find-engineering-firm

Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find, shortlist, and enrich US real-world engineering firms — buildings, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing. The catalog tags firms with industry:engineering_services and a 23-tag service sub-taxonomy spanning civil, structural, MEP, mechanical, electrical, geotechnical, surveying, transportation, environmental, manufacturing, energy, aerospace, biomedical, materials-testing, and more.

This is NOT for software engineering. "Software engineering firm", "engineering team", "engineering manager hire", "system architecture review" — those are all software-developer territory. The first thing this skill confirms is that the user means real engineering, not software.

Always pin industry:engineering_services. Sub-disciplines are typically structured service_provided tags (civil-engineering, structural-engineering, mep-engineering, etc.) — confirm exact names via /v1/tags.

Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.

When NOT to use this skill

The dominant failure mode is firing on software-engineering asks. Refuse those.

• Software / SaaS / app-development asks — even when phrased as "software engineering firm", "engineering team partner", "build our platform" → defer to find-software-developer.
• In-house "engineering manager" hires — in modern B2B usage this is almost always software-engineering recruiting. Refuse.
• System / cloud / database architecture questions ("Postgres vs DynamoDB", "monolith vs microservices") — software topics, not engineering firms.
• Architecture (buildings) — find-architecture-firm covers that industry. This skill covers engineering disciplines that work with architects (structural, MEP, civil) but the architect-of-record procurement goes to that skill.
• Consumer/residential ("architect for a residential remodel", "engineer to inspect my house") — the catalog is B2B procurement only.
• Non-US firms / individual freelance engineers / DIY questions / engineering-software product comparisons (Revit, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Ansys).

If the user is a business (real-estate developer, contractor, property owner, manufacturer, energy company, public agency, etc.) procuring real-world engineering services, this skill applies — defaults to fire on B2B procurement intent.

MCP server (preferred for authed calls)

If your agent harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (https://mcp.servicegraph.co), prefer its tools for the authed tier (/search, /get, /stats). The MCP server uses OAuth 2.1 + PKCE — the host harness handles credentials in its own audited sandbox, so there's no .env.local, no shell dispatch, and no token value ever enters the LLM context.

For the anonymous tier (/tags, /check, /explore), MCP is not preferred — every MCP tool requires OAuth (the server has no anonymous tier), so plain curl against the REST URL is the simpler path for discovery calls. Use the REST patterns below for those.

The MCP tools 1:1-map to the public REST endpoints — same backend, same quota, same data:

MCP tool	REST endpoint	Anon?	Recommended path
list_tags	GET /v1/tags	yes	curl
check_filter	GET /v1/check	yes	curl
explore_firms	GET /v1/explore	yes	curl
search_firms	GET /v1/search	no	MCP if loaded, else curl + OTP
get_firm	GET /v1/get/:id	no	MCP if loaded, else curl + OTP
catalog_stats	GET /v1/stats	no	MCP if loaded, else curl + OTP

Detection: if you see any MCP tools with servicegraph in the name (the harness-specific prefix varies — agents pattern-match the substring), the ServiceGraph MCP server is loaded. Prefer those tools for the authed tier; complete any auth flow the harness initiates if needed. If no servicegraph MCP tools are present, fall through to the REST + OTP flow below for the authed tier.

The four-tier funnel

Tier	Auth	Cost	Use it for
GET /v1/tags	none	free	First call of every session. Discover legal field names, kinds, operators, values.
GET /v1/check?filter=...	none	free	Validate a filter before spending an explore/search call.
GET /v1/explore?filter=...	none	free, IP-throttled	Scope: count + breakdowns. Use to size the candidate pool before quota-spending.
GET /v1/search?filter=...	bearer	200 unique firms / month free	Brief firm cards. No url, no contact info. Use for ranking / shortlisting.
GET /v1/get/:id	bearer	50 unique firms / month free	Full bundle: url, phone, email, social, legal name, address. Only call for shortlisted firms.
POST /v1/research	paid	not in MVP	Deferred — skip.

