Three calls get you from nothing to a price verdict: resolve an identifier to a canonical product, read its current offers, then ask what those offers mean against its own history.
Access is currently granted case by case while we prioritise which sources and endpoints to harden first — tell us what you are building and we will get you a key. Keys are scoped per environment: a test key returns the same shapes against a fixed fixture set, so you can build and run CI without spending quota.
export CENSUS_KEY="cc_test_…"
You do not need to know our identifiers. Send whatever you already hold — a GTIN, an ASIN, a seller SKU, a product link, or plain language.
curl https://api.commercecensus.com/v1/resolve \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CENSUS_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"ref": "0885909950805"}'
{ "product_id": "prd_8Fk2xQ",
"gtin": "00885909950805",
"brand": "Sony",
"match": { "method": "gtin_exact", "confidence": 1.0 },
"listings": [ … ] }This is the call that distinguishes a price API from a price feed. It returns a verdict with the distribution behind it, so you can show your reasoning rather than assert a conclusion.
curl "https://api.commercecensus.com/v1/products/prd_8Fk2xQ/context?days=90" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $CENSUS_KEY"
{ "verdict": "excellent", "current": "$198.00", "seller": "bestbuy",
"percentile": 4.0, "covered_days": 89,
"low": "$198.00", "median": "$319.99", "high": "$398.00" }Set up a watch so you are told when it moves, rather than asking. Or connect the MCP server and let an agent make these calls itself.