US Accela Building Permit Grid

What does Accela Building Permits Scraper do?

Scrape public Accela Citizen Access building permit search grids across US city tenants — property address, permit type, status, record numbers, and dates. Click Start on the prefilled Salt Lake City (SLCREF) run (maxItems 5). Output keys align with paxiq/us-building-permit-scraper for easy migration. Export JSON or CSV via Apify API, schedule, or MCP.

Unofficial. This Actor is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or maintained by Accela or the municipal agencies that publish Citizen Access portals. It reads public permit search grids only — no login, no paywall bypass. Applicant/owner names are never stored.

Dashboards: connect Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio, or Qlik to the dataset API — see Export to Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio & Qlik near the end. AI agents: paste this Actor’s Store page URL into an Apify-capable agent (MCP / Claude / Cursor with Apify), create an Apify account and API token once, and the agent can run the Actor and wire up the output.

Why use this Accela scraper?

• 🏗️ Multi-tenant Accela CapHome search (tenants codes)
• 📍 Property address + permit facts
• 🔑 paxiq-compatible output keys
• 🛡️ Reliable public grid access

How to scrape Accela building permits

1. Open this Actor in Apify Console.
2. Set tenants (Accela tenant codes, e.g. SLCREF, COSP, OAKLAND).
3. Set daysBack and maxItems.
4. Start the run; export the dataset.

{
  "tenants": ["SLCREF"],
  "daysBack": 90,
  "maxItems": 5,
  "proxyType": "apify"
}

How much does it cost?

Pay per event (PPE): Actor start + each permit result row. On Free, results are about $2.15 / 1,000; paid plans are lower (see the Pricing tab).

Input

Field	Description
tenants	Accela tenant path codes (required)
daysBack	How many days back to search
startDate / endDate	Optional explicit date range
maxItems	Cap on permit rows
proxyType	Optional proxy

Sample output

{
  "recordId": "BLD2026-001234",
  "address": "123 MAIN ST, SALT LAKE CITY UT 84101",
  "permitType": "Building Permit",
  "status": "Issued",
  "fileDate": "2026-08-20",
  "source_platform": "accela",
  "tenant": "SLCREF",
  "owner": null
}

FAQ

Do you emit applicant or owner names?

No — personal names are never stored. Property address and permit metadata only.

Can I migrate from paxiq/us-building-permit-scraper?

Yes — tenant codes and core output keys are aligned for a drop-in Actor ID swap.

Can AI agents call this?

Yes — Actor ID bakos_bence/accela-permits via Apify API or MCP.

Do I need an Accela account?

No — this reads public Citizen Access search grids. It is unofficial and not affiliated with Accela.

Something broken?

Open the Issues tab on this Actor’s page in Apify Console.

Related Actors

Actor	Use together when…
Accela Building Permits Scraper	(this Actor) — multi-city Accela permit grids

Profile: bakos_bence on Apify.

For AI agents & LLM apps

Paste this Actor’s Apify Store URL into an agent that can use Apify (MCP, Claude, Cursor, etc.). With an Apify account and API token, the agent can set input, run the Actor, and fetch the dataset.

Actor ID: bakos_bence/accela-permits

Minimal input:

{ "tenants": ["SLCREF"], "daysBack": 14, "maxItems": 50 }

Export to Power BI, Tableau, Looker Studio & Qlik

After a run, rows live in an Apify dataset. You can download JSON/CSV/Excel from the Dataset tab, or point BI tools at a CSV URL that refreshes when you scrape again.

Prefer the token in the URL (token=) — most tools only need “open this link as CSV”, with no custom headers.

Build a refreshable CSV URL

1. In Apify Console, open Settings → Integrations and copy an API token.
2. Save this Actor as a Task (optional but best for dashboards), run or schedule it once so there is a successful run.
3. Use the latest successful task run URL (replace TASK_ID and YOUR_TOKEN):

https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-tasks/TASK_ID/runs/last/dataset/items?format=csv&clean=true&status=SUCCEEDED&token=YOUR_TOKEN

Or, from any finished run, open the Dataset tab, copy the dataset ID, and use:

https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?format=csv&clean=true&token=YOUR_TOKEN

Anyone with that URL can read the data — treat it like a password. For recurring dashboards, prefer the actor-tasks/…/runs/last/… form so refresh always hits the newest successful scrape.

Power BI

1. Open Power BI Desktop → Home → Get data → Web.
2. Paste the CSV URL (including token=).
3. When asked how to sign in, choose Anonymous → Connect.
4. Confirm the preview is a table (CSV). Load or Transform data as needed.
5. Publish / schedule refresh in the Power BI service using the same URL (task runs/last keeps it current after each scrape).

401: token missing/wrong, or you did not pick Anonymous.

Tableau

1. Install Tableau’s REST API connector from Tableau Exchange (Desktop 2023.3+).
2. Connect → To a Server → REST API.
3. Paste the CSV URL (including token=). Set response format to CSV.
4. If the connector asks for auth and the token is already in the URL, leave credentials empty / anonymous; otherwise paste the same token as a Bearer access token.
5. Create an extract. Refresh the extract after scheduled Task runs (or point at runs/last so each refresh loads the latest success).

Plain Text file connect still works if you download CSV from the Dataset tab once — use REST when you want repeatable refresh.

Looker Studio

Looker Studio has no strong built-in “private CSV API” connector. Use Google Sheets as the bridge:

1. Create a Google Sheet. In A1 enter:

=IMPORTDATA("https://api.apify.com/v2/actor-tasks/TASK_ID/runs/last/dataset/items?format=csv&clean=true&status=SUCCEEDED&token=YOUR_TOKEN")

2. Wait until columns fill (Sheets refreshes IMPORTDATA periodically).
3. In Looker Studio → Create → Report → Google Sheets → select that spreadsheet / tab.
4. Build the report. After each Actor/Task run, refresh the Sheet (or wait for IMPORTDATA) then refresh the Looker data source.

One-off alternative: Dataset tab → download CSV → Looker Studio File upload.

Qlik

REST connector (refreshable):

1. In Qlik Cloud / Qlik Sense → Add data → REST (or create a REST connection in the Data load editor).
2. URL = the CSV URL including token=. Method GET.
3. Set the expected response type to CSV (or use format=json and JSON mode).
4. Test connection, pick the table, Add / Load.
5. Reload the app after scheduled scrapes; with runs/last, each reload pulls the latest successful dataset.

Files: Dataset tab → download CSV → Add data → upload the file (fine for a single snapshot).

SEO keywords

accela scraper, building permits api, us permit data, accela citizen access, construction permits scraper, property development data, apify accela