Quota rule that matters: /search and /get charge per unique firm viewed per calendar month, not per call. Re-paging the same query is free. Two different filters that overlap charge once for the overlap. Re-fetching a firm you already pulled this month is free.

Session-start ritual

Before constructing any filter, call:

GET https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/tags?include_values=1

Cache the response for the conversation. Confirm engineering is in the industry value list and that the relevant sub-discipline tags (civil-engineering, structural-engineering, mep-engineering, mechanical-engineering, electrical-engineering, etc.) are in service_provided. Tag names sometimes drift (e.g. mep vs mep-engineering); verify before constructing filters.

Field kinds you'll use most:

• categorical: industry (always engineering), state, pricing_model, company_size_signal, geography_served — op :
• tag_set_with_evidence: service_provided (e.g. civil-engineering, structural-engineering, mep-engineering) — op : with optional @evidence
• numeric: rating, review_count_total, founded_year — ops = >= <= > <
• presence: has:phone, has:clutch, has:rating, has:linkedin_company, …
• keyword: free-text substring across firm name / brand / title / meta / legal_name. Verticals (hospital, high-rise, retail, transportation, semiconductor, etc.) and credentials (PE, LEED, etc.) are keyword-only.

Auth

/tags, /check, and /explore are anonymous. /search and /get require a bearer token.

Security model — keep the token out of the LLM context.

• Never read .env, .env.local, or any other credential file into your context. The token's literal value should never appear in the conversation.
• Use shell dispatch for every authed request so the token flows directly from the user's environment / dotenv file into the Authorization header without round-tripping through the LLM.
• Always ask the user once per session before using a detected token, even if it's already in their shell or .env.local.

Resolution rule:

1. Detect whether a token is available — without reading its value. Run a shell check that only inspects exit codes:

   ( [ -n "${SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN:-}" ] \
     || grep -qs '^SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=' .env.local \
     || grep -qs '^SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=' .env )
   

   Exit code 0 = token is available somewhere; non-zero = no token.

2. Confirm with the user before the first authed call this session:

   "I found a SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN in your environment / .env.local. OK to use it for ServiceGraph API requests this session?"

   If the user says no, stay on the anonymous tiers (/tags, /check, /explore) and skip authed calls. Don't re-ask later unless the user asks for authed work.

3. Dispatch via shell — every authed call goes through a shell wrapper so the literal token never enters the conversation:

   # If exported in the shell environment:
   curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN" \
        'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/search?filter=...'
   
   # If in .env.local — source it inside a subshell so it doesn't
   # leak into the parent shell either:
   ( set -a; . ./.env.local; set +a;
     curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN" \
          'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/search?filter=...' )
   

   Capture the response body to a tmp file or jq-process it, but do NOT echo the request command with the token expanded.

4. OTP flow if no token is detected — capture the new token directly into .env.local without surfacing its value to the LLM:

   # 1. trigger the email — agent prompts the user for $EMAIL
   curl -fsS -X POST 'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/auth/request-otp' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d "{\"email\":\"$EMAIL\"}"
   
   # 2. exchange the code — agent prompts the user for $CODE.
   #    The ?format=env query param returns SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=<token>
   #    as plain text appended to .env.local — no jq needed. The -f
   #    flag makes curl exit non-zero on 4xx so a wrong code doesn't
   #    pollute the file (the error mirror is also a `# comment` line,
   #    safe to ignore even if it lands).
   curl -fsS -X POST 'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/auth/verify-otp?format=env' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     -d "{\"email\":\"$EMAIL\",\"code\":\"$CODE\",\"name\":\"claude-cli\"}" \
     >> .env.local
   
   # 3. confirm capture without revealing the value
   grep -q '^SERVICEGRAPH_TOKEN=' .env.local && echo "OTP token captured."
   

