# Ohio Secretary of State Business Search Scraper (`jungle_synthesizer/ohio-sos-business-search-scraper`) Actor

Search the Ohio Secretary of State business register by company name, registered agent or entity number. Returns entity number, status, type, filing date, location and, on request, registered agent, prior names and filing history.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer/ohio-sos-business-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [BowTiedRaccoon](https://apify.com/jungle_synthesizer) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.60 / 1,000 record scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## Ohio Secretary of State Business Search Scraper

Look up Ohio companies in the Secretary of State business register. Search by business name, by registered agent, or by entity number, and get back structured records: entity number, status, entity type, filing date, location and, on request, the registered agent with address, prior names and the full filing history.

### What it does

Give the actor one or more search terms. Each term runs as its own search against the Ohio business register and every matching entity comes back as one record. You can narrow results to Active, Cancelled, Dead or Fraudulent entities, and switch on a detail pass that adds the registered agent, former names and filing history to each record.

Ohio's register covers corporations, LLCs, partnerships, nonprofits, foreign entities registered in Ohio and registered trade names. Name and agent searches match from the start of the name, so a longer term gives a smaller, more specific result.

Each record includes:

- **Entity number** (charter number) and **business name**
- **Status** (Active, Cancelled, Dead, Permanently Cancelled, and others the register uses)
- **Entity type** and the **filing type** code of the listed filing
- **Filing date** and **expiry date** (ISO dates; expiry only where the entity type has one)
- **City, county and state** of the entity
- **Registered agent** name, plus agent address and status with the detail pass
- **Prior names** and **filing history** (code, description, date, document id) with the detail pass
- A **link** to the entity on the Ohio Secretary of State site

### Use cases

- **Company verification and KYC**: confirm an Ohio entity exists, its type and whether it is in good standing
- **Lead generation**: build lists of newly active Ohio businesses by name pattern
- **Registered agent research**: list every entity an agent or registrant is attached to
- **Due diligence**: pull prior names and filing history for an entity number
- **Data enrichment**: attach Ohio entity numbers and statuses to a list of company names

### Input

| Field            | Type    | Required | Description |
|------------------|---------|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `searchMode`     | string  | No       | `businessName` (default), `agent` (registered agent or registrant) or `charterNumber` (entity number) |
| `queries`        | array   | Yes      | Search terms, one search each |
| `statuses`       | array   | No       | Only these statuses: Active, Cancelled, Dead, Fraudulent. Empty returns every status |
| `includeDetails` | boolean | No       | Add registered agent, prior names and filing history to each record (slower) |
| `maxItems`       | integer | Yes      | Maximum records across all search terms (default 10) |

Very short terms (one or two letters) match hundreds of thousands of entities and are skipped; use a longer term. The same entity found by two terms is returned once.

### Output

| Field                   | Type   | Description                                                              |
|-------------------------|--------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `charterNumber`         | string | Ohio entity (charter) number                                             |
| `businessName`          | string | Registered business name                                                 |
| `status`                | string | Entity status                                                            |
| `businessType`          | string | Entity type, for example CORPORATION FOR PROFIT or REGISTERED TRADE NAME |
| `filingType`            | string | Transaction code of the listed filing (ARF, RNO, ...)                    |
| `filingTypeDescription` | string | Plain-language name of the first filing (detail pass)                    |
| `filingDate`            | string | Date of the listed filing, `yyyy-mm-dd`                                  |
| `expiryDate`            | string | Expiry date where one exists, `yyyy-mm-dd`, otherwise null               |
| `location`              | string | City of the entity's Ohio address                                        |
| `county`                | string | Ohio county                                                              |
| `state`                 | string | State of the entity's address                                            |
| `agentName`             | string | Registered agent or registrant (agent searches and the detail pass)      |
| `agentAddress`          | string | Registered agent address (detail pass)                                   |
| `agentStatus`           | string | Status of the agent appointment                                          |
| `priorNames`            | array  | Former names with the date each was replaced (detail pass)               |
| `filings`               | array  | Filing history: code, description, date, document id (detail pass)       |
| `searchMode`            | string | Which kind of search found the record                                    |
| `searchQuery`           | string | The search term that found the record                                    |
| `sourceUrl`             | string | Link to the entity on the Ohio Secretary of State business search site   |

### Notes

- **Public register data.** The records are the Ohio Secretary of State's public business filings.
- **Foreign entities and trade names** have no Ohio city or county; those fields are null and `state` shows where the entity is based.
- **Entity number lookups** return the exact entity, including historical ones such as long-cancelled corporations.
- **Detail pass.** `includeDetails` makes one extra lookup per record, so large runs take longer. Leave it off when the listing fields are enough.
- **Pacing.** The actor spaces its lookups out, so runs with many terms or the detail pass take proportionally longer.

# Actor input Schema

## `sp_intended_usage` (type: `string`):

What will this data feed? E.g. lead lists, KYB checks, price tracking.

## `sp_improvement_suggestions` (type: `string`):

Provide any feedback or suggestions for improvements.

## `sp_contact` (type: `string`):

We'll personally help with your use case. No spam.

## `searchMode` (type: `string`):

What the search terms are. "Business name" matches the start of a company or trade name (partial names work), "Registered agent" lists every entity an agent or registrant is attached to, and "Entity number" looks entities up by their Ohio charter number.

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

One or more search terms, each run as its own search. Business names and agent names match from the start of the name, so a longer term returns fewer, more specific records; a very short term (one or two letters) matches hundreds of thousands of records and is skipped.

## `statuses` (type: `array`):

Only return entities with one of these statuses. Leave empty for every status.

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

Fetch each entity's own record for its current registered agent (name and address), prior names and filing history. Adds one request per record, so runs are slower.

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

Maximum number of records to return across all search terms.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
  "searchMode": "businessName",
  "queries": [
    "acme"
  ],
  "statuses": [
    "Active"
  ],
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxItems": 10
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
    "searchMode": "businessName",
    "queries": [
        "acme"
    ],
    "statuses": [
        "Active"
    ],
    "maxItems": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/ohio-sos-business-search-scraper").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 = {
    "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
    "searchMode": "businessName",
    "queries": ["acme"],
    "statuses": ["Active"],
    "maxItems": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jungle_synthesizer/ohio-sos-business-search-scraper").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 '{
  "sp_contact": "Share your email here...",
  "searchMode": "businessName",
  "queries": [
    "acme"
  ],
  "statuses": [
    "Active"
  ],
  "maxItems": 10
}' |
apify call jungle_synthesizer/ohio-sos-business-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,jungle_synthesizer/ohio-sos-business-search-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

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/2j7UuC49Ycn3phAOC/builds/fSVeRofjg3PvEn8tB/openapi.json