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Every permit ingested by PermitCore is classified into one of 18 canonical cohorts. Cohorts are the primary axis for slicing the dataset — by use type (commercial / residential / industrial / civic) crossed with scope (new construction / alteration / demolition / MEP / etc.).

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The 18 canonical cohorts

SlugDisplay nameWhat it covers
adu_qualifyingADU-Qualifying ConstructionAccessory dwelling units — backyard cottages, garage conversions, qualifying ADU builds
civicCivic ConstructionPublic buildings — schools, libraries, transit, government facilities
commercial_alterationCommercial AlterationTenant improvements, additions, alterations, AND commercial roofing/envelope work
commercial_demolitionCommercial DemolitionCommercial teardowns + structural demolition + abatement
commercial_mepCommercial MEPCommercial mechanical, electrical, plumbing systems
commercial_newCommercial New ConstructionGround-up commercial — offices, retail, mixed-use
commercial_poolCommercial Pool ConstructionCommercial pools — hotels, gyms, condo amenities, apartments
commercial_shell_onlyCommercial Shell-Only ConstructionBuilding shells without tenant fit-out — speculative + warm-shell builds
commercial_signageCommercial Signage PermitsWall-mounted, monument, illuminated signs at commercial properties
industrial_newIndustrial New ConstructionWarehouses, distribution, manufacturing, data centers
multifamily_alterationMultifamily AlterationApartment + condo alterations, renovations, envelope work
multifamily_newMultifamily New ConstructionGround-up apartments + condos — 5+ units, R-2 occupancy
residential_alterationResidential AlterationSingle-family renovations, additions, kitchen/bath remodels
residential_demolitionResidential DemolitionSingle-family teardowns + accessory-structure demolition
residential_foundation_onlyResidential Foundation-OnlyFoundation-only filings — early-phase residential construction
residential_mepResidential MEPResidential mechanical, electrical, plumbing — incl. solar PV
residential_new_sfResidential New (Single-Family)Ground-up single-family homes — detached residential construction
temporary_construction_supportTemporary Construction SupportScaffolding, hoists, sidewalk sheds, temporary fencing

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What’s NOT split out today

The current cohort taxonomy intentionally rolls up several specialty categories that other systems sometimes split:
  • Roofing — folded into commercial_alteration or residential_alteration depending on the property
  • HVAC — folded into commercial_mep or residential_mep
  • Solar — folded into residential_mep (residential solar PV) or commercial_alteration / commercial_mep (commercial solar)
  • Fire-protection / sprinkler — folded into commercial_mep / residential_mep
  • Data center — folded into industrial_new
These are on the data-pipeline roadmap as future sub-cohort splits. For now, query the rolled-up parent and filter downstream by permit-type keywords.

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Cohort assignment

Cohort tags are emitted by PermitCore’s LLM-1 classifier per permit. Tags are deterministic per permit (same input → same cohort) and improve over time as the classifier is fine-tuned on operator-validated labels. A per-permit /v1/permits/{id}/explanation endpoint surfacing the classifier’s reasoning is on the roadmap. Every permit has exactly one cohort. No multi-label.

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Querying by cohort

The cohort distribution endpoint surfaces per-jurisdiction counts: 
curl "https://api.permitcore.io/v1/jurisdictions/nyc/cohorts/distribution" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PERMITCORE_API_KEY"
See Cohort distribution endpoint → for the full response shape. The permit-listing endpoint (/v1/permits?cohort=…&jurisdiction=…) lets you paginate the rows backing each count.