TDLR Texas License Search Scraper

Search Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) license records — cosmetology, barbering, electricians, HVAC/A-C technicians, tow truck operators, elevator inspectors, property tax professionals, auctioneers, and 80+ other regulated trades under the TDLR umbrella. Search by license holder or business name, or jump straight to a license number. Get license status, expiration date, trade category, and contact/address info. HTTP-only against TDLR's own official public license dataset — no login, no CAPTCHA, no proxy required.

Data source & limitations

TDLR's interactive search UI (tdlr.texas.gov/LicenseSearch) is currently unreachable from standard internet infrastructure (a persistent connection-level block, not a CAPTCHA or rate limit). This actor instead uses TDLR's own official bulk license dataset, published directly by TDLR on the Texas Open Data Portal (data.texas.gov) as a public, structured API — the same underlying license records the search UI draws from, refreshed on a regular schedule by TDLR. No functionality is lost: name search, license number lookup, and trade-category filtering all work the same way.

What this actor does

• Two modes: search by license holder / business name, or direct license number lookup
• 84 TDLR-defined trade categories as a filterable dropdown (cosmetology, barbering, electricians, HVAC, tow trucks, elevators, property tax, auctioneers, and more)
• Filters: trade category, license status (active/expired), Texas county
• Note: TDLR numbers licenses per trade category — the same license number can appear across multiple categories; use the trade-category filter to disambiguate
• Empty fields are omitted — a field only appears when TDLR actually published that data for the license

Output per license

• licenseNumber — TDLR license number
• licenseType — TDLR trade category (e.g. Cosmetology Operator, Electrical Contractor)
• licenseSubtype — TDLR's internal subtype/tier code, when published
• ownerName — individual or business owner name
• businessName — business/DBA name
• businessAddressLine1, businessAddressLine2, businessCityStateZip, businessCounty, businessPhone
• mailingAddressLine1, mailingAddressLine2, mailingCityStateZip, mailingCounty, ownerPhone
• latitude, longitude — geocoded business location, when published
• expirationDate — ISO date the license expires/expired
• licenseStatus — active or expired, derived by comparing expirationDate to today
• continuingEducationRequired — true/false, when TDLR publishes a continuing-education flag for the license
• sourceUrl — a live, queryable link to the official record on the Texas Open Data Portal
• recordType: "license", scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	byName	byName or byLicenseNumber
nameQuery	string	Smith	License holder or business name (mode=byName); matches either field
licenseNumber	string	11484	TDLR license number (mode=byLicenseNumber)
licenseType	select	–	One of 84 TDLR trade categories
countyFilter	string	–	Texas county name (e.g. Harris), matches business or mailing county
statusFilter	select	–	active or expired
maxItems	int	20	Hard cap on emitted license records (1–5000)

Example: search by name

{
  "mode": "byName",
  "nameQuery": "Smith",
  "maxItems": 20
}

Example: active cosmetology operators in Harris County

{
  "mode": "byName",
  "nameQuery": "Garcia",
  "licenseType": "Cosmetology Operator",
  "countyFilter": "Harris",
  "statusFilter": "active",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: direct license number lookup

{
  "mode": "byLicenseNumber",
  "licenseNumber": "11484",
  "licenseType": "A/C Contractor"
}

Example: browse a trade category

{
  "mode": "byName",
  "nameQuery": "a",
  "licenseType": "Tow Truck Operator (Consent Tow)",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Use cases

• Contractor vetting — confirm an electrician, HVAC tech, or contractor's TDLR license is active before hiring
• Compliance & HR — verify cosmetology/barbering staff licenses across multiple salon locations
• Towing & auto industry — check tow truck operator or auto parts recycler licensing status
• Property tax industry — validate property tax consultant/appraiser credentials
• Lead & vendor validation — confirm a business's TDLR license number resolves to a real, active license
• Market research — enumerate licensed businesses by trade category and county

FAQ

What is the data source? The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation's official license dataset, published on the Texas Open Data Portal (data.texas.gov). This actor is an independent, third-party tool and is not affiliated with or endorsed by TDLR or the State of Texas.

Why not scrape the TDLR search website directly? The interactive search UI was unreachable during testing (a persistent connection-level block affecting all external access, not a CAPTCHA or IP rate limit). The Texas Open Data Portal serves the identical underlying license records as a stable, public API, so no data or functionality is lost.

How fresh is the data? The Texas Open Data Portal dataset is refreshed by TDLR on a regular cadence (typically daily). It is not a live real-time feed of the search UI, but it reflects the same licensing records.

Why do some records lack licenseType? A small number of dataset rows don't have a trade category populated by TDLR itself; those fields are simply omitted rather than shown as blank.

Why can the same license number return multiple records? TDLR assigns license numbers per trade category rather than globally, so a number like 11484 can independently belong to an A/C Technician, an A/C Contractor, a Master Electrician, and a Property Tax Consultant. Use licenseType to narrow to a specific one.

Does this actor need a login, CAPTCHA solve, or proxy? No. The Texas Open Data Portal is fully public. The actor uses Apify's free AUTO proxy group only as a courtesy fallback.

How is licenseStatus determined? It's derived by comparing the license's expirationDate to the current date — active if the expiration date is today or later, expired otherwise. TDLR's dataset does not publish a separate status field.