Install Jentic One Beta
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the Ordnance Survey Data Hub APIs, 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%2Fosdatahub.os.uk%2Fosdatahub" | shStep 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%2Fosdatahub.os.uk%2Fosdatahub" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic 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.
What an agent can do with Ordnance Survey Data Hub APIs.
Search UK geographic place names by free text
Find the nearest place names to a coordinate within a radius
Search for UK addresses by free text or postcode
Look up a specific address by its Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN)
Fetch raster map tiles by layer, zoom, and tile coordinates
GET STARTED
Patterns agents use Ordnance Survey Data Hub APIs for, with concrete tasks.
★ AI Agent Address Lookup
An AI agent completing a form or validating a delivery can resolve a UK postcode or UPRN to a full address through Jentic. The agent searches for the places operation, passes the postcode or reference number, and receives the matching addresses, without the developer wiring the API key or reading the Ordnance Survey reference docs.
Call GET /search/places/v1/postcode with a UK postcode to list the addresses at that postcode
Place Name Search
Mapping and travel apps let users search for towns, streets, and landmarks. The names search operation returns ranked place-name matches for free text, and the nearest operation returns the closest names to a coordinate, so an agent can power a location search box or reverse-locate a point.
Call GET /search/names/v1/find with a place-name query and read the ranked matches
Map Tile Rendering
Web and mobile maps display Ordnance Survey basemaps. The raster tile operation returns a PNG tile for a chosen layer at a zoom level and tile coordinate, so a map client can stitch tiles into an interactive UK map.
Call GET /maps/raster/v1/zxy/{layer}/{z}/{x}/{y}.png to fetch a basemap tile
6 endpoints — the ordnance survey data hub api resolves uk place names and addresses and serves official basemap tiles.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
/search/names/v1/find
Search place names by free text
/search/names/v1/nearest
Find nearest place names to a coordinate
/search/places/v1/find
Search addresses by free text
/search/places/v1/postcode
Search addresses by postcode
/search/places/v1/uprn
Look up an address by UPRN
/maps/raster/v1/zxy/{layer}/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
Get a raster map tile
/search/names/v1/find
Search place names by free text
/search/names/v1/nearest
Find nearest place names to a coordinate
/search/places/v1/find
Search addresses by free text
/search/places/v1/postcode
Search addresses by postcode
/search/places/v1/uprn
Look up an address by UPRN
/maps/raster/v1/zxy/{layer}/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
Get a raster map tile
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API by hand means registering a project, passing its API key on every request as a header or query parameter, and handling the names, places, and maps services separately. Through Jentic you install once, import Ordnance Survey from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
This API is read-only, so a rule can bound your agent to the specific lookups it needs, such as the postcode and UPRN address searches, and exclude the map-tile and place-name operations. You choose the operation set, so the agent reads location data but cannot reach anything you did not grant.
Credential isolation
Your Ordnance Survey project 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 'find addresses for a postcode' or 'search UK place names', and Jentic returns the matching Ordnance Survey operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
Specific to using Ordnance Survey Data Hub APIs through Jentic.
What authentication does the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API use?
The Ordnance Survey Data Hub API authenticates with a project API key, supplied in the `key` parameter as either a request header or a query value, per its OpenAPI spec. Through Jentic the key is stored encrypted by your own Jentic One instance and injected at call time, so it never enters the agent's prompt or logs.
Can I look up a UK address by postcode with the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API?
Yes. The postcode search operation returns the addresses registered to a postcode, and the UPRN operation resolves a single property reference to its full address. Free-text address search is available when you only have part of the address.
What are the rate limits for the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API?
The OpenAPI spec does not specify rate limits; your transaction allowance depends on your Data Hub plan. Current limits are published in the vendor documentation at https://osdatahub.os.uk/docs.
How do I resolve UK addresses with the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API through Jentic?
Install Jentic One with `curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jentic/jentic-one/main/tools/install.sh | sh`, import Ordnance Survey from the API Directory, and store your project key once. Your agent then searches for an intent such as 'find addresses for a postcode', and Jentic returns the matching operation with its input schema. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.
Is there an Ordnance Survey MCP server?
You do not need an MCP server to give your agent the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import the API, store your key once, and your agent calls the names, places, and maps operations on demand, which keeps your agent's context free of an extra server's tool definitions.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Ordnance Survey Data Hub API?
Yes. Every operation here is a read, so you can allow your agent only the lookups it needs, such as address search by postcode, while leaving out map tiles or place-name search. Because you run Jentic One yourself, the agent can resolve addresses but holds no access beyond the read operations you grant, and every call is logged.
For Agents
Search UK place names and addresses by text, postcode, or UPRN, and fetch Ordnance Survey raster map tiles. Authenticates with a project API key.
Use for: Search for a place name in the UK, Find the nearest towns to a latitude and longitude, Look up addresses for a UK postcode, Get the full address for a UPRN
Not supported: Does not handle routing, international addresses, or satellite imagery. Use for UK place-name, address, and map-tile lookups only.
The Ordnance Survey Data Hub API resolves UK place names and addresses and serves official basemap tiles. It searches geographic place names by free text or proximity to a coordinate, finds addresses by free text, postcode, or Unique Property Reference Number, and returns raster map tiles for a chosen layer at a given zoom and tile coordinate. Responses carry the authoritative Ordnance Survey location data behind UK mapping and address lookup.
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>