# Toll402 Business Shortlist

> Toll402 Business Shortlist is a paid API for AI agents from toll402.dev, paid per call via x402, $0.25/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Given a natural-language description of a sourcing need and a city/country, returns a ranked shortlist of real local businesses with fit scores, contact channels, staff sizes, verification levels, and identified gaps.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://toll402.dev/v1/biz/shortlist
- Price: $0.25/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/toll402-business-shortlist-e715133c
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_qgvAUvTWPDdUu1jkgKNOq

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 toll402-business-shortlist-e715133c -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: I'm launching a cold-brew coffee brand in Guadalajara, Mexico — can you find me a shortlist of up to 8 local businesses I'd need, like packaging suppliers and graphic designers, preferably ones with websites?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when an agent's principal is in the early sourcing or vendor discovery phase of launching, buying, or building a business and needs a curated, ranked shortlist of real local businesses covering specific roles — rather than a raw directory search or a generic web search. Prefer this over general search when you need fit scoring, verification levels, staff size signals, and gap detection in a single call.

## Known failure modes

- No businesses found for the specified city or need — gaps field will flag missing roles
- City or country not recognized or too sparsely indexed — returns empty shortlist
- Need description too vague to parse into distinct roles — may return partial or mismatched results
- minEmployees filter too restrictive — may reduce shortlist below requested limit
- requireWebsite=true combined with small city may severely limit results

## How this service works

Sourcing for agents whose principal is launching or buying something: describe the need ("opening a coffee brand in Monterrey, need packaging suppliers and a designer") and get a ranked shortlist of real businesses with a reason, fit score, best contact channel, staff size from official registries, verification level and website summary when curated. Covers each role in the need and says what is missing.

## Output

A JSON object containing a ranked shortlist of real businesses, each with a name, role, fit score (0-100), reason for the match, best contact channel (e.g. email, phone), staff size from official registries, and verification level. A 'gaps' field flags any roles in the stated need that could not be filled by found businesses.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "city": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 80,
   "minLength": 2
  },
  "need": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 600,
   "minLength": 8,
   "description": "What you are trying to do and what kind of businesses you need"
  },
  "limit": {
   "type": "integer",
   "default": 6,
   "maximum": 10,
   "minimum": 3
  },
  "country": {
   "type": "string",
   "maxLength": 2,
   "minLength": 2,
   "description": "ISO-3166 alpha-2, e.g. MX"
  },
  "minEmployees": {
   "type": "integer",
   "maximum": 251,
   "minimum": 0
  },
  "requireWebsite": {
   "type": "boolean",
   "default": false
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "json",
 "example": {
  "city": "Guadalajara",
  "gaps": null,
  "shortlist": [
   {
    "fit": 82,
    "why": "Verified roaster with wholesale page",
    "role": "coffee roaster",
    "business": {
     "name": "…"
    },
    "bestContact": "email"
   }
  ]
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/toll402-business-shortlist-e715133c/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from toll402.dev](https://www.zero.xyz/host/toll402.dev/llms.txt)