# Shovels API — Building Permit City Search

> Shovels API — Building Permit City Search is a paid API for AI agents from stable-shovels.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.05/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-15).

Search US building permits by city, date range, and contractor using pay-per-call access via x402/USDC micropayments

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://stable-shovels.dev/api/cities/search
- Price: $0.05/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-15
- Activations on Zero: 3
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/shovels-api-building-permit-city-search-d8713f75
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_yZXRrIRfEkKoQiKpuOkIr

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 shovels-api-building-permit-city-search-d8713f75 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Search Shovels for building permits filed in Austin, TX between January 1 and March 31, 2024, filtering for permits associated with the contractor 'Apex Construction'.

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need on-demand, no-account access to US building permit data searchable by city, date, and contractor. Ideal for agents needing occasional permit lookups without committing to a subscription, or when paying per-query via USDC micropayments (x402) is preferred over API key management.

## Known failure modes

- Payment not received or insufficient USDC — 402 Payment Required response
- Invalid or unsupported city name — no results or 400 error
- Date range too broad or malformed — empty result set or validation error
- Unknown contractor name — returns empty results
- Service unavailable — 500 or timeout error
- x402/MPP payment protocol misconfiguration — payment rejected

## How this service works

Pay-per-call access to the Shovels building-permits search API over x402 and MPP. Search US building permits by date, location, and contractor — no accounts, no subscriptions, pay per request.

## Output

A list of matching US building permit records filtered by the requested city, date range, and/or contractor, including permit details such as dates, permit types, contractor names, and location information.

## Example request

```json
{
 "q": "Austin",
 "size": 10
}
```

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "q": {
   "type": "string",
   "minLength": 1,
   "description": "The term to search for."
  },
  "size": {
   "type": "integer",
   "maximum": 100,
   "minimum": 1,
   "description": "Records to return per page (1–100, default 50). Determines the price — each record returned costs one credit."
  },
  "cursor": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Pagination cursor — pass the `next_cursor` from a prior page."
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/shovels-api-building-permit-city-search-d8713f75/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from stable-shovels.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/stable-shovels.dev/llms.txt)