For AI agents

Agent & MCP Access

VintageBiz.shop hands its public content to AI agents as structured, callable tools. Rather than scraping HTML, an agent can search the shop directory by city or radius, read the dated events calendar, browse objects by decade or maker, and pull guides and FAQs — getting canonical URLs back to cite.

11 READ-ONLY TOOLS · NO AUTHENTICATION · NO RATE-LIMITED SIGNUP

Three ways in

All three run the same tools through the same validation, visibility rules and rate limiting.

Model Context Protocol: Point an MCP client at https://vintagebiz.shop/mcp. Streamable HTTP, no authentication.
JSON API: GET or POST to /api/agent/tools/{tool} for clients that do not speak MCP.
WebMCP, in the browser: Public pages declare the same tools on document.modelContext, so a browser-based agent can call them on the page it is already looking at.

Discovery

/.well-known/mcp.json — a machine-readable manifest with every tool input schema
/api/agent — what this host is and which tools it offers
/api/agent/tools — the full tool manifest
/llms.txt — a plain-text map of this host
/llms-full.txt — the same map with the full page inventory
/sitemap.xml — every canonical URL worth crawling

Context follows the hostname

The endpoint scopes itself to whichever host you call it on, so you need not pass a section on every call. Calling events.vintagebiz.shop/mcp works within the events calendar; calling vintagebiz.shop/mcp covers the whole platform.

You are reading this on vintagebiz.shop. You are operating on the main VintageBiz.shop site, which covers every section of the platform.

Tools

Every tool below is read-only, public, and needs no authentication.

describe_platform

Explain what VintageBiz.shop is, which sections exist, and what the agent is currently connected to. Call this first when you are unsure which other tool to use, or when a user asks what this site offers.

Takes no parameters.

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/describe_platform

search_content

Search everything public on VintageBiz.shop at once: how-to guides, articles, events, shop listings, blog posts, storefronts and products. Use this for open-ended questions such as "how do I price antiques" or "what should I bring to a flea market". Returns canonical URLs you can cite or share.

Parameter	Type	Description
`query` required	string	What to search for, in natural language or keywords.
`types`	array	Restrict to these result types. Omit to search all.
`section`	string	Restrict to one section. Defaults to the section this host serves, if any. One of: events, shops, vendors, collectors, howto, community, blog
`limit`	integer	Maximum results to return (1-25).

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/search_content?query=pricing

search_guides

Search the educational library only: how-to guides and articles about starting, running and growing a vintage or antique business, plus buying, identifying, pricing, restoring and selling. Use this instead of search_content when the user wants to learn something rather than find a shop or an event.

Parameter	Type	Description
`query` required	string	The topic to find guidance on.
`section`	string	Restrict to one educational section. One of: events, shops, vendors, collectors, howto, community
`limit`	integer

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/search_guides?query=pricing

get_guide

Retrieve the full text of one guide or article, including its FAQ answers and related links. Call this after search_guides when you need the detail to answer a question accurately. Identify the page by its slug plus section, or by pasting its canonical URL.

Parameter	Type	Description
`slug`	string	The page slug, e.g. "pricing-vintage-items-to-sell".
`section`	string	Which section the page belongs to. Required when using slug. One of: events, shops, vendors, collectors, howto, community
`url`	string	Alternatively, the full canonical URL of the page.

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/get_guide

search_faqs

Search short question-and-answer pairs across the whole platform. Best tool when the user asks a specific factual question about the vintage trade ("do I need a resale permit?", "what markup should I use?"). Each result includes the answer text and the URL it came from, so you can answer and cite in one step.

Parameter	Type	Description
`query` required	string	The question or keywords to match.
`section`	string	One of: events, shops, vendors, collectors, howto, community
`limit`	integer

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/search_faqs?query=pricing

browse_section

List the published pages in one section of VintageBiz.shop, optionally filtered by page type. Use this when a user asks what is available on a topic area, or when a search returned nothing and you want to see the real contents before trying different wording.

Parameter	Type	Description
`section`	string	Which section to browse. Defaults to the section this host serves. One of: events, shops, vendors, collectors, howto, community
`type`	string	Restrict to one page type. One of: guide, article, event, listing
`limit`	integer

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/browse_section

search_events

Find upcoming vintage and antique events listed on VintageBiz.shop: antique shows, flea markets, estate sales, auctions, swap meets, vintage markets, pop-ups and collector conventions. Supports date windows (today, this weekend, next weekend, this month) or an explicit date range, plus location search by city, state or radius. Returns real dates, venues and admission prices as published by the organiser: report them as given and never invent a date, venue or price that is not in the result.

