Install Jentic One Beta

Connect the Auto.dev Vehicle Data API to your agent

Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Auto.dev Vehicle Data API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.

Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.

Step 1: Jentic One Host machine

# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fauto.dev%2Fauto" | sh

Step 2: Agent machine

# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fauto.dev%2Fauto" | sh
jentic register       # connects your agent to your Jentic One instance

Jentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Auto.dev Vehicle Data API.

Decode a global VIN into make, model, year, and build details

Resolve a US license plate and state to its VIN

Return vehicle specifications, OEM build data, and photos for a VIN

Pull active and open safety recalls for a vehicle

Retrieve financing rates, payment estimates, taxes, and total cost of ownership

GET STARTED

Start building with Auto.dev Vehicle Data API

Explore with Jentic One

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Auto.dev Vehicle Data API for, with concrete tasks.

★ AI Agent Vehicle Data Integration via Jentic

An agent that answers vehicle questions can call Auto.dev through Jentic without wiring one of its three key placements or reading the reference docs. The agent searches by intent, receives the operation schema, and submits a VIN or plate to get structured data back. This suits car-shopping assistants, insurance tools, and fleet agents that need authoritative vehicle facts.

Search Jentic for 'decode a VIN', load the operation schema, and call it with a VIN to receive the vehicle's make, model, and year

VIN Decoding and Specifications

Turn a VIN or a US plate into a full vehicle profile. Auto.dev decodes the VIN into make, model, and year, resolves a plate to a VIN first where needed, and returns specifications, OEM build data, and photos for the vehicle. This lets an agent identify and describe a car from a single identifier.

Call GET /vin/{vin} to decode a VIN, then GET /specs/{vin} for its specifications

Safety Recall Checks

Check whether a vehicle has open safety recalls before a sale, service, or purchase decision. Auto.dev returns both the full recall history and the currently open recalls for a VIN, which an agent can surface to a user or gate a workflow on.

Call GET /openrecalls/{vin} to list the open safety recalls for a vehicle

Financing and Cost Analysis

Estimate what a vehicle costs to finance and own. Auto.dev returns interest rates, payment estimates, taxes and fees, and a total cost of ownership figure for a VIN, so a car-shopping agent can compare the real cost of two vehicles rather than just sticker prices.

Call GET /tco/{vin} to get the total cost of ownership for a vehicle

Key Endpoints

12 endpoints — the auto.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

GET

/vin/{vin}

Decode a global VIN

GET

/plate/{state}/{plate}

Resolve a US plate to a VIN

GET

/specs/{vin}

Vehicle specifications

GET

/listings/{vin}

Vehicle listings

GET

/recalls/{vin}

Vehicle recalls

GET

/apr/{vin}

Interest rates

GET

/taxes/{vin}

Taxes and fees

GET

/tco/{vin}

Total cost of ownership

GET

/vin/{vin}

Decode a global VIN

GET

/plate/{state}/{plate}

Resolve a US plate to a VIN

GET

/specs/{vin}

Vehicle specifications

GET

/listings/{vin}

Vehicle listings

GET

/recalls/{vin}

Vehicle recalls

GET

/apr/{vin}

Interest rates

GET

/taxes/{vin}

Taxes and fees

GET

/tco/{vin}

Total cost of ownership

Why Jentic?

What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.

Setup

Wiring the Auto.dev API by hand means choosing one of its three key placements (a Bearer token, the apiKey query parameter, or the X-API-Key header), pointing each call at a VIN or US plate, and honouring Retry-After on throttling yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import Auto.dev from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.

Permission scoping

Every Auto.dev endpoint takes a VIN or US plate in the URL path, such as /specs/{vin}, so a rule can bound your agent to the lookups you want. You choose the operations it may call, so you can allow VIN decode and recalls while leaving listings or financing out.

Credential isolation

Your Auto.dev API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'decode a VIN' or 'check vehicle recalls', and Jentic returns the matching Auto.dev operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

FAQs

Specific to using Auto.dev Vehicle Data API through Jentic.

Is there an Auto.dev MCP server?

