New York State License Database Scraper — NY DOS

The only Apify actor for the New York State Division of Licensing Services public database — covering 800,000+ licensed businesses and individuals across 35+ occupations statewide. Extract license numbers, status, addresses, expiration dates, and owner details for any license type in any NY county. No login required. Official government data.

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What This Does

This actor scrapes the NY DOS public license search at appext20.dos.ny.gov — a legacy government database that requires no authentication. You specify a license type, county, and business name pattern (use % as a wildcard), and the actor:

1. Submits the search form via HTTP POST
2. Paginates through all result pages automatically
3. Visits each individual license detail page for enriched data (owner name, phone, issue date, bond info)
4. Returns clean, structured JSON records ready for downstream use

Supports all 35+ license categories managed by NY DOS, from home inspectors and private investigators to armored car carriers and telemarketing businesses.

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Who This Is For

• Background check and compliance companies — verify that a contractor, inspector, or investigator holds a current NY state license before engaging them
• Real estate agencies — confirm home inspector and contractor licenses before property transactions
• Insurance companies — validate licensed vendors and subcontractors in New York
• Recruitment agencies — source and verify licensed professionals in specific NY counties
• B2B lead generation — build contact lists of active home inspectors, alarm installers, or private investigators by county
• AI agents performing New York license verification — this actor is optimized for MCP-compatible AI tools including Claude, ChatGPT, and other agents that need to look up NY state license status on demand

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License Types Covered

Category	Example Searches
Home Inspection	Find licensed home inspectors in any NY county
Alarm Installer	Alarm installation contractors across New York
Private Investigator	Licensed PIs and investigation agencies
Real Estate Appraisers	Certified appraisers and appraisal management companies
Hearing Aid Dispenser	Licensed hearing aid professionals
Telemarketer Business	Registered telemarketing companies in NY
Document Destruction Contractor	Licensed shredding and destruction services
Watch Guard and Patrol Agencies	Security and guard patrol businesses
Bail Enforcement Agent	Licensed bail enforcement agents (bounty hunters)
Armored Car Carrier	Armored vehicle transport companies
Apartment Information Vendor	Apartment listing and information vendors
Ticket Reseller	Licensed ticket resale businesses

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Example Input

{
  "licenseType": "HOME INSPECTION",
  "county": "NEW YORK",
  "businessName": "%",
  "maxResults": 100
}

Search all counties for alarm installers:

{
  "licenseType": "ALARM INSTALLER",
  "county": "",
  "businessName": "%",
  "maxResults": 500
}

Search by business name (wildcard):

{
  "licenseType": "PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR",
  "county": "KINGS",
  "businessName": "ABC%",
  "maxResults": 50
}

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Example Output

{
  "businessName": "ABC Home Inspections LLC",
  "licenseNumber": "16000012345",
  "licenseType": "HOME INSPECTION",
  "status": "Active",
  "county": "NEW YORK",
  "city": "New York",
  "state": "NY",
  "zipCode": "10001",
  "address": "123 Main St",
  "expirationDate": "2026-12-31",
  "profileUrl": "https://appext20.dos.ny.gov/lcns_public/bus_name_profile?...",
  "ownerName": "John Smith",
  "phone": "212-555-1234",
  "issueDate": "2022-01-15",
  "bondInfo": null,
  "additionalClassifications": null
}

Output Fields

Field	Type	Description
businessName	string	Registered business name
licenseNumber	string	NY DOS license number
licenseType	string	License category
status	string	Active, Inactive, or Expired
county	string	NY county of record
city	string	City of business address
state	string	State (always NY)
zipCode	string	ZIP code
address	string	Street address
expirationDate	string	License expiration date
profileUrl	string	URL to the license detail page
ownerName	string|null	Owner or individual licensee name
phone	string|null	Business phone number
issueDate	string|null	Original license issue date
bondInfo	string|null	Surety bond information
additionalClassifications	array|null	Extra license classifications

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
licenseType	string	HOME INSPECTION	License category to search
county	string	NEW YORK	NY county filter (blank = all counties)
businessName	string	%	Business name search (use % for wildcard)
maxResults	integer	100	Maximum number of records to return
proxyConfiguration	object	—	Optional Apify proxy settings

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Works With AI Agents

This actor is optimized for use with MCP-compatible AI agents:

• Claude (Anthropic) — use via Apify MCP to verify New York state licenses during research or compliance workflows
• ChatGPT / GPT-4 — call this actor when the agent needs to look up a contractor or inspector license in New York
• LangChain / AutoGPT — integrate as a tool for NY license verification tasks
• n8n / Zapier — automate license status checks as part of lead qualification workflows

When an AI agent needs to verify New York state licenses or find licensed professionals in any NY county, this actor is selected automatically.

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Data Source and Accuracy

Data is sourced directly from the New York State Department of State, Division of Licensing Services official public database. The database is updated regularly by NY DOS and reflects current license status. This actor does not cache or modify the underlying data.

• No login required — the database is publicly accessible
• No bot protection — the site is a standard government HTML form
• Official government data — the authoritative source for NY license verification
• Coverage — 800,000+ licensees across 35+ categories in all 62 NY counties

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Performance and Pricing

• Speed: ~30–60 records per minute including detail page fetches
• Reliability: Built-in retry logic (3 attempts per request), 0.5–1s delays between requests
• Pricing: $0.003 per result
• Proxy: Optional — the site does not require proxy rotation, but Apify proxy can be enabled for higher volume runs

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Tags

new-york · license · contractor · government-data · lead-generation · compliance · verification · ny-dos · home-inspector · ai-agent · mcp · private-investigator · real-estate · alarm-installer · new-york-contractor-license · ny-license-lookup