# Shovels API — Pay-Per-Call Building Permit Search

> Shovels API — Pay-Per-Call Building Permit Search is a paid API for AI agents from stable-shovels.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.5/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Search US building permits by date range, location, and contractor using a pay-per-call model with no subscription required.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://stable-shovels.dev/api/decisions/search
- Price: $0.5/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/shovels-api-pay-per-call-building-permit-search-c06c5d11
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_5b_0wqYet49se8VvSoaPv

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-pay-per-call-building-permit-search-c06c5d11 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Search Shovels for all building permits filed in Austin, TX between January 1 2024 and March 31 2024 by contractors doing residential roofing work.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need on-demand, pay-per-call access to US building permit data without committing to a subscription. Ideal for agents that need occasional or unpredictable permit lookups, or for workflows that require filtering permits by contractor, location, or date without a recurring data feed.

## Known failure modes

- Payment failure or insufficient USDC balance returns a 402 error
- Invalid or missing required search parameters return a 400 error
- No permits found matching the criteria returns an empty result set
- Rate limiting or service unavailability returns a 503 error
- Malformed date or location inputs return a validation error

## 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 US building permit records matching the search criteria, including permit dates, locations, contractor information, and permit type details.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "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."
  },
  "geo_id": {
   "type": "string",
   "minLength": 1,
   "description": "A state code or Shovels geolocation id. Note: ZIP codes are NOT supported for decisions."
  },
  "category": {
   "type": "array",
   "items": {
    "type": "string"
   },
   "description": "Decision category filters."
  },
  "decision_q": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 100,
   "description": "Full-text search on decision title/description (max 100 chars)."
  },
  "asset_class": {
   "type": "array",
   "items": {
    "type": "string"
   },
   "description": "Asset class filters (e.g. \"Residential\", \"Commercial\")."
  },
  "decision_to": {
   "type": "string",
   "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
   "description": "Return decisions on or before this date (YYYY-MM-DD)."
  },
  "subcategory": {
   "type": "array",
   "items": {
    "type": "string"
   },
   "description": "Decision subcategory filters."
  },
  "decision_from": {
   "type": "string",
   "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
   "description": "Return decisions on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD)."
  },
  "include_count": {
   "type": "boolean",
   "description": "Include a `total_count` of matching decisions (first page)."
  },
  "property_type": {
   "type": "array",
   "items": {
    "type": "string"
   },
   "description": "Property type filters."
  },
  "max_project_value": {
   "type": "integer",
   "maximum": 9007199254740991,
   "minimum": 0,
   "description": "Maximum project value, in cents."
  },
  "min_project_value": {
   "type": "integer",
   "maximum": 9007199254740991,
   "minimum": 0,
   "description": "Minimum project value, in cents."
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/shovels-api-pay-per-call-building-permit-search-c06c5d11/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)