You don't need a separate MCP server to give your agent the Auto.dev API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it, store your key once, and your agent calls the VIN, specs, recall, and financing operations it needs.

Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Auto.dev API?

Yes. Every endpoint takes a VIN or plate in the URL path, so you write a rule that allows just the lookups you want, such as VIN decode and open recalls, and the agent can run those while listings, photos, and financing stay out of reach. Every call is logged by your self-hosted instance.

What authentication does the Auto.dev API use?

The Auto.dev API accepts an API key three ways per its OpenAPI spec: as a Bearer token in the Authorization header, as the apiKey query parameter, or in the X-API-Key header. Through Jentic the key is stored encrypted by your own Jentic One instance and injected at call time.

Can I check vehicle recalls with the Auto.dev API?

Yes. One operation returns the full recall history for a VIN and a separate operation returns only the currently open recalls, so an agent can gate a sale or service decision on live safety data. Both take the VIN in the path.

What are the rate limits for the Auto.dev API?

The OpenAPI spec notes that throughput is per plan and that clients should honour the Retry-After header when they are throttled; it does not publish fixed numeric limits. Check the vendor's documentation at https://www.auto.dev for current limits and plan tiers.

How do I decode a VIN with the Auto.dev API through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'decode a VIN' and it returns the Auto.dev decode operation with its input schema; supply a VIN and the agent receives the make, model, year, and build details as JSON. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.

Auto.dev Vehicle Data API

AI ReadinessAI-Aware (A-)73/100

See full scorecard

Official vendor OpenAPI document · agent-readyData EnrichmentData TransformationapiKey, bearer12 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Decode VINs or US plates and return vehicle specs, build data, listings, photos, recalls, financing, taxes, and total cost of ownership. Returns JSON over a REST API that accepts an API key by header, bearer token, or query parameter.

Use for: I want to decode a VIN into its make and model, Look up the VIN for a California plate, Get the specifications for a vehicle by VIN, Check whether a car has any open safety recalls

Not supported: Does not sell cars, process payments, or manage dealership inventory. Use for vehicle data lookups by VIN or US plate only.

The Auto.dev Vehicle Data API returns automotive data for a vehicle from its VIN or US license plate, as JSON. It decodes VINs, resolves plates to VINs, and provides specifications, OEM build data, listings, photos, and safety recalls. It also covers financial data such as interest rates, payment estimates, taxes and fees, and total cost of ownership.

Jentic One on Github View OpenAPI Document

Show dimension breakdown

100

Foundational Compliance

Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.

Grade: A+Signals: 4

99%

Lint Results

Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.

100%

Resolution Completeness

Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.

100%

Specification Validity

Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).

100%

Structural Integrity

Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.

Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility

Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.

Grade: B+Signals: 4

Example Density

How richly the API is illustrated with examples.

100%

Example Validity

Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.

75%

Response Coverage

Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).

100%

Tooling Readiness

Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.

AI-Readiness & Agent Experience

Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.

Grade: A-Signals: 4

69%

Description Coverage

Coverage of descriptions across API elements.

100%

Error Standardization

Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.

100%

OperationId Quality

Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.

48%

Summary Coverage

Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.

Agent Usability

Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.

Grade: A+Signals: 1

94%

Complexity Comfort

Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.

Security

Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.

Grade: D-Signals: 1

42%

Authentication Strength

Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).

AI Discoverability

Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.

Grade: B+Signals: 1

69%

Descriptive Richness

Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.

Connect the Auto.dev Vehicle Data API to your agent

Capabilities

Start building with Auto.dev Vehicle Data API

Use Cases

Key Endpoints

Why Jentic?

Related APIs

FAQs

Auto.dev Vehicle Data API

Jentic AI Readiness Score

Auto.dev Vehicle Data API

Foundational Compliance

Lint Results

Resolution Completeness

Specification Validity

Structural Integrity

Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility

Example Density

Example Validity

Response Coverage

Tooling Readiness

AI-Readiness & Agent Experience

Description Coverage

Error Standardization

OperationId Quality

Summary Coverage

Agent Usability

Complexity Comfort

Security

Authentication Strength

AI Discoverability

Descriptive Richness