Vindex

Vehicle intelligence for AI agents — decode any 17-char VIN with a factory-warranty-terms block, MERGED US (NHTSA) + Canada (Transport Canada) recalls, LLM-clustered known issues with ODI citations plus a reliability-aggregates block, and itemized used-car drive-away costs for all 50 US states + DC and all 13 Canadian jurisdictions. Pay-per-call via x402 (USDC on Base or Solana); no accounts, no keys. Free /v1/sample/* endpoints return every response shape before you pay.

Vindex — Vehicle Intelligence for AI Agents

API at https://api.vindexapi.dev. Vindex aggregates free, public-domain vehicle-safety data and sells thin intelligence layers on top, priced per call. It is the only API that merges US (NHTSA) and Canada (Transport Canada) recalls in one response. Strictly pay-per-call via x402 — no accounts, no API keys, no bundles. Compute-first / settle-after: you are never charged for an error or a below-threshold (insufficient-data) answer.

VINs are used only as cache keys (up to 90 days), never linked to a person. Vindex is NOT a vehicle-history report — it makes no liens/accidents/odometer claims.

Payment mode is currently mock (live wallet pending); the flow documented here is the LIVE x402 flow that ships to agents. Check the active mode any time at GET /health (live|mock).

Free endpoints (no auth, no payment)

Every /v1/sample/* endpoint always serves the SAME fixed sample vehicle (2013 Ford F-150, VIN 1FTFW1ET5DFC10312), computed live through the normal pipeline — identical response shape to its paid per-VIN twin, plus top-level sample: true. Use them to learn every shape before paying.

Method	Path	Description
GET	/health	Liveness + configured payment mode (live|mock)
GET	/v1/sample/decode	FREE sample VIN decode (same shape as paid /v1/decode)
GET	/v1/sample/recalls	FREE sample merged US + Canada recalls + full decode (same shape as /v1/recalls)
GET	/v1/sample/known-issues	FREE sample known-issues + reliability block + full decode (same shape as /v1/known-issues; served as-is, never 503)
GET	/v1/sample/purchase-costs	FREE sample closing costs for BOTH countries — ca (Ontario $25,000 private) + us (California $25,000 private)
GET	/terms.txt · /terms.json	Terms of Service (also sets X-Terms-URL)

bash

curl https://api.vindexapi.dev/v1/sample/known-issues

Paid endpoints (x402 V2, USDC on Base or Solana, per-call)

Each paid call is a flat price per call, paid via x402. Every JSON response also carries a disclaimer string.

Method	Path	Price	Description
GET	/v1/decode?vin=VIN	$0.01	NHTSA vPIC normalized decode (make/model/year/engine/…) + a warranty block of ORIGINAL factory new-vehicle terms (basic/powertrain/corrosion/roadside/EV-battery) keyed off make/model-year — not warranty-remaining, excludes extended-warranty campaigns/recalls/emissions warranties. 90-day cache
GET	/v1/recalls?vin=VIN	$0.01	MERGED NHTSA (US) + Transport Canada (CA) recalls + counts + FULL decoded vehicle. OGL–Canada attribution. 24h cache
GET	/v1/known-issues?vin=VIN	$0.25	LLM-clustered named failure modes from NHTSA complaints; EVERY issue cites verified ODI complaint numbers (validated against the source set — hallucination-gated). ALSO returns a reliability aggregates block (top components; severity: crashes/fires/injuries; US & Canada recall counts incl. Canadian units affected) + the full decoded vehicle + complaintsAnalyzed (sample size) vs complaintCount (total). Refuses (uncharged, but still returns decode + reliability) below 15 complaints. 90-day cache
GET	/v1/purchase-costs?country=CA&province=BC&price=25000&sale_type=private|dealer	$0.02	Itemized Canadian used-vehicle closing costs for any of the 10 provinces + 3 territories (BC/AB/SK/MB/ON/QC/NB/NS/PE/NL/YT/NT/NU): provincial tax (PST/RST/QST/HST or GST-only) + transfer/registration/plate fees + inspection, per-line sourceUrl + confidence
GET	/v1/purchase-costs?country=US&state=CA&price=25000&sale_type=private|dealer	$0.02	Itemized US used-vehicle closing costs for any of the 50 states + DC (sales/use/excise tax, title, first-year registration, inspection, dealer doc fee), per-line sourceUrl + confidence

Purchase-costs is ONE endpoint selected by country=CA|US: CA requires province, US requires state (same $0.02 price). Required params: vin (17 chars, no I/O/Q) on the VIN routes; country + province/state + price + sale_type on the purchase-cost route. There is NO separate reliability endpoint — its aggregates ship inside every /v1/known-issues response.

Optional CA purchase-costs params: &buyer_has_plates=true (selects plate-dependent fee lines, e.g. Ontario permit $32 vs permit + plate $59), &family_gift=true (jurisdiction's family/related-individual gift exemption, $0 tax, private sales only). AB + YT/NT/NU have no private-sale tax.

Optional US purchase-costs params: &trade_in=5000 (deducted from tax base only where the state grants a FULL dealer trade-in credit), &local_rate=1.5 (exact county/city surtax %; omitted → sales-tax line carries a range up to the state max). Special regimes are handled automatically (DC tiered title EXCISE; IL RUT-50 private-party flat fee; SC 5% IMF capped $500; AK/AZ/HI/MT/NV/NH/OR levy no state sales tax on private-party sales).

Prices are USD, settled as USDC (6 decimals). A mock mode exists for testing (x-mock-payment header); the flow above is live x402.

Paying (x402)

Paid endpoints are a flat price per call — decode $0.01, recalls $0.01, known-issues $0.25, purchase-costs $0.02 — via x402 (USDC; Base and Solana supported). Server flow is compute-first / settle-after: you are never charged for an error or a below-threshold (insufficient-data) answer. Try every response shape for free first via /v1/sample/*. Agents can use the vindex-mcp npm package (an MCP server) which handles payment, or read the full flow at api.vindexapi.dev/llms.txt.

Machine discovery

Path	What
/llms.txt	This doc (concise)
/llms-full.txt	Extended agent doc
/openapi.json	OpenAPI 3.1 spec
/discovery	Discovery JSON (free/paid endpoint listing)
/.well-known/x402	x402 payment manifest
/.well-known/agent-card.json	A2A agent card

Errors & caveats

• 400 — invalid VIN (must be 17 chars, no I/O/Q) or bad params (missing province/state/price/sale_type).
• 402 — payment required / verification or settlement failed (you were NOT charged).
• 422 — vPIC could not resolve make/model/year for this VIN (vpicErrorText explains).
• 502 — an upstream public-data source was unavailable (served stale where possible).
• Insufficient data — known-issues below 15 complaints → 200 { "status": "insufficient_data", … }, uncharged (not an error).

Data sources & attribution: NHTSA vPIC + api.nhtsa.gov (US federal, public domain) for decode, recalls, and complaints; Transport Canada vehicle-recall-database for Canadian recalls — Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.

Disclaimer: Informational vehicle data aggregated from public sources; not professional, legal, or purchasing advice; provided as-is without warranty. NOT a vehicle-history report (no liens/accidents/odometer). Recall/complaint data reflects the source databases at fetch time. Terms: https://api.vindexapi.dev/terms.txt