# Minnesota Franchise Registrations Scraper (`muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-scraper`) Actor

Search Minnesota Commerce CARDS for public franchise-registration records with franchisor names, status, filing dates, renewal dates, detail URLs, and public document links. Authenticated ComOnline filings are outside scope.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Muhammad Afzal](https://apify.com/muhammadafzal) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 minnesota franchise registrations

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Minnesota Franchise Registrations Scraper

Searches the Minnesota Department of Commerce **CARDS** public portal for franchise-registration records. The actor returns normalized records with the franchisor name, status, submission type, registration/effective date, renewal due date, detail URL, and public document URLs when those fields are exposed by the portal.

### Input

- `searchTerm` — optional franchisor name or keyword. Leave blank to browse the public franchise-registration result set.
- `maxResults` — 1–250 records, default `25`.
- `includeDocuments` — visits detail pages to collect public PDF/document URLs, default `true`.
- `requestDelayMs` — delay between portal requests, default `1200` ms.

### Source and limitations

Source: [Minnesota Commerce CARDS](https://www.cards.commerce.state.mn.us/CARDS/). Minnesota describes CARDS as a public search containing franchise-registration information and documents from the last 10 years. This actor only uses public pages and does not log in to ComOnline or retrieve private filings. Portal markup and access controls can change; an access problem is reported as a warning/error rather than fabricated records.

### Pricing

Pay per event: `$0.01` per schema-valid registration record returned. Empty, blocked, or no-match runs do not charge result events. Normal Apify platform usage may apply separately.

### Local development

```bash
npm install
npm test
```

# Actor input Schema

## `searchTerm` (type: `string`):

Optional name or keyword to search in CARDS.

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

Maximum number of registration records to return.

## `includeDocuments` (type: `boolean`):

Visit detail pages and include publicly linked filing documents when available.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Delay used to reduce load on the state portal.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchTerm": "",
  "maxResults": 25,
  "includeDocuments": true,
  "requestDelayMs": 1200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Counts, search term, source URL, warnings, and scrape timestamp for this run.

## `registrations` (type: `string`):

Normalized public Minnesota franchise-registration 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("muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-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 '{}' |
apify call muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,muhammadafzal/minnesota-franchise-registrations-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/wjwka4ktQNH0mPd0P/builds/QT0WlIQBhxtEbL4KQ/openapi.json