Secretary of State search API
One request returns a business's Secretary of State record from 48 states and DC, with its UCC filings and court cases in the same JSON response. Build it into your intake flow, then add monitoring and webhooks.
- Secretary of State records in 48 states and DC
- UCC filings and court cases in the same response
- Webhooks and test lookups
Sample data. Business and party names are made up.
What the response includes
- Business record
- Legal name, state ID, status, entity type, formation date, registered agent, addresses, officers and filing history.
- UCC filings
- How many filings were read and how many are active, with each filing's secured parties and dates.
- Court cases
- Cases found in Miami-Dade County, Broward County and New York State courts, with plaintiffs and status.
- Coverage
- For every source, whether it was searched, not covered or unavailable, so an empty result is never ambiguous.
Example request and response
POST /v1/lookups { "businessName": "Harbor Point Seafood LLC", "state": "FL" }
{
"status": "completed",
"business": {
"legalName": "HARBOR POINT SEAFOOD LLC",
"sosId": "L17000052841",
"status": "ACTIVE",
"formationDate": "2017-03-06",
"registeredAgent": "DANIEL REYES",
"screenshotUrl": "https://api.entitylight.com/v1/lookups/7c1e…/screenshot"
},
"coverage": {
"browardCourts": { "status": "failed", "reason": "unavailable" }
}
}Built for production use
- Authentication
- Bearer API keys, one for each of your systems, created in the app.
- Test lookups
- Test lookups return sample results, so you can build before you switch to live.
- Webhooks
- Know when a lookup completes or a monitored business changes.
- Monitoring
- Watch a business through the API and receive its changes by webhook.
- Related searches
- Search UCC filings by debtor name, find businesses by officer, registered agent or address, and screen a name against OFAC and other lists.
- Usage
- Read your plan's lookup usage at any time.
Secretary of State coverage
Secretary of State records are covered in 48 states and DC. Indiana and Nebraska are not covered. For any source that does not cover a state, the response marks it not covered instead of returning an empty result.
The data sources page lists every source. To see the same record in the app, read how business verification works.
Questions about the Secretary of State search API
Which states does the API cover?
Secretary of State records in 48 states and DC, every state except Indiana and Nebraska.
How is the API authenticated?
Send an API key as a bearer token. You can create a key for each of your systems in the app.
What happens when a source is unavailable?
The report marks that source as unavailable instead of showing an empty result, so a missing record is never mistaken for a clean one. Lookups where no source could be searched aren't charged.
Is the API included in every plan?
Yes. Every plan includes the API, and lookups made through it count against your plan the same way as lookups in the app.
Run your first business check free
See the registration, liens and lawsuits behind the next business you review, before you decide.
- 20 free lookups to start
- Search in the browser today, add the API when you're ready
- Monitoring and alerts on the businesses you lend to