> **For AI agents:** this page is a focused, LLM-optimized view of a
> single Fiber AI operation. Before calling it, fetch the routing
> instructions at [`https://api.fiber.ai/llms.txt`](https://api.fiber.ai/llms.txt) and the full operation
> index at [`https://api.fiber.ai/ai-docs/index.md`](https://api.fiber.ai/ai-docs/index.md).

# startLocalBusinessSearch

`POST /v1/local-business-search/start`

**Tags:** `AI research`

Start Local business AI search

**Endpoint:** `https://api.fiber.ai/v1/local-business-search/start`

## Description

Use our AI agent to search for local businesses and grab contact details. Results are polled asynchronously via the returned researchRunId. Max 500 companies per request. Estimated completion: 1800 seconds.

⚡ Rate limit: 10 requests per 1 minute

💰 Cost: 4 credits per company ⓘ

## Request body (JSON Schema)

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "apiKey": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Your Fiber API key"
    },
    "companies": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "companyName": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "The name of the company to search for."
          },
          "companyWebsite": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The website URL of the company."
          },
          "companyCity": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The city where the company is located."
          },
          "companyState": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The state where the company is located."
          },
          "companyCountryName": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The country of the company."
          },
          "companyCountryCode": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code."
          },
          "companyAddress": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "The address of the company."
          },
          "context": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Additional context about the company. Helps distinguish between companies with similar names."
          }
        },
        "required": [
          "companyName"
        ]
      },
      "description": "The companies to search for."
    },
    "jobTitles": {
      "type": [
        "array",
        "null"
      ],
      "items": {
        "type": "string",
        "minLength": 1,
        "maxLength": 50
      },
      "maxItems": 6,
      "description": "Job titles to search for at each company (e.g. ['CEO', 'Owner']). Omit or null to skip person search."
    },
    "strictJobTitleMatch": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "default": false,
      "description": "If true, only match the same role with different wording (e.g. CEO = Chief Executive Officer). Rejects different roles even if senior/similar (e.g. CEO ≠ Chairman)."
    },
    "contactPreferences": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "companyEmails": {
          "type": "boolean",
          "default": true,
          "description": "Fetch emails found on the company website"
        },
        "companyPhones": {
          "type": "boolean",
          "default": true,
          "description": "Fetch phone numbers found on the company website"
        },
        "personEmails": {
          "type": "boolean",
          "default": true,
          "description": "Fetch work/personal emails of people found via job title search"
        },
        "personPhones": {
          "type": "boolean",
          "default": true,
          "description": "Fetch phone numbers of people found via job title search"
        }
      },
      "default": {},
      "description": "Controls which contact data to fetch for all companies in this payload."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "apiKey",
    "companies"
  ]
}
```

## Response — success (JSON Schema)

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "output": {
      "type": "object",
      "properties": {
        "researchRunId": {
          "type": "string",
          "description": "Run ID for the local business agent run. Use this ID to poll the result of the run."
        }
      },
      "required": [
        "researchRunId"
      ]
    },
    "chargeInfo": {
      "oneOf": [
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "method": {
              "type": "string",
              "enum": [
                "charged-now"
              ]
            },
            "creditsCharged": {
              "type": "number"
            },
            "lowCreditAlert": {
              "type": [
                "object",
                "null"
              ],
              "properties": {
                "getMoreCreditsUrl": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "format": "uri",
                  "description": "URL to top up credits or restart billing cycle to get fresh credits."
                },
                "message": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "Human-readable credits warning."
                },
                "availableCredits": {
                  "type": "number",
                  "description": "Number of credits remaining in the current billing period."
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "getMoreCreditsUrl",
                "message",
                "availableCredits"
              ],
              "description": "Contains a link to get more credits, a warning message, and the remaining credit count."
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "method",
            "creditsCharged"
          ],
          "description": "Credits were charged immediately for this operation"
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "method": {
              "type": "string",
              "enum": [
                "charging-later"
              ]
            },
            "message": {
              "type": "string"
            },
            "lowCreditAlert": {
              "type": [
                "object",
                "null"
              ],
              "properties": {
                "getMoreCreditsUrl": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "format": "uri",
                  "description": "URL to top up credits or restart billing cycle to get fresh credits."
