Analyze Boston: building permits, zoning appeals and violations (data.boston.gov)
City of Boston building and land-use records from Analyze Boston (data.boston.gov), the city's CKAN open data portal, published by the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) under the ODC Public Domain Dedication and License: Approved Building Permits (about 667,000 permits issued since 2006, reloaded daily), the Zoning Board of Appeal Tracker (appeals of refused permits, hearings and decisions) and Building and Property Violations. Search permits by street address, ZIP, neighborhood, applicant (contractor), permit or work type, status, issue-date window, minimum declared valuation or 10-digit parcel id, newest or largest first; read one permit by number; rank applicants by permits and valuation for a window; find zoning appeals by address, permit, hearing or decision day; and find code-enforcement violations by address, property or date. Every response and record carries the licence and a source URL. The permits dataset has no application date or row update time, so new permits are polled with issued_since.
Try Analyze Boston: building permits, zoning appeals and violations (data.boston.gov) now.
Choose an example or ask your own question.
const result = await firecrawl.scrape({
alexandria: {
provider: "data-boston-gov",
capability: "building-permits/contractor_activity",
options: {
contractor: "Sunrun",
issued_since: "2025-01-01",
issued_until: "2025-12-31",
limit: 5,
},
},
});This is a sample shape. Press Run to see live data from Analyze Boston: building permits, zoning appeals and violations (data.boston.gov).
{
"count": 1,
"dataset": {
"id": "6ddcd912-32a0-43df-9908-63574f8c7e77",
"name": "Approved Building Permits",
"portal": "data.boston.gov",
"updated_at": "2026-10-27T13:43:44Z",
"url": "https://data.boston.gov/dataset/approved-building-permits"
},
"issued_since": "2025-01-01",
"issued_until": "2025-12-31",
"jurisdiction": {
"county": "Suffolk",
"name": "Boston",
"state": "MA"
},
"license": {
"attribution": "City of Boston Inspectional Services Department, via Analyze Boston (data.boston.gov)",
"name": "Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL)",
"url": "https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1-0/"
},
"next_cursor": null,
"observed_at_ms": 1793145005124,
"records": [
{
"first_issued_date": "2025-01-02",
"last_issued_date": "2025-12-11",
"license": {
"attribution": "City of Boston Inspectional Services Department, via Analyze Boston (data.boston.gov)",
"name": "Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL)",
"url": "https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/pddl/1-0/"
},
"name": "Sunrun Installation Services",
"parcels": 226,
"permits": 335,
"source_url": "https://data.boston.gov/api/3/action/datastore_search_sql?sql=SELECT+permitnumber%2C+worktype%2C+permittypedescr%2C+description%2C+comments%2C+applicant%2C+declared_valuation%2C+total_fees%2C+issued_date%2C+expiration_date%2C+status%2C+occupancytype%2C+sq_feet%2C+address%2C+city%2C+state%2C+zip%2C+ward%2C+property_id%2C+parcel_id%2C+gpsy%2C+gpsx%2C+y_latitude%2C+x_longitude+FROM+%226ddcd912-32a0-43df-9908-63574f8c7e77%22+WHERE+applicant+ILIKE+%27Sunrun+Installation+Services%27+AND+issued_date+%3E%3D+%272025-01-01%27+AND+issued_date+%3C%3D+%272025-12-31T23%3A59%3A59.999999%27+ORDER+BY+issued_date+DESC%2C+permitnumber+LIMIT+100",
"total_valuation_usd": 12770168.75
}
],
"source_url": "https://data.boston.gov/api/3/action/datastore_search_sql?sql=SELECT+max%28applicant%29+AS+applicant%2C+count%28DISTINCT+permitnumber%29+AS+permits%2C+sum%28CASE+WHEN+declared_valuation+%7E+%27%5E-%3F%5B%24%5D%3F%5B0-9%2C%5D%2B%28%5B.%5D%5B0-9%5D%2B%29%3F%24%27+THEN+CAST%28replace%28replace%28declared_valuation%2C+%27%24%27%2C+%27%27%29%2C+%27%2C%27%2C+%27%27%29+AS+numeric%29+END%29+AS+valuation%2C+count%28DISTINCT+parcel_id%29+AS+parcels%2C+min%28issued_date%29+AS+first_issued%2C+max%28issued_date%29+AS+last_issued+FROM+%226ddcd912-32a0-43df-9908-63574f8c7e77%22+WHERE+applicant+IS+NOT+NULL+AND+issued_date+%3E%3D+%272025-01-01%27+AND+issued_date+%3C%3D+%272025-12-31T23%3A59%3A59.999999%27+AND+applicant+ILIKE+%27%25Sunrun%25%27+GROUP+BY+upper%28applicant%29+ORDER+BY+permits+DESC%2C+valuation+DESC+NULLS+LAST%2C+upper%28applicant%29+LIMIT+5"
}Building permit, zoning appeal and violation data from the City of Boston Inspectional Services Department, published on Analyze Boston under the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL). (https://data.boston.gov/)