sosbiz.idaho.gov

business-search

Installation

Adds this website's skill for your agents

 

Summary

Search the Idaho Secretary of State business registry by name or file number and return matching entities — filing number, entity type, status, standing, filing date, and registered agent — with optional hydration of full filing details (principal/mailing address, registered agent, AR due date).

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SKILL.md
300 lines

Idaho SOS Business Search

Purpose

Search the Idaho Secretary of State business registry (sosbiz.idaho.gov) by name or file number and return matching entities with their filing number, entity type, status, standing, filing date, and registered agent. Optionally hydrate each hit with full filing details (principal/mailing address, registered agent address, AR due date, term of duration, formation jurisdiction). Read-only — never files, amends, reinstates, or pays AR fees.

When to Use

  • "Look up <business name> on the Idaho SOS registry and return its status / agent / filing date."
  • Bulk verification of Idaho corporate registrations (active vs dissolved, good vs not-good standing).
  • Resolving an Idaho file number (10-digit RECORD_NUM) to an entity record.
  • Pulling registered agent name + address for an Idaho LLC/corp.
  • Discovering all Idaho filings whose name starts with or contains a keyword (e.g. "smith ventures" → 2 starts-with matches, 5 contains matches).

Workflow

The Idaho SOS site at sosbiz.idaho.gov is a React SPA that talks to a public, unauthenticated JSON API on the same origin. There is no API key, no token, no anti-bot wall — Cloudflare sits in front but only does a passive challenge that any browser session (bare cloud session, no --verified / no --proxies) clears on first page load. After the initial /search/business navigation seeds cf_clearance, subsequent fetch() calls from the page context return JSON immediately. The direct browser-UI path costs ~3× more turns and adds nothing — lead with the API.

Sandbox network constraint: direct curl from inside the Vercel sandbox cannot resolve sosbiz.idaho.gov (DNS-blocked by network policy), and browse cloud fetch is GET-only. The API requires POST. The working pattern is therefore: open a browser session, navigate once to seed CF cookies, then call the API via browse eval (in-page fetch) — which is what the steps below do.

1. Open a session and seed CF clearance (one-time per session)

sid=$(browse cloud sessions create --keep-alive \
  | node -e "let s='';process.stdin.on('data',c=>s+=c).on('end',()=>process.stdout.write(JSON.parse(s).id))")
export BROWSE_SESSION="$sid"

browse open "https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/search/business" --remote
browse wait load --remote
browse wait timeout 2000 --remote

No --verified, no --proxies — bare session works. Verified across iter-1 (verified+proxies) and iter-2 (bare), identical API response.

2. Search

browse eval --remote "
(async () => {
  const r = await fetch('/api/Records/businesssearch', {
    method: 'POST',
    headers: {'Content-Type':'application/json','Accept':'application/json'},
    body: JSON.stringify({
      SEARCH_VALUE: 'smith ventures',
      STARTS_WITH_YN: false,   // false = substring/contains; true = name-starts-with
      ACTIVE_ONLY_YN: false    // true to hide Inactive-Dissolved / Inactive-Lapsed records
    })
  });
  return { status: r.status, body: await r.text() };
})()
"

Response shape:

{
  "template": [
    {"label": "Form Info",   "id": "TITLE"},
    {"label": "Status",      "id": "STATUS"},
    {"label": "Filing Date", "id": "FILING_DATE"},
    {"label": "Agent",       "id": "AGENT"}
  ],
  "rows": {
    "919070": {
      "SORT_INDEX": 0,
      "TITLE": ["M Smith Ventures, LLC (5577637)", "Limited Liability Company (D)"],
      "ID": 919070,
      "FILING_DATE": "02/01/2024",
      "RECORD_NUM": "0005577637",
      "AGENT": "Michael Smith",
      "STATUS": "Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative)",
      "STANDING": "Not Good Standing",
      "ALERT": false,
      "CAN_REINSTATE": true,
      "CAN_FILE_AR": true,
      "CAN_FILE_REINSTATEMENT": false
    },
    "...": {}
  }
}

rows is an object keyed by ID (not an array). To get an ordered list, iterate Object.values(rows) and sort by SORT_INDEX ascending — the server returns them pre-sorted by relevance/filing-date, but key iteration order is not guaranteed in older JS environments. No results returns rows: {} (empty object, not null and not []).

