🔔 Philadelphia L&I Business Licenses

One record per Philadelphia L&I business licence (licence number, type, status, business + legal name, issue/expiration/inactive dates, address, and the OPA property-owner context) from the City's Carto SQL endpoint. Licence type/status/dates and property context are carried verbatim.

Public, robots-honoured.

Output is one phl_business_license row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one registry record (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.02 per registry record). Source: phl.carto.com.

No login, no API key and no CAPTCHA solving are involved: the source is read logged-out with an identified contact User-Agent.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run SHrFTh8FcFGf0ALSU on build 0.1.4 (2026-09-18), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

license_type	business_name	legal_name	legal_entity_type	initial_issue_date	most_recent_issue_date
Rental	CHARLES C MCHUGH	CHARLES C MCHUGH	Individual	2001-06-09T04:00:00Z	2008-02-05T12:59:57Z
Food Preparing and Serving	SODEXHO MARRIOTT MGMT INC	SODEXHO MARRIOTT MGMT INC	Company	2010-09-23T14:38:00Z	2010-09-23T14:38:00Z
Vacant Residential Property / Lot	JOSEPH & ANTHONY RANDAZZO PTRS	JOSEPH & ANTHONY RANDAZZO PTRS	Company	2004-03-16T05:00:00Z	2004-03-16T05:00:00Z
Vacant Residential Property / Lot	RDF FIELD SERVICES	RDF FIELD SERVICES	Company	2016-03-09T22:21:21Z	2016-03-09T22:21:21Z
Rental	ADDIE K & SHIRLEY F SZE SZE	ADDIE K & SHIRLEY F SZE SZE	Individual	2005-09-14T20:17:00Z	2017-03-23T04:00:00Z
Rental	MATTHEW C BARR	MATTHEW C BARR	Individual	2015-02-10T16:24:33Z	2016-04-19T04:00:00Z
Rental	DANIEL & HELEN STANGO	DANIEL & HELEN STANGO	Individual	2006-10-20T12:38:00Z	2011-02-04T20:22:22Z
Rental	MONTONE FRANCIS	MONTONE FRANCIS	Company	2003-03-17T05:00:00Z	2003-03-17T05:00:00Z

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed). billable=50

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_type (string) — e.g. phl_business_license
• license_number (string/null) — e.g. 246211
• license_type (string/null) — e.g. Rental
• license_status (string/null) — e.g. Inactive
• business_name (string/null) — e.g. CHARLES C MCHUGH
• legal_name (string/null) — e.g. CHARLES C MCHUGH
• legal_entity_type (string/null) — e.g. Individual
• legal_first_name (string/null) — e.g. CHARLES
• legal_last_name (string/null) — e.g. MCHUGH
• initial_issue_date (string/null) — e.g. 2001-06-09T04:00:00Z
• most_recent_issue_date (string/null) — e.g. 2008-02-05T12:59:57Z
• expiration_date (string/null) — e.g. 2009-02-28T05:00:00Z
• inactive_date (string/null) — e.g. 2009-02-18T17:23:00Z
• address (string/null) — e.g. 7800 BURHOLME AVE
• zip (string/null) — e.g. 19111-2210
• council_district (string/null) — e.g. 10
• opa_account_num (string/null) — e.g. 631012101
• opa_owner (string/null) — e.g. MC HUGH CHARLES C, MC HUGH JOAN BRYSON
• owner_occupied (string/null) — e.g. Yes
• rental_category (string/null) — e.g. Residential Dwellings
• unit_type (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source (string/null) — e.g. philadelphia-li-business-licenses
• release_date (string/null) — null in every sample row
• source_url (string/null) — e.g. https://phl.carto.com/api/v2/sql
• observed_at (string/null) — e.g. 2026-09-18T19:39:25Z
• terminal (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• reported_total (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• raw_seen (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• duplicates (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• unique_found (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• delivered (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• scope (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• note (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• license (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row
• attribution (string/integer/null) — null in every sample row

What you get

One registry_record per entity, deduplicated on the source-native id. Fields the source does not publish are honest null. A run_receipt row carries the source URL, scope, reconciliation counts, and delivered/duplicate totals.

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "maxRecords": 50
}

The sample run charged exactly: 2 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 50 × $0.02 registry_record = $1.04 on the Free tier — every delivered row was billed.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "maxRecords": 5
}

Caps the run at 5 rows — about $0.12 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5 × $0.02).

