California Contractor License Search

Search public California contractor-license results by contractor name and export license numbers, status, city, and name type. The Actor returns a structured default dataset suitable for CSV, JSON, spreadsheets, automations, and AI-agent workflows.

What data can I extract?

• contractor_name - Contractor or business name shown in the CSLB result.
• name_type - CSLB classification for the displayed name when present.
• license_number - California CSLB contractor-license number.
• city - California city displayed for the license record.
• status - Current license status displayed by CSLB.

Data source: California Contractors State License Board public search pages.

All 21 columns

Identity — bond_number, contractor_name, license_number, name_type

Status — additional_status, classifications, license_status_detail, status, workers_comp_status

Dates — expire_date, issue_date, reissue_date

Location — business_address, city

Money — bond_amount, bond_surety, bonding_information

Contact — business_phone

Other detail — business_entity, miscellaneous_information, workers_comp_policy

Input example

Use a bounded input to control output volume and cost:

{
  "search_terms": [
    "SMITH"
  ],
  "max_items": 10
}

max_items is a hard ceiling on records returned and billed. The default returns at most 10 records so the Store test and first trial remain inexpensive.

Output example

Each dataset item is one normalized record. Example values are illustrative:

{
  "contractor_name": "SMITH CONSTRUCTION",
  "name_type": "Business Name",
  "license_number": "123456",
  "city": "Sacramento",
  "status": "Active"
}

Download the default dataset as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS, or retrieve it through the Apify API.

Pricing and cost control

This Actor uses Pay Per Event. The built-in apify-actor-start event is charged once at run start and apify-default-dataset-item is charged once for each dataset item. The live Store pricing panel is authoritative. Set max_items to establish a predictable output-charge ceiling; there is no duplicate explicit item charge in the runtime.

Use with AI agents and MCP

Apify's MCP server can discover this Actor, inspect its strict input and output schemas, call it with call-actor, and retrieve structured results with get-actor-output.

Verify California contractors named Smith

{
  "search_terms": [
    "SMITH"
  ],
  "max_items": 50
}

Common use cases

• Company verification and registry research
• Due-diligence and compliance workflows
• Business-directory enrichment
• Spreadsheet and CRM preparation
• Scheduled public-record monitoring

Limitations and responsible use

• Public registry data only; this is not an official certificate or legal opinion.
• Source sites can omit fields, change markup, throttle traffic, or be temporarily unavailable.
• Name searches can produce unrelated matches; verify critical records with the originating agency.
• Output coverage is limited to fields displayed by the public result pages.
• The Actor does not bypass authentication, CAPTCHAs, or access controls.

FAQ

Is the output structured?

Yes. Names, identifiers, status, location, and other supported values are separate dataset columns rather than concatenated table-cell blobs.

Can I cap cost?

Yes. max_items is the hard maximum number of result events and dataset records for a run.

Can an AI agent call it?

Yes. The input schema acts as a strict tool contract, and the dataset and Actor output schemas describe every returned field.

Is this an official government service?

No. It is an independent extraction tool that reads publicly available registry pages. Confirm consequential decisions at the original source.

Reliability

The Actor is protected by production canaries, typed output contracts, bounded defaults, and fleet monitoring. If a source-page change causes incomplete output, open an Actor issue with the run ID and a redacted input example.