3. (Optional) Hydrate each hit with full filing details

For each ID in rows:

browse eval --remote "
(async () => {
  const r = await fetch('/api/FilingDetail/business/874134/false', {
    headers: {'Accept':'application/json'}
  });
  return { status: r.status, body: await r.text() };
})()
"

URL pattern: GET /api/FilingDetail/business/{ID}/false. The trailing /false is the includeImageDetails flag — the UI calls it with false on drawer expand and true only when the user opens the full filing-image gallery (which is an authenticated path we don't need). Returns:

{
  "DRAWER_DETAIL_LIST": [
    {"LABEL": "Filing Type",         "VALUE": "Limited Liability Company (D)",   "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Foreign Name",        "VALUE": null,                              "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Status",              "VALUE": "Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative)", "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Formed In",           "VALUE": "IDAHO",                           "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Term of Duration",    "VALUE": "Perpetual",                       "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Principal Address",   "VALUE": "8230 W WINCHESTER DR\nBOISE, ID 83704", "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Mailing Address",     "VALUE": "8230 W WINCHESTER DR\nBOISE, ID 83704-7059", "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Initial Filing Date", "VALUE": "04/13/2023",                      "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "Inactive Filing Date","VALUE": "07/06/2024",                      "ALERT_YN": false},
    {"LABEL": "AR Due Date",         "VALUE": "04/30/2024",                      "ALERT_YN": true},
    {"LABEL": "Registered Agent",    "VALUE": "Noncommercial\n0289212\nAaron  Smith\n8230 W WINCHESTER DR\nBOISE, ID  83704", "ALERT_YN": false}
  ],
  "HIDE_CERT_BUTTON": false,
  "HIDE_REQUEST_ACCESS": false,
  "HIDE_HISTORY": false,
  "HIDE_AMENDMENT_BUTTON": false,
  "AR_BUTTON_LABEL": null
}

The DRAWER_DETAIL_LIST is an ordered array of label/value pairs, not a keyed object — extract values by LABEL string match (e.g. list.find(d => d.LABEL === 'Principal Address')?.VALUE). Some entries (e.g. Foreign Name) have VALUE: null when not applicable. Inactive Filing Date is only present for dissolved/lapsed records. ALERT_YN: true flags fields the UI renders in red (typically a past-due AR Due Date).

4. Release the session

browse cloud sessions update "$sid" --status REQUEST_RELEASE

Browser fallback

If browse eval is unavailable or the API endpoint changes, drive the UI:

  1. browse open "https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/search/business" --remote
  2. browse wait load --remote && browse wait timeout 2000 --remote
  3. browse snapshot --remote — locate the textbox (label: Search by name or file number) and the Execute search button.
  4. browse fill --remote "<textbox-ref>" "smith ventures" then browse click --remote "<button-ref>".
  5. browse wait timeout 2500 --remote && browse snapshot --remote — results render in a <table> with columns Form Info | Status | Filing Date | Agent. Each row's Form Info cell is a button: <Name> (<Record#>) <Filing Type> Click to expand.
  6. Parse the table rows directly from the snapshot tree. To expand details: browse click --remote "<row-button-ref>" and re-snapshot the drawer.

The UI's default behaviour matches STARTS_WITH_YN=true — i.e. it only surfaces records whose name begins with the query (e.g. "smith ventures" shows 2, not 5). If you want substring/contains matches via the UI, click Advanced Search Options and uncheck the starts-with toggle. The API path lets you set this directly on the request body — prefer it.

Site-Specific Gotchas

  • The site is a React SPA — https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/ and /search/business return an empty <div id="root">. Static HTML scraping is pointless; you must either drive the rendered DOM via browse snapshot or call the JSON API directly.
  • GET /api/Records/businesssearch → 405, with Allow: POST and an XML error body (<Error><Message>The requested resource does not support http method 'GET'.</Message></Error>). The API is POST-only.
  • No auth, no CSRF token, no anti-bot. A bare cloud session (no --verified, no --proxies) works after one navigation to seed CF cookies. Verified across 2 iters: identical responses with and without stealth flags. Do not waste cost on --verified or --proxies for this site.
  • Direct curl from Vercel sandbox is DNS-blocked for sosbiz.idaho.gov, and browse cloud fetch is GET-only — so the only working POST path is in-page fetch() via browse eval --remote. This is a sandbox constraint, not a site constraint; running from any other environment, plain curl -X POST against the API works fine once you have a cf_clearance cookie (and most sessions don't even need that — the CF challenge here is opportunistic, not mandatory).
  • STARTS_WITH_YN: true is the UI default, but the API defaults to false when the field is omitted (verified: omitting the field returned 5 contains-matches for "smith ventures", identical to STARTS_WITH_YN: false). Always set the field explicitly to avoid drift if the server changes.
  • rows is an object keyed by record ID, not an array. Iterate via Object.values(rows) and sort by the per-row SORT_INDEX field for the canonical UI ordering.
  • Empty result set returns rows: {} (empty object), not null or []. Branch on Object.keys(rows).length === 0.
  • TITLE is a 2-element array, not a single string: [<Display Name> (<Filing Number>), <Filing Type>]. The filing number embedded in element 0's display string is the same value as RECORD_NUM but with leading zeros stripped — "M Smith Ventures, LLC (5577637)" vs RECORD_NUM: "0005577637". Use RECORD_NUM for exact comparisons.
  • Two different IDs per record: the ID field (e.g. 919070) is the internal database key used for /api/FilingDetail/business/{ID}/false; the RECORD_NUM (e.g. "0005577637") is the public-facing 10-digit file number (zero-padded string). Don't confuse them — passing RECORD_NUM to the detail endpoint will 404.
  • Detail endpoint trailing flag is /false, not omitted. GET /api/FilingDetail/business/{ID} (no flag) returns 404. The flag is includeImageDetails; false returns the lightweight drawer payload, true returns image-gallery metadata that requires an authenticated session.
  • DRAWER_DETAIL_LIST is positionally ordered but labeled — match by the LABEL string, not by array index. Some labels are conditional (e.g. Inactive Filing Date only appears for dissolved/lapsed records; Foreign Name is null for in-state filings).
  • Registered Agent VALUE is a newline-delimited multi-line string containing Agent Type\nAgent ID\nAgent Name\nStreet\nCity, State Zip. Split on \n (literal \n in the JSON string, which is \n newline after parse) to break into fields. Agent names are often double-spaced internally (e.g. "Aaron Smith", "Brian M Smith") — normalize whitespace if joining tokens.
  • Status enum (observed during iter-1): Active-Existing, Active-Current, Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative). Active-Existing is for ongoing corporations/LLCs; Active-Current is for Assumed Business Names (DBAs). STANDING mirrors this: Good Standing ↔ Active, Not Good Standing ↔ Inactive.
  • ALERT_YN: true on a DRAWER_DETAIL_LIST entry = the UI renders that field in red and surfaces an alert badge — typically a past-due AR Due Date. Treat as a soft compliance signal.
  • Filings cover multiple entity classes: LLCs (Limited Liability Company (D) where (D) = domestic), corporations, Assumed Business Names, and (per the nav bar) Notary, Liens (UCC), Trademark, Franchise Authority. Each has its own search surface — this skill is scoped to business only. UCC liens are at /search/ucc, notaries at /search/notary, etc.
  • The site sets an ASP.NET_SessionId cookie on first request but the API does not validate it server-side — verified by deleting the cookie and re-POSTing successfully. Session affinity is opportunistic only.

