Identifiers: CLIP, APN and address - Cotality developer portal

The identity spine

Every Cotality workflow anchors to one stable key: the CLIP.

Identifier	What it is	Stability	Use it to
CLIP	Cotality property identifier — unique per property	Stable, persistent	Join all data assets for a property
APN	Assessor’s parcel number — county-assigned	Varies by county; can change	Tie to local tax and assessment records
Address	USPS-standardized street address	Unstable (formatting, aliases, unit variants)	Human input → always resolve to CLIP first

Why CLIP first

Addresses are ambiguous — “123 Main St” vs “123 Main Street Apt 2” — and APNs differ in format across ~3,000 US counties. The CLIP normalizes both into one durable key so property characteristics, transactions, and risk always align.

Resolving to a CLIP

Standardize the address

Addresses are normalized to USPS Publication 28 before matching. Provide street number, street name, city, state, and ZIP for best match accuracy.

Call the resolver

MCP: clip-find_property_by_full_address — returns CLIP and property details.MCP (if you have the CLIP): clip-find_property_by_clip — validates and returns full property record.

Use the CLIP everywhere

Pass the returned CLIP to every downstream tool — Property characteristics, Climate risk analytics.

// Resolve response (illustrative)
{
  "success": true,
  "count": 1,
  "data": [{
    "clip": "123456789",
    "address": { "fullAddress": "123 Main St, Austin TX 78701" },
    "apn": "0234-0012-0056"
  }],
  "messages": []
}

Never fabricate or guess a CLIP. If resolution returns zero candidates, report that to the user. If it returns multiple candidates, surface them for the user to disambiguate — do not assume the first match. See Error handling for CLIP_NOT_FOUND.

Multiple records

A single address can sometimes resolve to more than one CLIP when a parcel has been subdivided or re-platted. The response will contain multiple items in data — always check count and present the choices to the user.

Batch-resolve addresses when onboarding a portfolio, then persist CLIPs. Future lookups can skip the resolution step entirely and call data tools directly.

⌘I

​The identity spine

​Why CLIP first

​Resolving to a CLIP

​Multiple records

The identity spine

Why CLIP first

Resolving to a CLIP

Multiple records