find-software-developer

name	find-software-developer
description	Use whenever the user wants to find, shortlist, vet, or enrich US software development firms — custom software, web development, mobile app development, backend/API development, DevOps/cloud, system integration, and hosting. Triggers on "find a software dev shop in Austin", "shortlist three custom-software firms with healthcare experience", "we need a mobile app developer for our iOS launch", or "pull contact info for these 10 dev shop domains", even when described indirectly (build a tool, ship a feature, technical partner). Drives the ServiceGraph API (api.servicegraph.co) — a 100k+ US firm catalog filterable by industry, services, location, size, ratings. Defer to find-web-developer for strictly website/landing-page projects. Defer AI/ML, ML pipelines, model building, and data-engineering asks — those are a sibling industry, not software development. Skip in-house engineer hires, code-writing/debugging tasks, cloud-product comparisons, hardware/civil engineering, non-US firms, individual freelancers.
version	0.4.0
metadata	{"api_base":"https://api.servicegraph.co","dataset_id":"pro_services","industry":"it_services"}

find-software-developer

Drive the ServiceGraph API (https://api.servicegraph.co) to find, shortlist, and enrich US software development firms via the pro_services dataset. The catalog has tens of thousands of US IT-services firms tagged across ~21 service sub-tags including web-development, mobile-app-development, api-integration (singular), devops-services, cloud-services, system-integration, application-modernization, staff-augmentation, and managed-services.

The catalog has no custom-software, devops, api-integrations (plural), or hosting tag — for those user-facing concepts, pin application-modernization + web-development (for custom software), devops-services, or api-integration (singular) as the closest tags and add the keyword.

Always pin industry:it_services. This skill exists to do that automatically — the user shouldn't have to think about catalog taxonomy.

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

Sibling skills — defer when scope is narrow

• Strictly website / landing-page work (build or refresh a marketing site, simple WordPress) → find-web-developer. If unsure, this skill is the safer default — it covers web dev too.
• AI/ML modeling specifically (recommendation engines, LLM apps, ML pipelines as the core deliverable) → find-ai-consultancy. Those firms live in a sibling industry (data_ai_consulting), not it_services.
• Strictly marketing work (SEO, paid media, branding, content) → find-marketing-agency or find-seo-agency.

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.

Endpoint	Cost	Use it for
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields[?include_values=1]	free	Confirm it_services industry value and sub-tag names.
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=…	free	Validate filter.
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent	free	{intent} → DSL filter + sanity count.
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=…&limit=	free	Brief firm cards + per-row unlock hint + total.
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex	free	One row brief; detail only if unlocked.
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks	10 credits / firm	{apexes:[...]} ≤100; atomic; 30-day TTL on detail.
GET /v1/me/credits	free	Balance.

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).

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

industry:it_services custom software state:TX
industry:it_services service_provided:mobile-app-development
industry:it_services service_provided:devops-services aws
industry:it_services service_provided:api-integration fintech
industry:it_services python aws state:CA
industry:it_services service_provided:system-integration@high rating>=4 has:clutch
industry:it_services service_provided:application-modernization legacy

Tech stack / vertical → keyword mapping (the catalog tags services, not languages or industries served):

User mentions	Add as keyword
Python / Django / Flask	python
Node.js / TypeScript / React	node, react
Go / Rust / Java / .NET	go, rust, java, .net
AWS / GCP / Azure	aws, gcp, azure
Fintech / healthcare / govtech / SaaS	fintech, healthcare, govtech, saas
SOC 2 / HIPAA / compliance	soc2, hipaa, compliance

Identifying firms — apex

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

Recipes

A. Custom-software shop in a state

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+service_provided:application-modernization+custom+software+state:TX&limit=10
# Present, get pick of 3. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
  { "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }

B. Mobile app — vertical and platform

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+service_provided:mobile-app-development+ios&limit=10

iOS / Android distinctions aren't separate tags — use barewords.

