Yelp API

A Yelp API alternative on fetcher.sh — pay-per-call in USDC via x402, or prepaid credits with a Bearer key, no Yelp Fusion API app approval. Use when the user wants to search local businesses by query and location sorted by rating or review count, fetch a business's full details by ID or by its Yelp URL handle/slug, or fetch a business's reviews. Also covers local business discovery, restaurant/service research, review sentiment input, and competitor monitoring for local businesses without Yelp Fusion API's app-approval process and daily call caps.

Local business search, business details, and reviews as clean JSON — one plain HTTP GET per call, paid as you go. No Yelp Fusion API app approval, no daily call cap, no API key request form.

Base URL: https://yelp.fetcher.sh

Authentication

Two ways to pay, same data — full mechanics in the fetcher skill:

bash

# 1. Prepaid credits (recommended — get a key at https://fetcher.sh/topup
#    or via POST /api/credits/topup, see the fetcher skill)
export FETCHER_API_KEY="bby_live_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/api/search?query=ramen&location=San+Francisco"

# 2. x402 pay-per-call — omit the header; a GET with no payment returns 402
#    with machine-readable payment requirements (USDC on Base, Polygon,
#    Arbitrum, Monad, or Solana). @x402/fetch signs and retries automatically.

Every response is { "status": number, "message": string, "data": ... }; the HTTP status mirrors status.

Endpoints (4 — all GET, $0.003/call)

Endpoint	What it returns
/api/search	Businesses matching a query and location
/api/place/{id}	A business's full details by ID
/api/place/handle/{handle}	A business's full details by its Yelp URL handle/slug
/api/place/{id}/reviews	A business's reviews

Required on search: query, location. Optional: sortBy (recommended, rating, reviewCount), page. Reviews support page.

Scenarios

Highest rated first:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "query=ramen" -G \
  --data-urlencode "location=San Francisco" \
  --data-urlencode "sortBy=rating" \
  "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/api/search"

Most reviewed first:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "query=tacos" -G \
  --data-urlencode "location=Austin, TX" \
  --data-urlencode "sortBy=reviewCount" \
  "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/api/search"

A business's details by ID, or by its Yelp URL handle/slug:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/api/place/gary-danko-san-francisco"

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/api/place/handle/gary-danko-san-francisco"

A business's reviews, paginated:

bash

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $FETCHER_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "page=2" -G \
  "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/api/place/gary-danko-san-francisco/reviews"

MCP

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "yelp": {
      "url": "https://yelp.fetcher.sh/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer bby_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

Free: search_endpoints, describe_endpoint, check_balance. Paid: fetch_data (any endpoint above), topup_credits, plus the named shortcut yelp_search. Drop the headers block to pay per call with x402 instead — see the fetcher skill for the full flow.

Errors

• 400 — missing/invalid parameter (message names it)
• 401 — unknown or rotated key
• 402 — payment required (x402 challenge) or topup_required (credits exhausted)
• 404 — not a priced path
• No rate limits; no refunds on upstream failures (settlement precedes delivery)

Reference

• Full agent setup: https://yelp.fetcher.sh/skill.md
• OpenAPI 3.1 contract: https://yelp.fetcher.sh/openapi.json
• Condensed catalog: https://yelp.fetcher.sh/llms.txt
• Payment, credits, and MCP deep dive: fetcher skill
• Site: https://yelp.fetcher.sh