# Business Entity Lookup: NJ, KY, ND Secretary of State (`ikas/sos-business-entity-lookup`) Actor

Look up registered companies in the official New Jersey, Kentucky and North Dakota state registries by name or entity ID. Returns entity ID, status, standing, type and filing/formation dates. Entity-only: no officers, agents or addresses.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ikas/sos-business-entity-lookup.md
- **Developed by:** [Jacob](https://apify.com/ikas) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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

## Business Entity Lookup: New Jersey, Kentucky, North Dakota (Secretary of State)

Check whether a company is registered in **New Jersey, Kentucky or North Dakota**, and get its official
entity ID, type, status and dates straight from the state registry. Search by business name
(partial names work) or by the state's entity number. Each run hits the live state site, so you get
the current record rather than a stale bulk copy.

**Good for:** KYB / vendor onboarding checks, verifying a customer's legal name and ID, CRM enrichment,
due-diligence spot checks, and spotting dissolved or "not in good standing" counterparties.

### What you get (one row per entity)

| Field | Example | NJ | KY | ND |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `jurisdiction` | `KY` | yes | yes | yes |
| `entityId` | `0027738` | yes (10-digit) | yes | yes |
| `name` | `KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN OF ASHLAND, INC.` (the name that matched) | yes | yes | yes |
| `currentName` | current legal name, or the owner of an assumed name | - | yes\* | - |
| `status` | `Active`, `Inactive - Involuntary` | **no**, see below | yes | yes |
| `standing` | `Good`, `Not Good Standing` | - | yes\* | yes |
| `entityType` | `Domestic Limited Liability Company` | yes | yes | yes |
| `domesticOrForeign` | `domestic` / `foreign` | yes | yes | mostly |
| `filingDate` | `1971-06-28` (ISO) | - | yes\* | yes |
| `formationDate` | `1889-09-20` (ISO) | yes (incorporation date) | yes\* (domestic) | - |
| `query`, `sourceUrl`, `retrievedAt` | provenance for audit trails | yes | yes | yes |

\* Kentucky fields marked \* come from the entity profile page (`includeDetails`, on by default).

**New Jersey limitation (be aware):** NJ's free public registry search does not show status. NJ sells
status as a paid per-entity report, and this actor does not buy it. NJ rows have `status: null`.

### Privacy by design: no personal data

The actor returns **entity-level facts only**. It never outputs registered-agent names, officers,
organizers, incorporators, members, or any street address, even where the state site shows them.
Output is limited to a fixed whitelist of fields, and a daily self-test fails if any other key appears.
If you need officer or agent data, this is not the right tool.

### Input

```json
{
  "queries": ["acme", "0027738"],
  "states": ["NJ", "KY", "ND"],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 25,
  "activeOnly": false,
  "includeDetails": true
}
```

- `queries`: names or entity numbers, one per line. Numbers are routed to ID lookup where the state supports it.
- `maxResultsPerQuery`: hard cap per query per state, which also caps your cost.
- `activeOnly`: applies to KY and ND (NJ does not expose status).
- `minDelaySecs` (default 3, minimum 2): seconds between requests to the same state site.

### Pricing

Pay per result: you pay only for entity rows returned (see the Store listing for the current price).
Searches that return nothing cost only the tiny actor-start fee.

### Speed and politeness

The actor makes one request at a time per state, waits at least 2 to 3 seconds between requests,
and backs off on errors. If a state site refuses access, the actor stops querying that state and
logs it. It never tries to get around a block or a CAPTCHA. Rough speed: NJ and ND about 10 to 20
names per minute; Kentucky with details is about 1 entity row every 3 seconds.

### Reliability

A canary run each day looks up one known entity per state and checks every expected field.
If a state site changes, the maintainer is alerted the same day.

### Notes

- Data comes from public state registries: NJ DORES (njportal.com), KY Secretary of State
  (sosbes.sos.ky.gov), and ND Secretary of State FirstStop (firststop.sos.nd.gov). It is not an
  official certificate of good standing; order those from the state.
- Kentucky and North Dakota results include assumed names / trade names on file, as the state lists them.

### More tools from Ikas

- [Bulk PageSpeed & Lighthouse Audit](https://apify.com/ikas/bulk-pagespeed-lighthouse-audit): Core Web Vitals PASS/FAIL for many URLs or a sitemap, mobile + desktop, with the top fixes as columns.
- [Workday Jobs Scraper & New-Job Monitor](https://apify.com/ikas/workday-jobs-monitor): clean job rows from any Workday career site, with only-new-jobs monitoring.

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

One search per line. Business name (partial OK) or the state's entity / organization number.

## `states` (type: `array`):

Which state registries to search.

## `maxResultsPerQuery` (type: `integer`):

Caps cost. Each returned entity is one billable result.

## `activeOnly` (type: `boolean`):

NJ's free registry does not expose status, so this has no effect on NJ.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Kentucky needs one extra page per entity for dates and standing. Slower; same price.

## `minDelaySecs` (type: `integer`):

Politeness delay. Cannot go below 2.

## `canaryMode` (type: `boolean`):

Runs one known lookup per state and fails the run if any state is broken. Not billed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "papa john",
    "0027738"
  ],
  "states": [
    "NJ",
    "KY",
    "ND"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 5,
  "activeOnly": false,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "minDelaySecs": 3,
  "canaryMode": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Business entity rows (default dataset, overview view).

## `canary` (type: `string`):

Only for canaryMode runs: per-state self-test results.

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "papa john",
        "0027738"
    ],
    "states": [
        "NJ",
        "KY",
        "ND"
    ],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 5,
    "activeOnly": false,
    "includeDetails": true
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ikas/sos-business-entity-lookup").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 = {
    "queries": [
        "papa john",
        "0027738",
    ],
    "states": [
        "NJ",
        "KY",
        "ND",
    ],
    "maxResultsPerQuery": 5,
    "activeOnly": False,
    "includeDetails": True,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ikas/sos-business-entity-lookup").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 '{
  "queries": [
    "papa john",
    "0027738"
  ],
  "states": [
    "NJ",
    "KY",
    "ND"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerQuery": 5,
  "activeOnly": false,
  "includeDetails": true
}' |
apify call ikas/sos-business-entity-lookup --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ikas/sos-business-entity-lookup"
        }
    }
}
```

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/kx2XWSoYf45up6eeX/builds/ndukahI6G6kuLp5AK/openapi.json