Knowledge Base
How-to guides for the screening API, the MCP server, tokens, webhooks and quotas. For endpoint-by-endpoint reference, see the API documentation.
Getting started
Authenticate with an API token
Every metered CompliAPI endpoint requires authentication. The standard method is a bearer API token, which you create and manage from your dashboard.
Explore the interactive API reference
Before writing any integration code, it helps to explore CompliAPI's endpoints interactively. There are two main resources for this: the interactive API…
Make your first sanctions screening call
CompliAPI lets you check any crypto address, email, website, government ID, or country against multiple global sanctions lists in a single API call. This…
Use the API without an account using x402 micropayments
If you want to call CompliAPI without signing up for an account, every metered endpoint supports x402 micropayments — you pay per request in USDC on Base with…
Screening API
Download the full entity list for a source list
The GET /screen/lists/{slug}/entities endpoint returns every identifier currently active on a single source list, in either JSON or CSV format. It is free and…
Filter screening results to specific source lists
Every /screen/ endpoint accepts an optional ?lists= query parameter that lets you limit screening to a specific subset of source lists. By default, a…
Look up recently delisted entities
The GET /delisted endpoint returns entities that have recently been removed from their source lists. It is free and unauthenticated — no API token required. A…
Screen a country for sanctions designations
The GET /screen/country/{country} endpoint returns the sanctions designations covering a given country or region. You can pass either a country name (for…
Screen a crypto address or ENS name
The GET /screen/crypto/{address} endpoint checks a crypto address or ENS name against every enabled sanctions and crime list in a single call. It supports…
Screen a government-issued ID with fuzzy matching
The GET /screen/id/{government_id} endpoint screens passports, tax IDs, national IDs, registration numbers, and similar government-issued identifiers against…
Screen a person's name for PEP status
The /screen/pep endpoint checks a person's name against the OpenSanctions politically exposed persons (PEP) dataset. A PEP is someone who holds or has held a…
Screen a website or domain against sanctions lists
The GET /screen/website endpoint checks a website or domain against every enabled sanctions list in a single call. Unlike the other screening endpoints, the…
Screen an email address against sanctions lists
The GET /screen/email/{email} endpoint checks an email address against every enabled sanctions and crime list in one request. Matching is exact and…
Search sanctions data with fuzzy and regex matching
The GET /search endpoint lets you search across every enabled source list by name, alias, company, or identifier value. It is free, unauthenticated, and…
Understand the screening response: sanctioned, flagged, and matches
Every /screen/ endpoint returns the same response envelope, regardless of whether you're screening a crypto address, email, website, government ID, or…
Geo & VPN
Detect whether an IP address is using a VPN
The VPN detection endpoint tells you whether a given IP address is routing through a VPN. This is useful when you need to enforce geo-based restrictions and…
Geolocate an IP address and flag sanctioned countries
The geolocation endpoint resolves an IP address to its city, region, and country, and immediately tells you whether that country is subject to sanctions. This…
MCP server
Available MCP tools and their arguments
CompliAPI exposes eight tools through its MCP server: six for screening entities against sanctions and crime lists, and two for network checks. Every tool…
Connect an MCP client to CompliAPI
CompliAPI exposes its full screening engine as an MCP server over streamable HTTP at https://api.compliapi.com/mcp. Once connected, AI agents can call…
Example agent workflows: screening flows with MCP tools
The CompliAPI MCP tools are designed to be chained together so agents can run multi-step compliance checks as part of a larger workflow. The examples below…
Data & compliance reference
All source lists: what they cover and how often they refresh
Every screening call checks all enabled source lists at once and tells you which list produced each match. This article describes what each list covers, who…
API versioning and what can change without notice
The CompliAPI public API is versioned in the URL path — every endpoint lives under /api/v1. As long as you integrate against that prefix, you can rely on a…
Discover and query available source lists
The GET /screen/lists endpoint returns the full registry of source lists that CompliAPI tracks — including their slugs, display names, types, maintenance…
Get live statistics on list sizes and freshness
The GET /stats endpoint gives you a real-time snapshot of every source list CompliAPI tracks: how many entities it contains, how those entities break down by…
How OFAC list data is refreshed and how to check its freshness
CompliAPI checks the OFAC publication stream every 15 minutes and ingests any new publication immediately on detection. The OFAC SDN list and the OFAC…
Rate limits, burst limits, and quota error codes
Every metered response from CompliAPI includes standard rate-limit headers that tell you exactly where you stand in the current burst window. Rather than…
Account & billing
Manage API tokens: create, view usage, and revoke
API tokens are how CompliAPI authenticates your requests. Each token belongs to your organization, so every team member's requests count against the same…
Set up monitoring webhooks to track sanctions status changes
Screening tells you whether an entity is sanctioned at the moment you ask. Monitoring webhooks do something different: they notify you the moment a sanctions…
Understand plans, quotas, and what happens when you go over
CompliAPI measures usage in credits. Every metered request — a screening call, a VPN check, or a geolocation lookup — costs one credit, regardless of how many…
Verify webhook signatures and handle delivery reliably
Every webhook delivery CompliAPI sends includes an X-CompliAPI-Signature header. Verifying this header before acting on a payload ensures the request…