                },
                "message": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "Human-readable credits warning."
                },
                "availableCredits": {
                  "type": "number",
                  "description": "Number of credits remaining in the current billing period."
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "getMoreCreditsUrl",
                "message",
                "availableCredits"
              ],
              "description": "Contains a link to get more credits, a warning message, and the remaining credit count."
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "method",
            "message"
          ],
          "description": "Credits will be charged after the operation completes"
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "method": {
              "type": "string",
              "enum": [
                "charged-for-async-process"
              ]
            },
            "creditsCharged": {
              "type": "number"
            },
            "message": {
              "type": "string"
            },
            "lowCreditAlert": {
              "type": [
                "object",
                "null"
              ],
              "properties": {
                "getMoreCreditsUrl": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "format": "uri",
                  "description": "URL to top up credits or restart billing cycle to get fresh credits."
                },
                "message": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "Human-readable credits warning."
                },
                "availableCredits": {
                  "type": "number",
                  "description": "Number of credits remaining in the current billing period."
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "getMoreCreditsUrl",
                "message",
                "availableCredits"
              ],
              "description": "Contains a link to get more credits, a warning message, and the remaining credit count."
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "method",
            "creditsCharged",
            "message"
          ],
          "description": "Credits that were charged for an asynchronous operation"
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "method": {
              "type": "string",
              "enum": [
                "free"
              ]
            },
            "message": {
              "type": "string"
            },
            "lowCreditAlert": {
              "type": [
                "object",
                "null"
              ],
              "properties": {
                "getMoreCreditsUrl": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "format": "uri",
                  "description": "URL to top up credits or restart billing cycle to get fresh credits."
                },
                "message": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "Human-readable credits warning."
                },
                "availableCredits": {
                  "type": "number",
                  "description": "Number of credits remaining in the current billing period."
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "getMoreCreditsUrl",
                "message",
                "availableCredits"
              ],
              "description": "Contains a link to get more credits, a warning message, and the remaining credit count."
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "method",
            "message"
          ],
          "description": "No credits were charged for this operation"
        },
        {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "method": {
              "type": "string",
              "enum": [
                "credits-refunded"
              ]
            },
            "creditsRefunded": {
              "type": "number"
            },
            "message": {
              "type": "string"
            },
            "lowCreditAlert": {
              "type": [
                "object",
                "null"
              ],
              "properties": {
                "getMoreCreditsUrl": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "format": "uri",
                  "description": "URL to top up credits or restart billing cycle to get fresh credits."
                },
                "message": {
                  "type": "string",
                  "description": "Human-readable credits warning."
                },
                "availableCredits": {
                  "type": "number",
                  "description": "Number of credits remaining in the current billing period."
                }
              },
              "required": [
                "getMoreCreditsUrl",
                "message",
                "availableCredits"
              ],
              "description": "Contains a link to get more credits, a warning message, and the remaining credit count."
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "method",
            "creditsRefunded",
            "message"
          ],
          "description": "Credits were refunded for this operation"
        }
      ]
    },
    "warnings": {
      "type": [
        "array",
        "null"
      ],
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "field": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Full path to extraneous field (e.g., 'searchParams.ExtraField')"
          },
          "message": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Warning message"
          }
        },
        "required": [
          "field",
          "message"
        ]
      },
      "description": "Warnings about extraneous fields in request"
    },
    "advice": {
      "type": [
        "array",
        "null"
      ],
      "items": {
        "type": "string"
      },
      "description": "Tips, recommendations, and suggestions for using this API effectively."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "output",
    "chargeInfo"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}
```

---

Canonical JSON: [`https://api.fiber.ai/openapi.json`](https://api.fiber.ai/openapi.json)
Operation index: [`https://api.fiber.ai/ai-docs/index.md`](https://api.fiber.ai/ai-docs/index.md)