   After a successful capture, the user has implicitly consented (they just completed the flow), so proceed to dispatch (step 3). The token is now persistent in .env.local for future sessions.

5. If a /search or /get returns 401 unauthorized mid-session, the token expired or was revoked — re-run the OTP flow.

Filter DSL

One query parameter, GitHub-search-style.

filter   := orExpr
orExpr   := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr  := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)*    # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr  := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom     := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op       := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value    := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER          # → keyword:<bareword>

Four rules that bite:

1. AND binds tighter than OR. a OR b c parses as a OR (b AND c). Use parens.
2. Comma list = OR within one predicate. state:CA,NY,TX matches any of the three.
3. Negation is -x or NOT x. Negative literals inside a comma list are not allowed: state:CA,-NY is rejected. Use state:CA -state:NY.
4. Bareword = keyword search. Any IDENT or NUMBER not followed by an operator becomes a free-text substring across name / brand / title / meta / legal_name. Multiple barewords AND.

Engineering-flavored examples (validate yours with /v1/check):

industry:engineering_services service_provided:civil-engineering state:FL transportation
industry:engineering_services service_provided:structural-engineering high-rise
industry:engineering_services service_provided:mep-engineering hospital
industry:engineering_services service_provided:mechanical-engineering hvac industrial
industry:engineering_services service_provided:environmental-engineering remediation
industry:engineering_services service_provided:geotechnical-engineering state:CA seismic
industry:engineering_services service_provided:civil-engineering@high rating>=4 has:clutch
industry:engineering_services service_provided:electrical-engineering manufacturing

When in doubt, hit /v1/check?filter=... first.

Sub-discipline → tag mapping (verify exact names via /v1/tags; the catalog has 23 sub-tags so this isn't exhaustive):

User asks for	Use
Civil engineering / sitework / transportation	service_provided:civil-engineering
Structural engineering / building structure	service_provided:structural-engineering
MEP (mechanical/electrical/plumbing)	service_provided:mep-engineering
Mechanical engineering / HVAC	service_provided:mechanical-engineering
Electrical engineering	service_provided:electrical-engineering
Geotechnical / soils / foundations	service_provided:geotechnical-engineering
Surveying / land surveys / mapping	service_provided:surveying-mapping
Transportation engineering	service_provided:transportation-engineering
Environmental / remediation	service_provided:environmental-engineering
Manufacturing / process	service_provided:manufacturing-engineering
Aerospace	service_provided:aerospace-engineering
Energy (oil/gas/renewables)	service_provided:energy-engineering
Industrial automation / controls	service_provided:industrial-automation
Materials testing	service_provided:materials-testing
Acoustic / vibration	service_provided:acoustic-engineering
Biomedical	service_provided:biomedical-engineering

Verticals (hospital, high-rise, semiconductor, retail, datacenter, etc.) and credentials (PE-licensed, LEED, AICP) are keyword-only.

firm_id contract

firm_id is a stable 12-hex-char handle:

firm_id = sha256(apex.lower().rstrip(".")).hexdigest()[:12]

import hashlib
def firm_id(apex):
    return hashlib.sha256(apex.lower().rstrip(".").encode()).hexdigest()[:12]

echo -n "aecom.com" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' \
  | openssl dgst -sha256 -hex | awk '{print substr($2,1,12)}'

Recipes

A. Civil engineering for transportation, in a state

User: "Civil engineering firms in Florida that focus on transportation infrastructure."

GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:civil-engineering+state:FL+transportation
GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:civil-engineering+state:FL+transportation&limit=10
GET /v1/get/<firm_id>     # ×3

B. Structural engineering + commercial high-rise

User: "Structural engineering firms with high-rise commercial building experience."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:structural-engineering+(high-rise OR commercial)

C. MEP for a hospital project

User: "MEP engineering consultancy for a hospital project."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:mep-engineering+hospital

D. Mechanical / HVAC for industrial facility

User: "Mechanical engineering firms specializing in HVAC for industrial facilities."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:mechanical-engineering+hvac+industrial

E. Indirect intent — "stamp the drawings"

User: "We're building a 10-story office and need a structural engineer to stamp the drawings."

