# FMCSA Carrier Search API

> FMCSA Carrier Search API is a paid API for AI agents from api.govparse.io, paid per call via x402, $1.25/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Search 4.4M+ FMCSA-registered carriers and brokers by name, state, entity type, fleet size, operating status, or authority status to retrieve USDOT numbers and carrier details.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://api.govparse.io/v1/carriers/search
- Price: $1.25/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/fmcsa-carrier-search-api-03ef82b3
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_c006gnJAW2VzaZ_xxTZ8y

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 fmcsa-carrier-search-api-03ef82b3
```

Example prompt: Find me FMCSA-registered active carriers based in Texas with fleets between 50 and 500 power units — I need the top 25 largest ones with their USDOT numbers.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need to search or shortlist FMCSA-registered entities (carriers, brokers, forwarders) by name, geography, fleet size, or authority status across the full 4.4M+ census. It is the right choice for USDOT number lookups by name, carrier vetting before freight tender, lane-state carrier sourcing, and broker/carrier type screening. Prefer sibling endpoints for fetching full carrier details by USDOT (carrier browse/detail endpoint) or for aggregate statistics (FMCSA stats endpoint).

## Known failure modes

- Name fragment too broad returns 1000+ matches with total_matched_capped=true — user must add state, entity type, or fleet-size filters to narrow results
- No results returned when name spelling differs significantly from FMCSA records — trigram search helps but extreme misspellings may yield zero matches
- Invalid state code or enum value for operating_status/authority_status causes a validation error
- Offset beyond available results returns empty rows — check total_matched before paginating
- Rate limiting or payment failure (x402) if USDC balance is insufficient at $0.02 per call

## How this service works

Which FMCSA-registered carriers match a name, state, entity type, fleet-size range, operating status, or authority status? Trigram name search over 4.4M+ census records — find a carrier's USDOT number, shortlist carriers in a lane state, or screen brokers vs carriers. Up to 100 rows per call, largest fleets first; total_matched caps at 1000 (total_matched_capped=true means narrow your filters).

## Output

Returns up to 100 rows (default 25) of matching carrier records sorted by fleet size descending, each containing USDOT number, legal/DBA name, entity type, operating status, authority status, physical state, power units, and total drivers. Also returns total_matched count (capped at 1000; total_matched_capped=true signals filters need narrowing) and pagination metadata.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
 "properties": {
  "input": {
   "type": "object",
   "required": [],
   "properties": {
    "name": {
     "type": "string",
     "examples": [
      "knight transportation"
     ],
     "description": "Carrier legal or DBA name fragment, case-insensitive (trigram match). Example: 'knight transportation'."
    },
    "sort": {
     "type": "string",
     "examples": [
      "power_units:desc"
     ],
     "description": "field:direction — power_units | total_drivers | usdot. Example: 'power_units:desc'."
    },
    "limit": {
     "type": "integer",
     "examples": [
      25
     ],
     "description": "Max rows to return (default 25, cap 100)."
    },
    "state": {
     "type": "string",
     "examples": [
      "TX"
     ],
     "description": "Physical-address state code(s), CSV. Example: 'TX,OK'."
    },
    "offset": {
     "type": "integer",
     "examples": [
      0
     ],
     "description": "Rows to skip, for paging."
    },
    "entity_type": {
     "type": "string",
     "examples": [
      "carrier"
     ],
     "description": "carrier | broker | forwarder (CSV for multiple)."
    },
    "power_units_max": {
     "type": "integer",
     "examples": [
      500
     ],
     "description": "Maximum fleet size in power units."
    },
    "power_units_min": {
     "type": "integer",
     "examples": [
      50
     ],
     "description": "Minimum fleet size in power units."
    },
    "authority_status": {
     "type": "string",
     "examples": [
      "Active"
     ],
     "description": "Only carriers with an operating-authority record in this status: Active | Pending | Inactive | Withdrawn."
    },
    "operating_status": {
     "type": "string",
     "examples": [
      "A"
     ],
     "description": "A (active) | I (inactive) | P (pending), CSV for multiple."
    }
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/fmcsa-carrier-search-api-03ef82b3/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from api.govparse.io](https://www.zero.xyz/host/api.govparse.io/llms.txt)