C. DevOps + cloud migration

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+service_provided:devops-services+aws+migration&limit=10

If thin, drop migration first — it's a vertical keyword, not a service tag.

D. Indirect intent — "technical partner to build out tooling"

User: "We need a technical partner to build out our internal tooling, Northeast preferred."

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+custom+software+state:NY,MA,CT,NJ,PA&limit=10

Or use the translator:

POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/translate-intent
  { "intent": "technical partner to build internal tooling, Northeast preferred" }

E. Vertical + cert (fintech + SOC 2)

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+custom+software+fintech+soc2&limit=10

F. Quality threshold + third-party signals

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+service_provided:application-modernization+custom+software+rating>=4+review_count_total>=50&limit=10

G. API/backend specialty + remote

User: "API/backend team to extend our SaaS — Bay Area or remote-friendly."

remote-friendly isn't structured. Use geography_served:national_US (national-scope firms typically serve remotely) plus keywords:

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=industry:it_services+service_provided:api-integration+(state:CA OR geography_served:national_US)+saas&limit=10

H. BYO apex list — enrich domains

User pastes 8–20 domains:

1. GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/:apex per domain — free brief (404 = not in catalog, no charge).
2. User picks N to fully enrich. POST /unlocks = 10×N credits, atomic, detail returned.
3. Re-runs within 30-day TTL are free.

Gotchas

• Always pin industry:it_services. Without it, web-development / mobile-app-development keywords leak into marketing or design firms.
• Tag drift: there is no custom-software, devops, api-integrations (plural), or hosting tag. Map to application-modernization + web-development, devops-services, api-integration (singular) plus keywords.
• industry:data_ai_consulting is a sibling industry, not a sub-tag. AI/ML-focused firms live there — defer to find-ai-consultancy.
• Defer to find-web-developer for strictly website/landing-page projects. This skill covers web dev as a sub-service, but the dedicated skill ranks higher on narrow web-only asks.
• Programming language and tech stack are NOT structured tags. python, react, aws, kubernetes, rust are keyword substring matches. Multi-word stacks split into ANDs unless quoted ("ruby on rails").
• Client-vertical (fintech, healthcare, govtech) is NOT a structured tag. Keyword it.
• Catalog is US-only B2B. Refuse offshore asks ("a software firm in Bangalore"), individual freelancers, in-house engineering hires, and DIY/code tasks ("debug this", "review this PR").
• Cloud product comparisons aren't procurement. "Which is better, AWS or GCP?" is a knowledge question.
• Briefs DO include apex, name, location, ratings. They DON'T include url, phone_primary, email_primary, legal_name, address_full, full platforms — those require an unlock.
• not_found / not_in_dataset 404 = not in pro_services. Skip; not charged.
• Unlock is atomic. N apexes either all charge (up to 10×N credits) or none on 402.
• Within-TTL re-views are free (was_cached:true).

Errors

JSON envelope: {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}}.

Status	Code	What to do
400	filter_parse_error	position included; fix and re-validate with /check.
400	kind_in_filter	Strip any kind: from filter.
400	field_not_in_dataset	Drop the disallowed field.
400	invalid_apex	Re-normalize.
401	unauthorized / invalid_audience	Re-prompt for fresh vk_….
402	insufficient_credits	needed and balance; nothing charged.
404	not_found / not_in_dataset	Skip; not charged.
429	rate_limited	Honor Retry-After.

End-to-end example

User: "Three custom software firms with healthcare-industry experience, SOC 2-ready, ideally with at least a 4-star rating."

GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/fields?include_values=1
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/check?filter=industry:it_services+service_provided:application-modernization+custom+software+healthcare+soc2+rating>=4
GET /v1/datasets/pro_services/search?filter=...&limit=10
# Present briefs. "Unlocking 3 = 30 credits, 30-day TTL."
POST /v1/datasets/pro_services/unlocks
  { "apexes": ["firm-a.com", "firm-b.com", "firm-c.com"] }
GET /v1/me/credits