# /thomasnet/companies/search

`POST /api/thomasnet/companies/search`

Price: 1 credit

Search Thomasnet B2B suppliers and manufacturers by product/service keyword or category id, filtered by company type (Manufacturer/Distributor/Custom Manufacturer/Service Company), ownership/diversity (women/veteran/minority-owned, small business, HubZone), published content (catalogs/capabilities), validation status (Thomas Verified/Registered) and certification. Returns supplier cards with name, company types, logo, phone, website, HQ location with coordinates, category and sample certifications.

## How to use it

Search Thomasnet suppliers by keyword (product/service/capability) or heading_id (category). Optional filters: company_type, ownership (diversity), catalog (product catalogs/capabilities profile), supplier_validation (Thomas Verified/Registered), certification (id taken from a result's certifications[].id), sort (RECOMMENDED/DISTANCE), area. Each result has id, name, company_types, image (logo), phone, web_url, year_founded, description, main_location_name, is_multi_location, tier, heading (category), address/address2/city/state/state_name/zip_code/country/county/latitude/longitude, sample certifications and social links. Returns an empty list when the keyword matches no category.

## Parameters

- `access-token` (string, required)

## Request body

- `timeout` (integer) — Max scrapping execution timeout (in seconds) (default: 300; min: 20; max: 1500)
- `keyword` (string, nullable) — Product, service or capability to search suppliers for (examples: "ball valves", "cnc machining")
- `heading_id` (string, nullable) — Thomasnet category (heading) id to list suppliers for, as an alternative to keyword (examples: "90370206")
- `area` (string) — Coverage area used to resolve the keyword to a category (default: "NA"; one of: "NA", "US", "CA", "MX")
- `company_type` (string, nullable) — Filter suppliers by company type (one of: "Manufacturer", "Distributor", "Custom Manufacturer", "Service Company", "Turnkey Systems Integrator", "Finishing Service Company", "Custom Manufacturer - Instant Quote", "Manufacturers' Rep", "Remanufacturer")
- `ownership` (string, nullable) — Filter suppliers by ownership / diversity status (one of: "Woman-Owned", "Veteran-Owned", "Minority-Owned", "Small Business", "HubZone", "Women's Business Enterprise", "Woman-Owned Small Business", "Small Disadvantaged Business", "Veteran-Owned Small Business", "AbilityOne", "Asian-Indian-Owned")
- `catalog` (string, nullable) — Filter suppliers by published content (product catalogs / capabilities profile) (one of: "Product Catalogs", "Capabilities Profile", "Any")
- `supplier_validation` (string, nullable) — Filter suppliers by validation status (Thomas Verified / Registered) (one of: "Thomas Verified", "Thomas Registered")
- `certification` (string, nullable) — Filter suppliers by a certification id — take it from a supplier's certifications[].id (returned in these search results and in thomasnet/companies get-by-id profiles) (examples: "157", "59")
- `sort` (string) — Result ordering (default: "RECOMMENDED"; one of: "RECOMMENDED", "DISTANCE")
- `count` (integer, required) — Max number of suppliers to return (min: 1)

## Response

### 200 — Successful Response

- `@type` (string) (default: "ThomasnetCompanySearchResult")
- `id` (string, required)
- `name` (string, required)
- `company_types` (array) (default: [])
- `image` (string, nullable)
- `phone` (string, nullable)
- `web_url` (string, nullable)
- `year_founded` (integer, nullable)
- `description` (string, nullable)
- `main_location_name` (string, nullable)
- `is_multi_location` (boolean, nullable)
- `tier` (string, nullable)
- `heading` (object, nullable)
  - `@type` (string) (default: "ThomasnetHeading")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `name` (string, nullable)
  - `natural_name` (string, nullable)
  - `family_name` (string, nullable)
  - `description` (string, nullable)
  - `url` (string, nullable)
- `address` (string, nullable)
- `address2` (string, nullable)
- `city` (string, nullable)
- `state` (string, nullable)
- `state_name` (string, nullable)
- `zip_code` (string, nullable)
- `country` (string, nullable)
- `county` (string, nullable)
- `latitude` (number, nullable)
- `longitude` (number, nullable)
- `certifications` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "ThomasnetCertification")
  - `id` (string, nullable)
  - `code` (string, nullable)
  - `cert_title` (string, nullable)
  - `cert_type` (string, nullable)
  - `group` (string, nullable)
  - `scope` (string, nullable)
  - `image` (string, nullable)
  - `url` (string, nullable)
  - `date` (string, nullable)
  - `is_active` (boolean, nullable)
- `social` (array) (default: [])
  - `@type` (string) (default: "ThomasnetSocial")
  - `social_type` (string, nullable)
  - `account_id` (string, nullable)

## Errors

### 422 — Validation Error

The request body did not validate

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.