# TLS Certificate Lookup — Certificate Transparency API (`accountable_eel/tls-certificate-lookup`) Actor

Look up any domain's TLS certificate history from public Certificate Transparency logs — issuer, validity window, and full SAN list for every certificate ever logged. No API key. Pay only for domains with certificates found.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/accountable\_eel/tls-certificate-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Adrian Voss](https://apify.com/accountable_eel) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 successful lookups

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## TLS Certificate Lookup

Look up any domain's TLS certificate history straight from public
[Certificate Transparency logs](https://certificate.transparency.dev/) via the
[certspotter](https://sslmate.com/certspotter/) API (`api.certspotter.com`) — issuer,
validity window, and the full SAN (subject alternative name) list for every certificate
ever logged for that domain. No API key, no scraping, no browser — this hits the public
CT log search API directly.

### Features

- **Domain → certificate history.** Every logged certificate for a domain, most recent
  first, with issuer, `notBefore`/`notAfter` validity dates, and revocation status.
- **Full SAN visibility.** Each certificate's subject alternative names (up to 25 per
  cert) — useful for discovering subdomains that were bundled into a single cert.
- **Handles long-lived domains.** Results are capped at the 50 most recent certificates
  per domain, with `certificatesFound` (total logged) and `truncated` flags so you know
  when more history exists.
- **Pay only for hits.** Domains with no logged certificates cost nothing — see
  [Pricing](#pricing).
- **Built for bulk.** Feed in thousands of domains; concurrency is configurable.

### How to use TLS Certificate Lookup — Certificate Transparency API

1. **In the Apify Console.** Open the actor page and click **Start** — the `items` field is already pre-filled with a working example. Results land in the run's dataset as soon as each item is found.
2. **Via the API.** Call it directly with a POST request — no Console needed once you have an API token:
   ```bash
   curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~tls-certificate-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
     -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"items":["stripe.com"]}'
   ```
3. **On a schedule.** Save this actor as an Apify **Task** with the input you want, then add a **Schedule** (hourly, daily, weekly) so it runs on its own — no server of your own required.

### Input

```json
{
  "items": ["example.com", "https://www.example.com/", "sub.example.org"],
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}
```

`items` is a list of domains or URLs to look up. Each entry is normalized before the
lookup: the scheme (`http://`/`https://`), any path, and a leading `www.` are stripped,
so `https://www.example.com/path` and `example.com` resolve the same way. `maxConcurrency`
caps parallel requests (default 5, max 20) — this target has no browser fallback, so
keeping it conservative avoids getting rate-limited. An optional `proxyConfiguration`
lets you route through Apify Proxy (residential recommended for anti-bot-sensitive
targets), though certspotter's public API is generally lenient.

### Output

One row per input domain, for example:

```json
{
  "query": "example.com",
  "found": true,
  "data": {
    "domain": "example.com",
    "certificatesFound": 187,
    "returned": 50,
    "truncated": true,
    "certificates": [
      {
        "id": "1234567890",
        "issuer": "R11",
        "notBefore": "2026-06-01T00:00:00Z",
        "notAfter": "2026-08-30T23:59:59Z",
        "sanCount": 3,
        "sans": ["example.com", "www.example.com", "mail.example.com"],
        "revoked": false
      }
    ]
  },
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-21T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

Domains with zero logged certificates come back as `{ "query": ..., "found": false,
"scrapedAt": ... }` with no `data` field — these rows are never charged.

### Use cases

- **Attack surface discovery.** Pull SANs across a domain's certificate history to
  surface subdomains that were bundled into shared certs.
- **Certificate expiry monitoring.** Check `notAfter` on the most recent cert for a
  fleet of domains before they lapse.
- **Vendor/M\&A due diligence.** See how long a domain has been issuing certificates and
  which CAs it uses, without touching the target server directly.
- **Security research.** Investigate certificate issuance patterns (issuer changes,
  short-lived certs, revocations) for a set of domains.

### Pricing

$5 per 1,000 results, plus a $0.005 start fee. Misses (`found:false`) are never charged.

### Use it from Clay, n8n, Make, or an AI agent

This actor runs synchronously over plain HTTP — call it directly from a script, a workflow tool, or an AI agent, no Apify Console needed once you have an API token.

```bash
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~tls-certificate-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"items":["stripe.com"]}'
```

**n8n.** Add an HTTP Request node: Method `POST`, URL `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~tls-certificate-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>`, Body Content Type `JSON`, JSON Body `{"items":["stripe.com"]}` (swap in an expression from an earlier node for a real value).

**Clay.** Add an "HTTP API" column: Method `POST`, URL `https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/accountable_eel~tls-certificate-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>`, Body `{"items":["{{value}}"]}`, mapping the row's value into the `items` array.

**MCP.** In Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client with the Apify MCP server, ask for "TLS Certificate Lookup | Apify" — the agent will find and run this actor.

### FAQ

**Does this need an API key?** No. It calls certspotter's public Certificate
Transparency log search API, which requires no authentication for this use.

**What counts as "found"?** Any domain with at least one certificate logged in public CT
logs. A domain with zero logged certificates (e.g. one that has never used a
CA-issued/CT-logged cert) returns `found: false` and is not charged.

**Can I pass a full URL instead of a bare domain?** Yes — `https://www.example.com/some/path`
is normalized down to `example.com` before the lookup (scheme, path, and `www.` prefix
are stripped).

**What if a domain has thousands of historical certificates?** Output is capped at the 50
most recent (sorted by `notBefore`, newest first). Check `certificatesFound` vs.
`returned`/`truncated` to see if history was cut off.

**Does it use a proxy?** Apify Proxy is enabled by default via `proxyConfiguration`, and
you can switch to residential proxy for extra reliability, though certspotter's public
API is generally tolerant of direct datacenter requests.

**Why is `maxConcurrency` capped at 20?** This target is a plain HTTP API lookup with no
browser fallback — getting rate-limited or blocked costs more in retries than a
conservative concurrency setting does in time.

# Actor input Schema

## `items` (type: `array`):

One item per line — see the item shape and examples below. Only the items we actually find are charged — never per run, and never for a miss.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel requests. Keep conservative — this target has no browser fallback, so getting blocked costs more than slow-and-steady.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Apify Proxy config. Residential recommended for anti-bot-sensitive targets.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "items": [
    "stripe.com"
  ],
  "maxConcurrency": 5,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "items": [
        "stripe.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("accountable_eel/tls-certificate-lookup").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "items": ["stripe.com"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("accountable_eel/tls-certificate-lookup").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "items": [
    "stripe.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call accountable_eel/tls-certificate-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,accountable_eel/tls-certificate-lookup"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/JMH1JyZ4pcFkMnM6w/builds/wB2xyDDjPQFl2fOwf/openapi.json