# NYC DOB Permits — Cleaned & Tagged Building Permit Data (`idata_intel/nyc-dob-permits`) Actor

NYC Department of Buildings permit records, cleaned, deduplicated and rule-tagged for AI agents and analysts. Filter by date, work type, borough and estimated cost. Cost and work-description fields are populated (most permit scrapers return them empty).

- **URL**: https://apify.com/idata\_intel/nyc-dob-permits.md
- **Developed by:** [Jannie](https://apify.com/idata_intel) (community)
- **Categories:** Real estate, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 permit records

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## NYC DOB Permits — Cleaned & Tagged Building Permit Data

NYC Department of Buildings permit records, **cleaned, deduplicated and rule-tagged**
for AI agents and analysts. Query live, or pull a tagged historical snapshot.

Most building-permit scrapers hand you a lead: an address and a date. This one gives
you **the analysis fields** — `estimated_cost` and the full `description` are populated,
plus five tag dimensions you can filter on.

***

### What you get

One dataset item per permit:

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `permit_id` | Job filing number (stable identifier) |
| `status` | Normalised: `issued`, `reissued`, `in_progress`, `revoked`, `signed_off` |
| `application_type` | Source work type (e.g. `Sidewalk Shed`, `Solar`, `Plumbing`) |
| `work_type` | **Tag** — canonical work type (`scaffolding`, `solar`, `fire_protection`, …) |
| `building_type` | **Tag** — `residential`, `commercial`, `industrial`, `mixed`, `institutional` |
| `use_type` | **Tag** — `housing`, `retail`, `office`, `education`, `health`, … |
| `value_category` | **Tag** — `low` (<$100k), `mid` ($100k–$1M), `high` (≥$1M) |
| `estimated_cost` | Estimated job cost in USD (integer) |
| `description` | Full work description text |
| `date_lodged` / `date_decided` | Approval / issuance dates (ISO-8601) |
| `borough`, `postcode`, `property_address` | Location |
| `bin`, `bbl`, `latitude`, `longitude`, `nta`, `community_board`, `council_district` | Identifiers and geography |
| `tags` | Flattened list of all tags, for easy filtering |
| `tag_confidence` | Per-tag confidence: `1.0` deterministic, `0.7` keyword-derived |
| `license_note` | Provenance, on every row |

**36 fields** in total.

### Why this one

- **`estimated_cost` populated.** The cheap permit scrapers on this Store return it empty.
- **Tagged, not raw.** Five dimensions pre-computed, so an agent can filter without a second pass.
- **No personal data.** The NYC source carries applicant, owner and filing-representative
  names and licence numbers. **Those columns are dropped at harvest time** — this Actor
  never emits them. Every row carries an attribution + no-raw-resale licence note.
- **Deterministic tags.** Rule-based, versioned (`tag_version: 3.0-rule`), reproducible —
  not an LLM guess.

### Modes

| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| **`live`** (default) | Queries NYC Open Data in real time. Freshest data; filter by date, work type, borough and cost. |
| **`snapshot`** | Serves the bundled clean/tagged historical sample (2,000 rows). No network, instant, deterministic. |

### Input

```json
{
  "mode": "live",
  "city": "nyc",
  "dateFrom": "2026-01-01",
  "dateTo": "",
  "workTypes": ["Solar", "Roofing"],
  "borough": "BROOKLYN",
  "minEstimatedCost": 100000,
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

- `workTypes` must match the source values (e.g. `Solar`, `Plumbing`, `General Construction`,
  `Sidewalk Shed`, `Structural`, `Foundation`).
- `maxItems` is a **hard cost cap** — you are charged per record returned.

### Output example

```json
{
  "permit_id": "B00002006-I1",
  "status": "signed_off",
  "application_type": "Sidewalk Shed",
  "work_type": "scaffolding",
  "value_category": "mid",
  "estimated_cost": 103000,
  "description": "INSTALLATION OF SIDEWALK SHED AS PER PLANS...",
  "borough": "Brooklyn",
  "postcode": "11207",
  "property_address": "270 WORTMAN AVENUE",
  "date_lodged": "2017-11-08",
  "date_decided": "2018-09-13",
  "tags": ["scaffolding", "value_mid"],
  "tag_confidence": {"work_type": 1.0, "value_category": 1.0},
  "license_note": "Public record from NYC DOB (data.cityofnewyork.us)..."
}
```

### Pricing

Pay per event. You are charged per **permit record returned**. Set `maxItems` to cap your
spend before you run.

### Data source and licence

Source: [NYC DOB NOW: Build – Approved Permits](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/rbx6-tga4)
(`rbx6-tga4`), published under the NYC Open Data Law, which **permits commercial reuse**.
Attribution required. Our cleaning, normalisation and tagging are our own work product;
redistribution of raw source rows is not permitted.

No personal data. PII columns are excluded at harvest time.

### Notes and limits

- **v1 covers New York City only.** More cities are on the roadmap.
- `building_type` and `use_type` are keyword-derived from the free-text description, so they
  are populated where the text supports it and `null` otherwise (confidence `0.7`).
  `work_type` and `value_category` are deterministic.
- The `live` mode reads a public Socrata endpoint; very large `maxItems` values will take longer.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

live = query NYC Open Data in real time (freshest, default). snapshot = serve from the bundled clean/tagged historical sample (no network, fast).

## `city` (type: `string`):

City to query. v1 supports New York City only.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Earliest approval date (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave empty for no lower bound.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Latest approval date (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave empty for no upper bound.

## `workTypes` (type: `array`):

Filter to specific work types. Leave empty for all. Values must match the source, e.g. Solar, Plumbing, General Construction, Sidewalk Shed, Structural.

## `borough` (type: `string`):

Filter to one borough. Leave empty for all five.

## `minEstimatedCost` (type: `integer`):

Only return permits with an estimated job cost at or above this value. 0 = no filter.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard cap on results (cost control). Charged per record returned.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "live",
  "city": "nyc",
  "borough": "",
  "minEstimatedCost": 0,
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

Dataset of cleaned, tagged permit records.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("idata_intel/nyc-dob-permits").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("idata_intel/nyc-dob-permits").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 '{}' |
apify call idata_intel/nyc-dob-permits --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,idata_intel/nyc-dob-permits"
        }
    }
}
```

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/OJHiFMpsdlACtmy4W/builds/lmeS635dl73s8KFdJ/openapi.json