# Which API should I use?

> Pick by the question you are answering. Most integrations use two products together.

- **HTML:** https://offendersearch.app/docs/products/which-api
- **Base URL (live):** https://api.offendersearch.app — live keys (`os_live_…`)
- **Base URL (sandbox):** https://sandbox.offendersearch.app — test keys (`os_test_…`), never billed
- **Authentication:** `X-API-Key` request header
- **OpenAPI:** https://offendersearch.app/openapi.json · https://offendersearch.app/openapi.yaml
- **Docs index for agents:** https://offendersearch.app/llms.txt

## By the question you are answering

| You need to know… | Use | Request to start from |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Is this person on a sex offender registry anywhere in the US? | [Sex Offender Search API](/docs/sex-offender) | `POST /v1/search` with `query.firstName`, `query.lastName` and, when you have it, `query.dob`. |
| Does this person have criminal records — bookings, charges, convictions, custody? | [Criminal Records API](/docs/criminal) | `POST /v1/criminal/search` with `lastName`, `firstName`, `dob` and the `state` you know. |
| Tell me if a record appears, changes or disappears for a person I screened. | [Monitoring API](/docs/monitoring) | `POST /v1/monitors` with the person, one `product` to watch (`sex-offender` or `criminal`; two monitors for both) and a delivery channel. |
| Tell me when a registrant moves near an address. | [Monitoring API](/docs/monitoring) (location monitor) | `POST /v1/monitors` with an address and a radius. |
| Draw registrants on a map in my product. | [Offender Map API](/docs/map) | `GET /v1/map/viewport` with the map bounds. |
| Produce a consumer report for employment, housing or credit decisions. | [FCRA Partner API](/docs/fcra) — approved partners only | `POST /v1/fcra/orders` after [partner access](/docs/fcra/access). |
| Civil cases, judgments and non-criminal court records. | [Court Search API](/docs/court-search) — coming soon | Not available yet; use the Criminal Records API for criminal court cases today. |

## Products that go together

- **Screening a person** (admissions, hiring outside FCRA scope, visitor checks): Sex Offender Search + Criminal Records, then a Monitoring person watch so the answer stays current. See the [skilled nursing guide](/docs/solutions/skilled-nursing).
- **A place or a route**: Sex Offender Search by address or radius, the Map API to draw it, a Monitoring location watch to be told when it changes.
- **A regulated consumer report**: the FCRA Partner API only. The self-service search APIs are not consumer reports and carry a `legal.notice` saying so on every response.

## What no OffenderSearch API does

- Confirm identity. A match is a candidate with a `matchConfidence` and a labelled basis; your workflow decides.
- Prove a clean history. An empty result means no record was found in the sources searched, read `sourceStatus` and `counts` before treating it as absence.
- Turn an arrest into a conviction. Criminal records carry charges, dispositions and statuses as the source published them; read [arrests vs. charges vs. convictions](/docs/guides/criminal/arrests-charges-convictions).
- Make a workflow FCRA-compliant by itself. The FCRA Partner API provides the regulated mechanics; permissible purpose, consent and adverse-action handling remain the partner's obligations.

## Related

- [Sex Offender vs. Criminal Records](https://offendersearch.app/docs/products/sex-offender-vs-criminal)
- [Criminal records vs. court records](https://offendersearch.app/docs/products/criminal-vs-court-records)
- [Five-minute integration](https://offendersearch.app/docs/platform/getting-started)