3. A full-size run

{
  "maxRecords": 5000
}

Up to 5000 rows (the schema default for maxRecords) — about $100.02 on the Free tier ($0.02 start + 5000 × $0.02) if the source has that many.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run SHrFTh8FcFGf0ALSU, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_type": "phl_business_license",
  "license_number": "246211",
  "license_type": "Rental",
  "license_status": "Inactive",
  "business_name": "CHARLES C MCHUGH",
  "legal_name": "CHARLES C MCHUGH",
  "legal_entity_type": "Individual",
  "legal_first_name": "CHARLES",
  "legal_last_name": "MCHUGH",
  "initial_issue_date": "2001-06-09T04:00:00Z",
  "most_recent_issue_date": "2008-02-05T12:59:57Z",
  "expiration_date": "2009-02-28T05:00:00Z",
  "inactive_date": "2009-02-18T17:23:00Z",
  "address": "7800 BURHOLME AVE",
  "zip": "19111-2210",
  "council_district": "10",
  "opa_account_num": "631012101",
  "opa_owner": "MC HUGH CHARLES C, MC HUGH JOAN BRYSON",
  "owner_occupied": "Yes",
  "rental_category": "Residential Dwellings",
  "unit_type": null,
  "source": "philadelphia-li-business-licenses",
  "release_date": null,
  "source_url": "https://phl.carto.com/api/v2/sql",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-18T19:39:25Z"
}

🔧 How it works

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. robots.txt is read first and a disallowed path is never fetched. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent. Pacing: CRAWL_DELAY=0.0.

Charging. Each registry record is charged at the moment it is pushed (registry_record); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count.

How it behaves

Rows are paged from phl.carto.com's SQL API (SELECT … ORDER BY cartodb_id LIMIT/OFFSET) and count(*) reconciled. robots.txt disallows /api/ only for named search bots (Googlebot/Slurp/Yandex/msnbot/baiduspider) — there is no wildcard group, so the path is permitted for this actor's UA. Streaming, bounded to maxRecords.

Source

https://phl.carto.com/api/v2/sql

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Registry Record (registry_record)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.01

Worked at the live Free-tier price:

• 8 registry records: $0.02 start + 8 × $0.02 = $0.18
• 25 registry records: $0.02 start + 25 × $0.02 = $0.52
• 5000 registry records: $0.02 start + 5000 × $0.02 = $100.02

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee only. A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 4096 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: 50 unique rows (0 duplicates collapsed). billable=50. maxRecords is a hard ceiling on what is delivered and billed, never a target.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by phl.carto.com. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, keeps to the source's robots rules (checked on every run), identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (phl.carto.com) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input; BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee only.

Q: How many rows can one run return?
A: Up to maxRecords (default 5000). Raise the cap for a bigger run; you pay per delivered row.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other NexGen Watch actors actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers phl.carto.com. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

Q: Are there rate limits?
A: The actor paces itself against the source (CRAWL_DELAY=0.0) and honours its robots rules; there is no per-buyer limit beyond your Apify plan's concurrency.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Status says CAPPED → your cap (maxRecords) was reached → raise it for a bigger run.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.

🔗 Related Actors

• NY OCM Licence Registry — One structured registryrecord per record from the New York Office of Cannabis Management licence dataset (keyless NY Socrata jskf-tt3q, ~2,927 rows).…
• NYC DCWP Business Licence Registry — One structured registryrecord per record from the NYC Open Data DCWP licences resource (Socrata w7w3-xahh, ~69,885 rows). Public, logged-out, robots-…
• Oregon Active Businesses Master — One structured registryrecord per record from the official public source, logged-out. Public, robots-honoured
• Poland KRS Company Registry — One structured registryrecord per record from the keyless api-krs.ms.gov.pl current-extract JSON (OdpisAktualny), logged-out. Public, logged-out, rob…
• Slovakia Public-Sector Partners Register — Slovakia Public-Sector Partners Register
• Spain AEMPS Medicines Registry (CIMA) — One structured registryrecord per record from the official public source, logged-out. Public, robots-honoured, keyless
• 🏢 About NexGenData — NexGen Watch is NexGenData's fleet of 256 public monitoring and lookup actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

⭐ Found this useful?

If this actor saved you a manual check, a quick review on the Apify Store helps other teams find it. Feature request or a source that changed? Open it from the Issues tab — every one is read.