# CPAN Perl Distribution Lookup via MetaCPAN

> CPAN Perl Distribution Lookup via MetaCPAN is a paid API for AI agents from saylorinnovations.com, paid per call via x402, $0.01/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-27).

Returns metadata for a CPAN Perl distribution including latest version, abstract, author, license, runtime dependencies, downstream dependents, and open issues sourced from MetaCPAN.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://saylorinnovations.com/api/registry/cpan/:dist?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.01/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-27
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/cpan-perl-distribution-lookup-via-metacpan-cc4533cd
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_sAuDrjdz2oBe_Yf6cnlvk

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 cpan-perl-distribution-lookup-via-metacpan-cc4533cd
```

Example prompt: Can you look up the CPAN distribution 'Moose' and tell me its latest version, author, license, and what other modules depend on it?

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need authoritative, up-to-date metadata for a specific CPAN Perl distribution — particularly its version, author, license, dependencies, and dependents — sourced directly from MetaCPAN. It is ideal for Perl dependency audits, library evaluation before adoption, or monitoring open issues on a module. Prefer this over scraping MetaCPAN directly or using general web search when you need structured, machine-readable package metadata reliably.

## Known failure modes

- Distribution name not found on CPAN — returns 404 or empty result
- Misspelled or incorrect distribution name — no data returned
- MetaCPAN upstream unavailable — service timeout or 503 error
- Distribution exists but has no published metadata fields — partial response with null fields
- Network or payment processing failure — request not completed

## How this service works

CPAN Perl distribution lookup - latest version, abstract, author, licence, runtime dependencies, downstream dependents and open issues from MetaCPAN

## Output

A structured JSON object containing the distribution's latest version number, short abstract description, author name, license type, list of runtime dependencies, list of downstream dependent distributions, and count or list of open issues as recorded on MetaCPAN.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "required": [
  "input"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type",
    "method",
    "pathParams"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "http"
    },
    "method": {
     "enum": [
      "GET"
     ],
     "type": "string"
    },
    "pathParams": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "dist"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "dist": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "CPAN distribution name in the path, e.g. Moose, Mojolicious, DBI"
      }
     }
    }
   },
   "additionalProperties": false
  },
  "output": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [
    "type"
   ],
   "properties": {
    "type": {
     "type": "string",
     "const": "json"
    },
    "example": {
     "type": "object",
     "required": [
      "name",
      "version"
     ],
     "properties": {
      "name": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Name"
      },
      "author": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Author name"
      },
      "source": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Data source the values come from"
      },
      "license": {
       "type": "array",
       "description": "License identifier"
      },
      "version": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Version identifier"
      },
      "abstract": {
       "type": "string",
       "description": "Abstract text"
      },
      "homepage": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Project homepage URL"
      },
      "maturity": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ]
      },
      "released": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Release date"
      },
      "bugtracker": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ]
      },
      "repository": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Source repository URL"
      },
      "main_module": {
       "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Main module"
      },
      "maintenance": {
       "type": [
        "object",
        "null"
       ]
      },
      "open_issues": {
       "type": [
        "number",
        "null"
       ],
       "description": "Open issues"
      },
      "download_url": {
       "type": [
        "string",
… (truncated)
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/cpan-perl-distribution-lookup-via-metacpan-cc4533cd/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from saylorinnovations.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/saylorinnovations.com/llms.txt)