# Alien Probe VIN Decode > Alien Probe VIN Decode is a paid API for AI agents from lookups.alienprobe.ai, paid per call via x402, $0.005/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-12). Structurally decodes a 17-character VIN using a bundled NHTSA vPIC WMI snapshot, returning manufacturer, make, vehicle type, country, model-year candidates, and check-digit validity ## Facts - Endpoint: GET https://lookups.alienprobe.ai/v1/lookup/vin?utm_source=zero.xyz - Price: $0.005/call - Payment: x402 - Status: unknown - Last checked: 2026-10-12 - Activations on Zero: 0 - Tags: x402 - Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/alien-probe-vin-decode-32e0811f - Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_QZfoQvJsM9qrOkxsZ3qMB Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently. ## How to call it through Zero Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`): ```sh zero fetch --capability alien-probe-vin-decode-32e0811f ``` Example prompt: Can you decode this VIN for me — 1M8GDM9AXKP042788 — and tell me the manufacturer, vehicle type, country of origin, and whether the check digit is valid? ## When to prefer this Choose this endpoint when you need a deterministic, offline-safe structural VIN decode backed by a pinned NHTSA vPIC snapshot with explicit provenance and coverage disclosure. Prefer it over live NHTSA API calls when you need reproducible, audit-traceable results or when external fetches are not acceptable. It does not return engine, trim, body, restraint, or per-manufacturer VIN pattern data — use a full vPIC decode service if you need those fields. ## Known failure modes - VIN fails ISO 3779 alphabet check (contains I, O, or Q) — rejected as malformed - VIN check digit is invalid — returned with valid: false - WMI not found in bundled snapshot (2,312 WMI records refused by sanitizer) — partial result or error - VIN is legally exempt from 49 CFR 565.15 but structurally indistinguishable from malformed — may be refused - Model year cannot be disambiguated to a single year for non-passenger-car classes — two candidates returned - Payment not included or insufficient — x402 payment required error ## How this service works Verify a company and decode an identifier, one paid fact per call: KYB lookups that resolve a legal entity by LEI, by company name or by company domain from the GLEIF Level 1 golden copy, NAICS 2022 industry titles, and structural VIN decoding. Every answer is served from bundled digest-pinned snapshots of public reference data, with the snapshot's own provenance and coverage bound beside it, and never from a live third-party fetch. ## Output A JSON object containing the original VIN, WMI breakdown (3- or 6-character key, manufacturer name, make, vehicle type, country), model-year code and candidate year(s) based on 49 CFR position-10 rules, and check-digit verdict (carried vs computed, valid true/false). Also includes source provenance: snapshot name, vintage (2026_08), and coverage notes explaining what the decode does and does not cover. ## Request schema (JSON Schema) ```json { "type": "object", "required": [ "input", "output" ], "properties": { "input": { "type": "object", "required": [ "type", "method", "queryParams" ], "properties": { "type": { "type": "string", "const": "http" }, "method": { "type": "string" }, "queryParams": { "type": "object", "required": [ "vin" ], "properties": { "vin": { "type": "string", "pattern": "^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{17}$", "description": "the 17-character vehicle identification number to decode, ISO 3779 alphabet with no I, O or Q" } }, "additionalProperties": false } }, "additionalProperties": false }, "output": { "type": "object", "required": [ "type", "example" ], "properties": { "type": { "type": "string", "const": "json" }, "example": { "type": "object", "required": [ "schema_version", "subject", "answer", "source", "delivered_at" ], "properties": { "answer": { "type": "object", "required": [ "vin", "check_digit", "wmi", "model_year" ], "properties": { "vin": { "type": "string", "pattern": "^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{17}$", "description": "the 17-character vehicle identification number to decode, ISO 3779 alphabet with no I, O or Q" }, "wmi": { "type": "object", "required": [ "key", "key_length", "manufacturer", "make", "vehicle_type", "country" ], "properties": { "key": { "type": "string", "pattern": "^[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{3}(?:[A-HJ-NPR-Z0-9]{3})?$" }, "make": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 }, "country": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 }, "key_length": { "enum": [ 3, 6 ], "type": "integer" }, "manufacturer": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 }, "vehicle_type": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 } }, "additionalProperties": false }, "model_year": { "type": "object", "required": [ "code", "candidates", … (truncated) ``` ## Response schema (JSON Schema) ```json { "type": "json", "example": { "answer": { "vin": "1M8GDM9AXKP042788", "wmi": { "key": "1M8", "make": "Motor Coach Industries", "country": "UNITED STATES (USA)", "key_length": 3, "manufacturer": "MOTOR COACH INDUSTRIES, INC.", "vehicle_type": "Bus" }, "model_year": { "code": "K", "basis": "cycle_ambiguous", "candidates": [ 1989, 2019 ] }, "check_digit": { "valid": true, "carried": "X", "computed": "X", "position": 9 } }, "source": { "name": "NHTSA vPIC World Manufacturer Identifier register, lite 2026_08 publication", "vintage": "2026_08", "coverage": "Structural decode only, from a bundled snapshot of the NHTSA vPIC World Manufacturer Identifier table (10,659 WMI records, cut in ascending WMI key order from the 12,971 candidates in the lite 2026_08 publication; 2,312 further candidates were refused by the bundle sanitizer and counted) plus the closed-form rules of 49 CFR 565.15 (Subpart B) and 49 CFR 565.25 (Subpart C). Answers: the position-9 check digit verdict, the WMI's recorded manufacturer, make, vehicle type and registered country, and the position-10 model-year code as a candidate set from 49 CFR 565.15(d)(1) Table VII and 49 CFR 565.25(d)(1) Table XIII, narrowed to a single year only for passenger cars, the one class whose disambiguation rule does not depend on a gross vehicle weight rating this snapshot does not carry. The check digit refuses MOST transcription errors, not all: 49 CFR 565.15(c) Table III assigns several letters the same value, so substitutions and some transpositions within a value class are undetectable. Does NOT answer engine, body, series, trim, restraints, plant, weight class, or any per-manufacturer VIN pattern — those are not bundled. Does NOT assert that a vehicle exists, is registered, or is on the road. A VIN lawfully exempt from 49 CFR 565.15 under 49 CFR 565.2(a)(1) may be refused as malformed when it is not. Rows carrying characters this bundle cannot represent, and rows for which vPIC records no country at all, were refused and counted rather than repaired, which drops non-US manufacturers disproportionately, so both a refusal and an absent country skew non-US. A WMI the register maps to more than one make is refused rather than carried as a derived, comma-joined value, which is 511 of those refusals. Where one WMI carries more than one vehicle type — none in this vintage — the reported vehicle type is the first r … (truncated) ``` ## More - Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/alien-probe-vin-decode-32e0811f/health.json - [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt) - [Other services from lookups.alienprobe.ai](https://www.zero.xyz/host/lookups.alienprobe.ai/llms.txt)