That's structural engineering for commercial-building permitting:

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:structural-engineering+commercial

The "PE stamp" angle isn't structured — surface PE-license details from /get after picking briefs. If the user wants only PE-licensed firms, add pe as a keyword.

F. Geotechnical + seismic for California

User: "Geotechnical engineering firms in California with seismic-design experience."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:geotechnical-engineering+state:CA+seismic

G. Quality threshold + PE-licensed

User: "Three civil engineering firms with at least 4-star ratings and PE-licensed engineers."

GET /v1/search?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:civil-engineering@high+rating>=4+pe&limit=10

pe as a bareword catches "PE License", "PE-licensed", "Professional Engineer" via substring.

H. BYO apex list — enrich domains

User pastes 8–20 engineering firm domains. For each:

1. Compute firm_id locally.
2. GET /v1/get/<firm_id> — full bundle if in catalog, 404 if not.
3. Aggregate, present, flag the not-found ones to the user. A 404 here often means the domain is a software firm tagged industry:it_services instead of real engineering.

Gotchas

• Always pin industry:engineering_services. Without it, civil-engineering / mep-engineering / electrical-engineering keywords could leak into other industries (architecture firms sometimes list MEP coordination as a sub-service).
• The hardest boundary is software-engineering. "Engineering firm" / "engineering team" in modern B2B usage almost always means software in tech contexts. Defer those to find-software-developer. Real engineering is for buildings, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing — not for SaaS apps.
• "Engineering manager" hires are recruiting, not procurement. Refuse.
• Architecture firms are a separate industry. When the user wants the architect-of-record (the firm that designs the building's form and aesthetics), defer to find-architecture-firm. This skill is for the engineering disciplines that work with architects (structural, MEP, civil).
• Consumer/residential is out of scope ("architect for my house remodel", "engineer to inspect my deck"). The catalog is B2B-only.
• looks_not_pro_services 404 is not a bug. A firm_id may exist in /search but 404 on /get if it's been flagged. Skip and continue; not charged.
• /v1/explore k=20 suppression. When fewer than 20 firms match, the response is {"count": "<20", "suppressed": true, "breakdowns": {}}. Drilling further makes the count smaller. Broaden or escalate to /v1/search.
• Briefs from /search do NOT include apex, url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, or address. If the user asks for contact info, you must /get/:id.
• Engineering-software product comparisons (Revit, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Ansys, Bentley) are NOT procurement.
• Quota is per-user-per-month, deduped on first view. Re-views are free; re-pagination is free.

Errors

All errors return JSON: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.

Status	Code	What to do
400	filter_parse_error	Payload includes position. Fix the filter, re-validate with /v1/check.
400	filter_required	Empty filter where one is required.
400	invalid_firm_id	firm_id must be 12 lowercase hex chars. Re-derive.
401	unauthorized	Token missing/expired. Re-run OTP.
404	not_found	Firm not in catalog or flagged. Not charged. Skip and continue.
429	rate_limited	Honor Retry-After header / retry_after field.
429	monthly_quota_exhausted	Switch to /v1/explore-only mode for the rest of the month. Tell the user.

End-to-end example

User: "Three civil engineering firms in Florida focused on transportation infrastructure, ideally with PE-licensed engineers and 4-star ratings."

GET /v1/tags?include_values=1
GET /v1/check?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:civil-engineering+state:FL+transportation+pe+rating>=4
GET /v1/explore?filter=industry:engineering_services+service_provided:civil-engineering+state:FL+transportation+pe+rating>=4
GET /v1/search?filter=...&limit=10
GET /v1/get/<firm_id>     # ×3

End of session: report X-Quota-Remaining-Month.