I'm building a research tool and need public records via API

Sure — I can help you figure out the best public-records APIs for your research tool.

A good approach depends on what kind of records you need, because “public records” can mean many different things:

Common public-records categories

• Court records / dockets
• Business registrations / corporate filings
• Property / land records
• Voter / election data
• Professional licenses
• Permits / inspections
• Police / incident reports (availability varies a lot)
• Campaign finance / lobbying
• Open government data / FOIA portals
• Vital records (often not broadly public, or restricted)

Useful API options by type

1) Government open data portals

Many cities, counties, states, and federal agencies publish APIs via:

• Socrata Open Data API (SODA)
• CKAN API
• ArcGIS Open Data
• Open Data portals built on custom APIs

These are often the best starting point if you’re aggregating local public data.

2) Federal U.S. sources

• data.gov – metadata and links to datasets; many are API-backed
• USASpending.gov API – federal spending/awards
• SEC EDGAR API / submissions – corporate filings
• USPTO APIs – patents/trademarks
• FCC APIs – telecom/ownership/licensing datasets
• FEC API – campaign finance
• BLS / Census APIs – demographics/economic data

3) State/local records

Availability varies widely by jurisdiction. Common patterns:

• searchable web portal with no API
• open data portal with API
• paid data export or records request
• third-party aggregators

4) Court data

Court access is fragmented. Possible sources:

• PACER for U.S. federal courts (paid, restricted)
• Some state courts have APIs or downloadable dockets
• Third-party providers may normalize court data

5) Property and parcel data

Often available through:

• county assessor/open GIS portals
• ArcGIS services
• local open data APIs
• commercial aggregators

What to watch for

• Terms of use / rate limits
• PII/privacy restrictions
• Data freshness
• Jurisdiction-specific rules
• Authentication requirements
• Bulk download vs paginated API

I can help you more if you answer these 4 questions:

1. What record types do you need?
2. Which geography — U.S. federal, specific states, counties, cities, or international?
3. Do you need real-time lookup or bulk historical data?
4. Are you looking for free public APIs only, or are commercial sources okay too?

If you want, I can also give you:

• a curated list of public-record APIs
• a data model/schema for a records aggregator
• or sample code to ingest from common government APIs.