCEL EXTERIORS, INC.",
      "contractor_license": "CCC1331677",
      "contractor_key": "ccc1331677",
      "trades": ["roofing"],
      "source_url": "https://aca-prod.accela.com/TAMPA/…",
      "first_seen": "2026-10-11T00:06:09+00:00",
      "last_changed": "2026-10-11T00:07:40+00:00"
    }
  ]
}

One permit and every change we've recorded to its status, value or issue date, oldest first. Example: /permits/tampa/BTR-27-0633248.

Every permit at one street address, newest first. Use the address as it appears in results, such as 4202 W CLEVELAND ST. Adding zip narrows the match.

Every permit a contractor has pulled in our coverage area, with the total job value, first and latest permit dates, and a count by trade. The contractor_key is in every permit record; it's usually the state license number in lower case.

MCP tools

The same data is available as MCP tools, for AI assistants and agent frameworks. Connect over streamable HTTP to https://api.permitscouter.com/mcp. No sign-up is needed.

The free tools work in any MCP client. A paid tool called without payment returns an error result whose text is the x402 payment request; an x402-aware MCP client pays it and calls again with the payment in _meta["x402/payment"]. The receipt comes back in _meta["x402/payment-response"], and a call that fails is not charged.

In Python, with the official MCP library and x402's MCP client, payment is automatic:

pip install "x402[mcp,evm]" "mcp>=1.20,<2"

import asyncio
from datetime import timedelta
from eth_account import Account
from mcp import ClientSession
from mcp.client.streamable_http import streamablehttp_client
from x402 import x402Client
from x402.mcp import wrap_mcp_client_with_payment
from x402.mechanisms.evm.exact import register_exact_evm_client
from x402.mechanisms.evm.signers import EthAccountSigner

class SessionAdapter:
    """x402's MCP client passes one params dict; the MCP session takes the parts separately."""
    def __init__(self, session):
        self.session = session

    async def call_tool(self, params, read_timeout_seconds=None, **_):
        if isinstance(read_timeout_seconds, (int, float)):
            read_timeout_seconds = timedelta(seconds=read_timeout_seconds)
        return await self.session.call_tool(params["name"], params.get("arguments"),
                                            read_timeout_seconds=read_timeout_seconds,
                                            meta=params.get("_meta"))

async def main():
    payments = x402Client()
    register_exact_evm_client(payments, EthAccountSigner(Account.from_key("0xYOUR_PRIVATE_KEY")))
    async with streamablehttp_client("https://api.permitscouter.com/mcp") as (read, write, _):
        async with ClientSession(read, write) as session:
            await session.initialize()
            paid = wrap_mcp_client_with_payment(SessionAdapter(session), payments, auto_payment=True)
            result = await paid.call_tool("search_permits", {"trade": "roofing", "min_value": 10000})
            print(result.content)

asyncio.run(main())

Free routes

The cities covered today, permit counts, date range, and when each was last updated. Check it before relying on a city.

Three recent permits, so you can see the record format before paying.

status says whether the API is up; collection says whether the data is fresh, with any problems listed.

The permit record

• Freshness. Each source is collected every morning and the last three days are re-checked, so status changes are picked up. last_changed shows when a record last changed.
• Job value and contractor are read from each permit's own page, usually within a day of filing. Early in a permit's life either can be null.
• Privacy. Homeowner and applicant names are never collected. Contractors are businesses with public state licenses.
• Accuracy. Records are public data as published by each building department. source_url points to where each one came from.

Errors

Payment is only settled when a call succeeds. If a paid call returns an error, your signed payment is not collected.