Developers

One API.
Every US local business.

35 million businesses. 31,000 cities. Refreshed nightly. Query from Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or your own code through our MCP server or REST API. Free tier, 100 requests a day, no credit card.

Get API key MCP quickstart REST endpoints
MCP Endpoint
operator.fyi/api/mcp
REST Base
/api/v1
OpenAPI
/api/v1/openapi.json
Free tier
100 req/day
MCP server

Plug into Claude
in 30 seconds.

The Operator MCP server gives Claude, Cursor, Zed, and any other MCP-compatible client native access to 9 tools across the full dataset. Every result includes a data_quality_score (0 to 100) so the model can self-filter.

MCP 2024-11-05 Live since April 2, 2026

Add to your Claude Desktop config

Drop this into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json, restart Claude, and you're done. Same pattern for Cursor or Zed.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "operator": {
      "url": "https://operator.fyi/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-Operator-Key": "op_live_XXXXXXXXXXXX"
      }
    }
  }
}

// Free tier works without a key. 100 req/day limit. Swap in your key for higher limits.

9 MCP tools

find_businesses
Search by category and location. Supports filters for rating, claim status, response rate, AI visibility score.
Args: niche, city, min_rating, min_quality
get_business_details
Full profile including hours, services, reviews, photos, social profiles, AI visibility history.
Args: slug or google_place_id
search_local_businesses
Natural language search across every US city and category. Handles fuzzy queries, synonyms, nearby cities.
Args: query, limit
get_price_estimate
Regional price benchmarks by service type, pulled from 1.8M observed jobs across the US.
Args: niche, service_type, city
check_availability
Real-time check of whether a business is accepting new customers and estimated response time.
Args: slug
book_job
Create a booking inquiry. Operator routes to the business with full context. Lead attribution included.
Args: slug, contact, description
book_appointment
Schedule with a specific business. Returns confirmation with date, time, and operator reference.
Args: slug, datetime, service
list_cities
All 31,000 covered US cities with business counts. Useful for coverage checks and pSEO.
Args: state, min_count
list_service_categories
All 111 trade categories with display names, schema.org @type, business counts per city.
Args: city (optional)
REST API

Prefer HTTP?

Every MCP tool is also available as a REST endpoint under /api/v1/. Same responses, same quality scores, OpenAPI 3.1 spec at /api/v1/openapi.json.

GET /api/v1/businesses Search with filters. Supports niche, city, state, min_rating, claimed, bbox.
GET /api/v1/businesses/{slug} Full business profile with reviews, hours, services, market position.
GET /api/v1/markets/{city} City level rollup. All trades, TAM, top businesses, nightly refresh.
GET /api/v1/markets/{city}/{trade} Full trade leaderboard for a city. Ranked by market share.
GET /api/v1/recommend?query={text} Natural language search. Returns top 3 with reasoning.
GET /api/v1/cities All 31,000 covered US cities with business counts.
GET /api/v1/categories All 111 trade categories with schema.org @type mapping.
POST /api/v1/bookings Create a booking inquiry. Returns a tracking ID and estimated response. 
# Find top 5 HVAC businesses in Honolulu with rating >= 4.5
curl "https://operator.fyi/api/v1/businesses?niche=hvac&city=honolulu&min_rating=4.5&limit=5" \
  -H "X-Operator-Key: op_live_XXXXXXXXXXXX"
AI-friendly data

llms-full.txt
and per-business AI feeds.

Static text summaries of the entire platform for AI search engines, plus a per-business AI feed at a predictable URL. No authentication required. Optimized for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot.

Full platform summary

Everything the AI search engines need to know about Operator in one file. Updated daily.

https://operator.fyi/llms-full.txt

Per-business AI feed

Structured summary for a single business, predictable URL pattern.

/api/llms-txt?niche=hvac
&city=honolulu&slug=shobus-ac
Also see sitemap-index.xml for the full page graph.
API pricing

Free tier is real.

Start building for zero dollars. Rate limit by daily request count, no credit card. Upgrade when you need more.

Free
$0 forever
100 requests per day
  • All 9 MCP tools
  • All REST endpoints
  • llms-full.txt access
  • No credit card required
  • Community support
Developer
$49 / month
10,000 requests per day
  • Everything in Free
  • Higher rate limit
  • Webhook notifications
  • Email support
  • SLA: 99.9%
Enterprise
Custom
Unlimited + SLA
  • Everything in Developer
  • Unlimited requests
  • Dedicated endpoint
  • Custom SLA
  • Direct Slack channel

Start querying
in 30 seconds.

No credit card, no sales call, no signup flow. Copy the MCP config above into Claude, restart, and ask "show me the top 5 plumbers in Austin by rating".

Quickstart