Expected Output

{
  "query": "smith ventures",
  "starts_with": false,
  "active_only": false,
  "total_results": 5,
  "results": [
    {
      "id": 919070,
      "record_num": "0005577637",
      "name": "M Smith Ventures, LLC",
      "filing_type": "Limited Liability Company (D)",
      "filing_date": "02/01/2024",
      "status": "Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative)",
      "standing": "Not Good Standing",
      "agent": "Michael Smith"
    },
    {
      "id": 786027,
      "record_num": "0004444744",
      "name": "M.A Smith Ventures L.L.C.",
      "filing_type": "Limited Liability Company (D)",
      "filing_date": "10/12/2021",
      "status": "Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative)",
      "standing": "Not Good Standing",
      "agent": "Matthew Smith"
    },
    {
      "id": 1016958,
      "record_num": "0006459726",
      "name": "Smith & Collins Ventures, LLC",
      "filing_type": "Limited Liability Company (D)",
      "filing_date": "09/29/2025",
      "status": "Active-Existing",
      "standing": "Good Standing",
      "agent": "Scott Collins"
    },
    {
      "id": 874134,
      "record_num": "0005201003",
      "name": "Smith Ventures LLC",
      "filing_type": "Limited Liability Company (D)",
      "filing_date": "04/13/2023",
      "status": "Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative)",
      "standing": "Not Good Standing",
      "agent": "Aaron Smith"
    },
    {
      "id": 989619,
      "record_num": "0006212858",
      "name": "Smithridge Ventures LLC",
      "filing_type": "Limited Liability Company (D)",
      "filing_date": "04/19/2025",
      "status": "Active-Existing",
      "standing": "Good Standing",
      "agent": "Brian M Smith"
    }
  ]
}

When the caller requests hydrated details (step 3), attach a detail block per result:

{
  "id": 874134,
  "record_num": "0005201003",
  "name": "Smith Ventures LLC",
  "...": "(top-level fields as above)",
  "detail": {
    "filing_type": "Limited Liability Company (D)",
    "foreign_name": null,
    "status": "Inactive-Dissolved (Administrative)",
    "formed_in": "IDAHO",
    "term_of_duration": "Perpetual",
    "principal_address": "8230 W WINCHESTER DR\nBOISE, ID 83704",
    "mailing_address": "8230 W WINCHESTER DR\nBOISE, ID 83704-7059",
    "initial_filing_date": "04/13/2023",
    "inactive_filing_date": "07/06/2024",
    "ar_due_date": "04/30/2024",
    "ar_due_date_alert": true,
    "registered_agent": {
      "type": "Noncommercial",
      "agent_id": "0289212",
      "name": "Aaron Smith",
      "address": "8230 W WINCHESTER DR\nBOISE, ID  83704"
    }
  }
}

No-results shape:

{
  "query": "zzqxqxq nonexistent business 12345",
  "starts_with": false,
  "active_only": false,
  "total_results": 0,
  "results": []
}