Parameter	Type	Description
`query`	string	Optional keyword to match against event title, venue or city.
`window`	string	A named date window. Omit for everything upcoming. One of: today, this_weekend, next_weekend, this_month
`starts_after`	string	ISO date. Only events starting on or after this day.
`starts_before`	string	ISO date. Only events starting on or before this day.
`location`	string	A city and optional state, such as "Houston, TX". Combine with radius_miles.
`state`	string	Two-letter US state code, such as TX.
`radius_miles`	number	Search radius around location, in miles. Defaults to 25, capped at 250.
`category`	string	Restrict to one kind of event. One of: antique_show, flea_market, estate_sale, auction, swap_meet, vintage_market, pop_up, convention
`timezone`	string	IANA timezone used to resolve date windows. "This weekend" is a local question, so pass the timezone of the person asking when you know it.
`limit`	integer

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/search_events?query=pricing

get_event

Retrieve the full published details of one vintage event by its slug: dates, venue, address, admission, organiser and, for recurring events, the next scheduled dates. Report the dates and prices exactly as returned.

Parameter	Type	Description
`slug` required	string	The event slug, taken from a search_events result URL.

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/get_event

search_shops

Find vintage and antique businesses listed on VintageBiz.shop: antique shops, vintage clothing sellers, collectibles dealers, estate sale companies, flea market vendors, antique mall booths and market organisers. Supports location search by city, state or radius, and filtering by trade or speciality. Returns each shop with its location, opening trade, specialities and canonical URL. Only shops the owner has published and listed in the directory are returned.

Parameter	Type	Description
`query`	string	Optional keyword to match against shop name, tagline, description or city.
`location`	string	A city and optional state, such as "Houston, TX" or "Charleston". Combine with radius_miles to search outwards from that point. Unrecognised places are reported back rather than silently ignored.
`state`	string	Two-letter US state code, such as TX.
`radius_miles`	number	Search radius around location, in miles. Defaults to 25 and is capped at 250.
`business_type`	string	Restrict to one trade. One of: antique_shop, vintage_shop, clothing_seller, collectibles_shop, estate_sale_company, flea_market_vendor, consignment_store, mall_booth, market_organizer
`specialty`	string	Restrict to shops that list this speciality, such as "Pyrex" or "militaria".
`limit`	integer

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/search_shops?query=pricing

get_shop

Retrieve one public storefront by its slug, including its description, contact details where the shop has published them, and a sample of items currently for sale with prices. Use after search_shops.

Parameter	Type	Description
`slug` required	string	The shop slug, which is its subdomain, e.g. "timeless-treasures".

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/get_shop

search_objects

Search vintage and antique objects for sale across every shop listed on VintageBiz.shop. Filter by decade, maker, condition, price range or location. Each result carries the price, the shop selling it, and a URL. Purchases are completed on the seller shop, not on the main site. Only active items from published, directory-listed shops are returned.

Parameter	Type	Description
`query`	string	Keyword to match against the object name, maker, summary or provenance.
`era`	string	The decade the object dates from. One of: antique, 1800s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s
`maker`	string	Exact maker or brand, such as "Pyrex".
`condition`	string	Trade condition grade. One of: mint, excellent, very_good, good, fair, restored, for_parts
`price_min`	number	Minimum price in USD.
`price_max`	number	Maximum price in USD.
`location`	string	A city and optional state. Objects are located wherever their dealer is.
`radius_miles`	number	Search radius around location, in miles. Defaults to 25, capped at 250.
`sort`	string	Result ordering. One of: recent, price_asc, price_desc
`limit`	integer

Try it: https://vintagebiz.shop/api/agent/tools/search_objects?query=pricing

Response shape

Every tool returns the same envelope. meta.canonical_url is the host you called.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "location": "Houston, TX",
    "count": 2,
    "results": [
      {
        "name": "Ridgeline Mercantile",
        "business_type": "vintage_shop",
        "city": "Houston",
        "state": "TX",
        "distance_miles": 4.2,
        "url": "https://ridgeline-mercantile.vintagebiz.shop",
        "directory_url": "https://shops.vintagebiz.shop/shop/ridgeline-mercantile"
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "source": "vintagebiz.shop",
    "scope": "central",
    "canonical_url": "https://vintagebiz.shop",
    "authenticated": false
  }
}

Limits and ground rules

120 calls per minute per tool, per caller. Exceeding it returns success: false with a retry hint, not an exception.
Every tool is read-only. Nothing here can change data, place an order, or contact a business.
Only published, publicly listed content is reachable. Draft objects, unpublished events, shops that opted out of the directory, customer data, orders and admin areas are not exposed. A shop being absent is not evidence it does not exist.
Shops and events carry real city, state and coordinate data, so location and radius search is reliable. Use the location parameters rather than inferring geography from page text. An unrecognised place is reported back rather than silently ignored.
Events carry real dates, venues and admission prices as published by the organiser. Report them as returned. Some are recurring series, where get_event lists the upcoming dates.
Object prices and stock change often, and a purchase is completed on the seller's own storefront rather than here. Re-check the live URL before quoting either.
Content is free to quote and cite. Please link back to the canonical URL you were given.

Coming later

Authenticated write tools — submitting an event, claiming a shop listing, managing a storefront — are planned and deliberately not shipped yet. They will require an authenticated account and explicit per-action consent. No agent will take an irreversible or financial action on someone's behalf without it.