# /canadabuys/contracts/search

`POST /api/canadabuys/contracts/search`

Price: 30 credits

Search the CanadaBuys contract history by keyword, status, procurement category, notice kind, contract instrument, amendment kind, publication and closing windows, delivery location and NATO sourcing. Each row carries the supplier name, the contract number, the buying organization, the award or amendment date, the contract or amendment value with its currency, and the contract history URL.

## How to use it

One contract appears once per amendment, so the same contract number repeats with different values and dates; the value on a row is that amendment's, while the total of the contract is on the record served by canadabuys/tenders. Group by contract_number to count contracts rather than records.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of results (min: 1; max: 1000)
- `offset` (integer) — How many results to skip before the first returned row (default: 0; min: 0; max: 1000000)
- `query` (string, nullable) — Keyword matched on the notice title and description (examples: "software")
- `status` (string, nullable) — Notice status (one of: "open", "expired", "cancelled", "awarded")
- `category` (string, nullable) — Procurement category (one of: "construction", "goods", "services", "services_related_to_goods")
- `notice_type` (string, nullable) — Kind of notice (one of: "not_applicable", "request_for_information", "request_for_proposal", "request_for_supply_arrangement", "request_for_standing_offer", "rfp_against_supply_arrangement", "invitation_to_qualify", "directed_contract", "advance_contract_award_notice", "other", "future_business_opportunities", "notifications_of_intent")
- `instrument_type` (string, nullable) — Contract instrument the notice was placed under (one of: "contract", "contract_against_supply_arrangement", "standing_offer", "supply_arrangement", "task_authorization_based_contract")
- `amendment_type` (string, nullable) — Whether the record is an original, an amendment or a termination (one of: "amendment", "original", "termination")
- `published_within` (string, nullable) — Publication window relative to today (one of: "last_24_hours", "last_7_days", "last_30_days", "more_than_30_days")
- `closing_within` (string, nullable) — Closing window relative to today (one of: "today", "next_7_days", "next_30_days", "over_30_days")
- `locations` (array, nullable) — Delivery locations as named by the portal (examples: ["Alberta","Ottawa"])
- `nato_only` (boolean, nullable) — Only notices sourced from NATO; the portal does not support excluding them (one of: true)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "CanadabuysContractSummary")
- `id` (string, required)
- `supplier` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "CanadabuysOrganization")
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `address` (string, nullable)
- `contract_number` (string, nullable)
- `buyer` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "CanadabuysOrganization")
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `address` (string, nullable)
- `awarded_at` (integer, nullable)
- `is_amended` (boolean, nullable)
- `value` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "CanadabuysValue")
  - `amount` (number, nullable)
  - `currency` (string, nullable)
- `country` (string) (default: "CA")
- `url` (string, required)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

A location is not a name of the CanadaBuys delivery location list

What to do: Check the fields against this schema. A URN with the wrong prefix is the most common cause.

- `detail` (array)
  - `loc` (array, required)
  - `msg` (string, required)
  - `type` (string, required)
  - `input` (any)
  - `ctx` (object)

### 408

The request ran past its time limit

What to do: Raise `timeout` in the request body, up to the maximum this endpoint documents. Lowering `count` or turning off the `with_*` flags also helps, because less work finishes sooner.

### 412

The entity was not found, or a precondition failed

What to do: Retrying will not help: either the entity does not exist, or the input points at a different one.

### 429

Too many requests: a rate limit or a usage window is exhausted

What to do: When the response carries an X-Retry-After header, wait that many seconds and retry: the same number is in the body as `detail.retry_after`, and the limit clears once that window passes. The message in the body names the limit that was hit.

### 500

Something broke on our side

What to do: Retrying will not help. If it keeps happening, send us the X-Request-ID from the response headers.

### 529

Rate limit reached, or the endpoint is overloaded

What to do: Wait at least 30 seconds, then retry.

## Response envelope

Success: Array of objects (may be empty if no results)

Error: Error may coexist with partial results if it occurs mid-execution. Check X-Error header and status code.

Every response carries these headers:

- `X-Error` — Error message text (present only on error)
- `X-Request-ID` — Unique request identifier
- `X-Execution-Time` — Execution time in seconds
- `X-Result-Count` — How many records the body carries. 0 means an empty result, which is a normal answer and not by itself an error. A non-zero count can come back together with X-Error when the failure happened partway through — read this header and X-Error independently.
- `X-Total-Available-Results` — How many records exist for this query, when the endpoint can say. On a `dry_run` request this is the answer and the body is empty. It saturates: the endpoint's documented maximum means 'at least that many', any smaller number is exact.
- `X-Warning` — Present when the request body carried keys this endpoint does not document. They were ignored, so any filter you meant to apply through them did not apply. Check the spelling against this schema and retry.
- `X-Retry-After` — Seconds to wait before retrying. Present only on 429.