Find Engineering Firm

find-engineering-firm

Overview

Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find, shortlist, and enrich US real-world engineering firms — buildings, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing — via the pro_services dataset. The catalog tags firms with industry:engineering_services and a ~23-tag service sub-taxonomy.

This is NOT for software engineering. "Software engineering firm", "engineering team", "engineering manager hire", "system architecture review" — those are all software-developer territory. The first thing this skill confirms is that the user means real engineering, not software.

Always pin industry:engineering_services. Note the _services suffix — older docs sometimes show industry:engineering but the literal pin returns zero results in the live catalog. Sub-disciplines are typically structured service_provided tags (civil-engineering, structural-engineering, mep-engineering, etc.) — confirm exact names via /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1. Surveying is surveying-mapping, not surveying.

Any HTTP client works (curl, fetch, requests). Examples below use curl.

When NOT to use this skill

The dominant failure mode is firing on software-engineering asks. Refuse those.

• Software / SaaS / app-development asks — even when phrased as "software engineering firm", "engineering team partner", "build our platform" → defer to find-software-developer.
• In-house "engineering manager" hires — in modern B2B usage this is almost always software-engineering recruiting. Refuse.
• System / cloud / database architecture questions ("Postgres vs DynamoDB", "monolith vs microservices") — software topics.
• Architecture (buildings) — find-architecture-firm covers that industry (when it exists). This skill covers engineering disciplines that work with architects (structural, MEP, civil), but the architect-of-record procurement is a different fire.
• Consumer/residential ("architect for a residential remodel", "engineer to inspect my house"). Catalog is B2B procurement only.
• Non-US firms / individual freelance engineers / DIY questions / engineering-software product comparisons (Revit, AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Ansys).

Prerequisites

• ServiceGraph access, either:
  • the ServiceGraph MCP server (https://mcp.servicegraph.co) loaded in your harness — this plugin's .mcp.json wires it up; OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps credentials in the harness sandbox — or
  • a ServiceGraph API key (vk_…, minted at https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys) available as SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY in the environment or .env.local for the REST path (setup steps under Auth below).
• An HTTP client for the REST path — the examples use curl.

Instructions

The loop is free-first: discovery, validation, search, and brief reads cost nothing; only unlock after the user confirms the spend.

1. Pick the call path — the ServiceGraph MCP tools if loaded, otherwise the REST flow (MCP server and Auth sections below).
2. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1 — confirm the fields and values you plan to filter on exist.
3. Build the filter (Filter DSL below) and validate it with GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check — or draft it from plain English via POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent.
4. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search — present the free brief cards and let the user pick.
5. Quote the unlock cost (10 credits per row, 30-day TTL) and get an explicit go-ahead.
6. POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks with the chosen apexes; report the revealed detail.
7. GET /v1/me/credits to report the remaining balance when asked.

MCP server (preferred for authed calls)

If your harness has the ServiceGraph MCP server loaded (tools containing servicegraph), prefer those — OAuth 2.1 + PKCE keeps the token in the harness sandbox. Otherwise use the REST flow below.

API surface (dataset id: pro_services)

Every endpoint requires the bearer (Authorization: Bearer vk_…). No anonymous tier.

Cost model. Discovery / validation / search / brief reads are free. Detail (url, phone, email, social, address, full platforms map) costs 10 credits per firm and lasts 30 days.

Auth

vk_* API keys minted in the dashboard. Keep the token out of the LLM context — never read .env* into your context; dispatch via shell.

1. Try the call first through a shell wrapper that sources .env.local:

   ( set -a; [ -f .env.local ] && . ./.env.local; set +a;
     curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY" \
          'https://api.servicegraph.co/v1/datasets/pro_services/fields' )

2. On 401 prompt the user:

   "Open https://servicegraph.co/profile/api-keys, create a key, and add SERVICEGRAPH_API_KEY=vk_… to .env.local here (or export it). Tell me when done. Please don't paste the key into chat."

3. Retry after the user signals ready.

Filter DSL

GitHub-search-style.

filter   := orExpr
orExpr   := andExpr ("OR" andExpr)*
andExpr  := notExpr (("AND")? notExpr)*    # whitespace = implicit AND
notExpr  := ("NOT" | "-") notExpr | atom
atom     := "(" filter ")" | predicate
predicate:= IDENT op valueOrList | bareword
op       := ":" | "=" | ">=" | "<=" | ">" | "<"
valueOrList := value ("," value)*
value    := IDENT | NUMBER | tagAtEvidence
tagAtEvidence := IDENT "@" ("low"|"medium"|"high")
bareword := IDENT | NUMBER          # → keyword:<bareword>

Four rules that bite: AND binds tighter than OR (use parens); comma list = OR within one predicate; negation is -x or NOT x; bareword = keyword search (quote multi-word phrases).

Engineering-flavored examples (validate yours with /check):

industry:engineering_services service_provided:civil-engineering state:FL transportation
industry:engineering_services service_provided:structural-engineering high-rise
industry:engineering_services service_provided:mep-engineering hospital
industry:engineering_services service_provided:mechanical-engineering hvac industrial
industry:engineering_services service_provided:environmental-engineering remediation
industry:engineering_services service_provided:geotechnical-engineering state:CA
industry:engineering_services service_provided:civil-engineering@high has:clutch
industry:engineering_services service_provided:electrical-engineering manufacturing

Sub-discipline → tag mapping (verify exact names via /fields; ~23 sub-tags so this isn't exhaustive):

Verticals (hospital, high-rise, semiconductor, retail, datacenter) and credentials (PE-licensed, LEED, AICP) are keyword-only.

Identifying firms — apex

Firms are identified by their apex domain (aecom.com, not www.aecom.com/about).

Output

All responses are JSON.

• Search returns free brief firm cards — apex, name, location, and rating signals — plus a per-row unlock hint and the match total. Briefs never include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, or the full platforms map.
• Unlock (POST …/unlocks) returns each unlocked firm's detail block — contact fields, address, socials, the platforms map — plus per-item billing; detail stays readable for 30 days.
• Errors arrive as a JSON envelope {"error": {"code": "…", "message": "…"}} — see Errors below.