# SOS Business Entity Search - CO, NY, OR Open Registries (`maydit/sos-business-entity-search`) Actor

Search US business entities via keyless state open-data feeds (Colorado, New York, Oregon). Hostile SOS portals are recorded in failedSources — never CAPTCHA-scraped.

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

## Pricing

from $12.00 / 1,000 results

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

## SOS Business Entity Search - CO, NY, OR Open Registries

> Multi-state **Secretary of State** business-entity lookup via **keyless open-data feeds**. Hostile interactive SOS portals are **not** scraped — they appear in `failedSources`.

### What it does

Searches official state open datasets and returns one normalized row per entity: state, name, entity/DOS id, status, type, formed date, city, and source URL.

#### Live keyless adapters (this build)

| State | Source |
|---|---|
| **CO** | [data.colorado.gov Business Entities](https://data.colorado.gov/Business/Business-Entities-in-Colorado/4ykn-tg5h) (`4ykn-tg5h`) |
| **NY** | [data.ny.gov Active Corporations](https://data.ny.gov/Government-Finance/Active-Corporations-Beginning-1800/n9v6-gdp6) (`n9v6-gdp6`) |
| **OR** | [data.oregon.gov Active Businesses](https://data.oregon.gov/Business/Active-Businesses-ALL/tckn-sxa6) (`tckn-sxa6`) |

Any other state code (including **WA**) writes an honest `failedSource` diagnostic row. Most SOS websites are CAPTCHA/ToS hostile and are intentionally **not** automated.

### Who it's for

- Compliance / KYC enrichment that needs a legal open feed
- Lead gen / market mapping limited to open-registry states
- Developers who refuse captcha farms and want `failedSources` visibility

### Input

- **State codes** — default `CO`, `NY` (both return live rows for `Acme`)
- **Entity name contains** — default `Acme`
- **Max results** / **Max run seconds** — keep defaults for a fast sample

### Output

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `state` | 2-letter code |
| `entityName` / `entityNumber` | Name + registry id |
| `status` / `entityType` | As published (NY/OR active datasets imply Active) |
| `formedDate` / `city` | When the feed provides them |
| `note` | Failure reason for stub/hostile states |

### Limitations / kill criteria

- Does **not** scrape interactive SOS HTML forms or solve CAPTCHAs.
- Coverage is limited to states with verified open APIs — expand only via Socrata/CKAN/official bulk feeds.
- NY/OR status is implied Active by the published dataset title; CO publishes an explicit `entitystatus`.

# Actor input Schema

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

2-letter state codes. Live keyless open feeds: CO, NY, OR. Other states return honest failedSources stubs (CAPTCHA/ToS portals are not scraped).

## `entityName` (type: `string`):

Business name substring to search. Default demo uses Acme so empty runs still return rows from open feeds.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Upper bound on entity rows (including any failedSource diagnostics).

## `maxRunSeconds` (type: `integer`):

Wall-clock budget. When reached the Actor stops cleanly with rows already collected.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "states": [
    "CO",
    "NY"
  ],
  "entityName": "Acme",
  "maxResults": 20,
  "maxRunSeconds": 180
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per state business-entity search hit (or soft-fail diagnostic).

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Totals and diagnostics for the run.

# 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 = {
    "states": [
        "CO",
        "NY"
    ],
    "entityName": "Acme"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("maydit/sos-business-entity-search").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 = {
    "states": [
        "CO",
        "NY",
    ],
    "entityName": "Acme",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("maydit/sos-business-entity-search").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 '{
  "states": [
    "CO",
    "NY"
  ],
  "entityName": "Acme"
}' |
apify call maydit/sos-business-entity-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/Up31koumReCmZCige/builds/eAOpvBjGf9fWi5UX0/openapi.json