API
Documentation
Our public API allows verification of over 20M professional licenses in more than 15 U.S. states. (For more background, see the API home page.) To give just one example, the API allows you to search for formerly registered security guards in Colorado whose license has recently expired. For more examples, see below.
The API is unauthenticated but subject to rate limits.
Four types of data are accessible through the API: jurisdictions, license categories, license statuses, and licenses. Two methods are available in each case: list and search (with the exception of licenses, which do not permit the list operation). All responses are returned in JSON. For sample responses, click on the links in the examples that follow.
Jurisdictions
To retrieve a list of states currently available for searching through the API:
https://licensedirect.com/jurisdictions/list.json
NOTE: Not all states are currently available on License Direct, and not all states available on the public site are available through the API. We are adding additional states at the rate of approx. 2 / month.
License Categories
Each license is associated with a license category, which is a hierarchical data structure that reflects
the regulatory framework for licensure in the relevant state. To request a list of the available license
categories in a particular jurisdiction:
https://licensedirect.com/license_categories/list.json?jurisdiction_id=5
,
replacing 3
with the relevant jurisdiction ID.
NOTE: The results are ordered by the frequency with which they occur in the
underlying data and are paginated. To access subsequent pages of results, add a page
parameter, e.g. ?page=2
.
License Statuses
Each license has a status (e.g. active, inactive, revoked, etc.) which reflects the licensee's current
status with the relevant government agency. To request a list of available statuses:
https://licensedirect.com/license_statuses/list.json
.
NOTE: The results are ordered by the frequency with which they occur in the
underlying data and are paginated. To access subsequent pages of results, add a page
parameter, e.g. ?page=2
.
Licenses
LIST
Having obtained the IDs for the requisite jurisdiction, license category, and license status, you can now make requests
for licenses that meet the requirements of your search. To obtain a list of matching licenses, request
licenses/list.json
, specifying at least one of the following parameters:
jurisdiction_id
, license_status_id
, license_category_id
, and/or
name
.
NOTE: The results are ordered according to a relevancy score and are paginated. To access subsequent pages of results, add a page
parameter, e.g. ?page=2
.
name
parameter requires a full word; partial word matching is not
supported.
Examples:
- To search for all license holders in California (
jurisdiction_id
3) with the name "Johnson":https://licensedirect.com/licenses/list.json?jurisdiction_id=5&name=johnson
- To search for all license holders in California with the name "Johnson" whose license has been cancelled (
license_status_id
8):https://licensedirect.com/licenses/list.json?jurisdiction_id=5&name=johnson&license_status_id=8
- To search for all license holders in California with the name "Johnson" whose license has been cancelled who had a license in the Dental Licenses category (
license_category_id
51):https://licensedirect.com/licenses/list.json?jurisdiction_id=5&name=johnson&license_status_id=8&license_category_id=51
DETAIL
The list
method returns only basic information about each license (name, license number, status and category). For more detail, request licenses/detail.json
, specifying the license_id
.
For example, for full details about Bonnie Losty, a CPA in Wolcott, CT, request
https://licensedirect.com/licenses/detail.json?license_id=903
.