When an assistant looks up a business, a confident answer is not enough. A useful answer identifies the correct business and shows the evidence supporting each credential claim. VerifiedNode's public lookup tools are designed around that sequence: search, inspect, cite.
The interfaces require no API key for public reads. They do not provide access to private uploads or customer accounts, and they do not perform purchases or claim profiles.
Search for a candidate
Connect a compatible remote MCP client to https://www.verifiednode.com/mcp and call search_businesses with a business name, phone number or licence number. Add state and city slugs when you know them. The developer guide includes the connection details and parameter limits.
Search results contain profile identifiers and links. They are candidate matches. Compare the name and location before choosing a result; do not turn a similar name into an assertion that two businesses are the same.
Read the public evidence
Call get_business with the state, city and slug returned by search. Inspect the credential kind, status, authority, source lookup URL, confirmation date and expiry. Keep an expired record described as expired. Keep a workers' compensation exemption distinct from insurance coverage.
If no credential is returned, say that the lookup did not provide the evidence. An empty result does not establish that the business is unlicensed or uninsured. Where a decision depends on current status, follow the official authority's lookup link.
Use the CLI or JSON API
The same public lookup is available through a dependency-free Node.js CLI. Download the source from the developer guide, inspect it, and run it with Node.js 20 or later. Search accepts a query plus optional state, city and result limit; the get command accepts a state, city and business slug.
Successful commands return JSON. Invalid input and failed lookups return a nonzero exit code. Applications can also call the public JSON API directly. Respect retry responses and avoid treating this bounded search interface as an exhaustive registry export.
Cite the evidence, not an unexplained score
Link to the canonical business profile and name the authority associated with the credential. Distinguish when the source was checked from when a page was updated. A profile claim, a registry observation and a paid document review establish different things.
Our findability score is not a probability that an AI assistant will recommend a business. Making data available over MCP does not automatically register it with an AI platform, cause it to be indexed, or imply an endorsement.
Hand the owner back to the website
The profile response includes an ownerActionUrl. Use it when the user actually owns the business and wants to proceed through the claim process. The owner completes the identity checks and decides whether to purchase credential review. Private files remain outside the public lookup.
Business owners can start by finding their profile or reading the California evidence checklist and the Florida business-and-qualifier guide.