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CSL search skill (exchek-csl)

Screen parties and entities against the U.S. Consolidated Screening List (CSL) via the Trade.gov API. The CSL consolidates eleven federal screening lists. Supports exact and fuzzy name search.

What you need

  • Free API key — Get one at developer.trade.gov. The skill never stores your key.
  • Skill installed — Copy exchek-csl from the exchekskills repo into your skills directory.

How to use

  1. Install the skill — From the exchekskills repo, copy exchek-csl into ~/.claude/skills/exchek-csl (or your agent’s skills path):
    git clone https://github.com/exchekinc/exchekskills exchekskills && cp -r exchekskills/exchek-csl ~/.claude/skills/exchek-csl
  2. Provide your API key — When you first run a CSL search, the agent will ask for your Trade.gov API key (or read it from TRADE_GOV_API_KEY if set).
  3. Ask for a search — Say things like:
    • “Search the CSL for [name or company]”
    • “Screen this entity against the consolidated screening list”
    • “Fuzzy search the CSL for [name]”
    • “Is [company name] on the CSL?”
  4. Review results — The agent calls the Trade.gov API and shows you matches (if any), which list(s) they’re on, and match scores for fuzzy search. It can then generate a screening report (see below).

API endpoints

The skill uses two Trade.gov CSL endpoints (same API key for both):

  • Search — GET https://data.trade.gov/consolidated_screening_list/v1/search — Run queries with name, fuzzy_name, sources, and other parameters.
  • Sources — GET https://data.trade.gov/consolidated_screening_list/v1/sources — Returns the list of available screening list sources (abbreviations and names) for use with the search sources parameter.

Your API key (from developer.trade.gov) is sent with each request (query parameter or header as required by the portal).

Search parameters

The skill supports all parameters the API allows:

  • name — Searches name and alt_names. Use for entity or company name.
  • fuzzy_name — Set to true for fuzzy name matching (works only with name). Returns results without exact spelling; common words like “Corporation”, “Inc” are filtered.
  • sources — Comma-separated list abbreviations, e.g. DPL (Denied Persons), EL (Entity List), MEU, UVL, ISN, DTC, CAP, CMIC, FSE, MBS, PLC, SSI, SDN (Specially Designated Nationals).
  • types — Filter by entry type.
  • countries — ISO alpha-2 country codes, comma-separated.
  • address, city, state, postal_code — Address fields; or use full_address to search all at once.
  • offset, size — Pagination (offset max 1000, size max 50).

Full parameter list and source abbreviations are in the skill’s exchek-csl references and on the Trade.gov API details page.

Report (screening memo)

After a search, the agent builds a screening memo: search parameters, date, results summary, detail for each hit (name, source list, match score, address/country), and audit trail.

Backup / downloadable data

If the API is unavailable, the full CSL is downloadable at trade.gov/consolidated-screening-list (JSON, CSV, TSV). Updated daily at 5:00 AM EST/EDT.

Compliance disclaimer

CSL search results are for screening support only. They do not constitute legal or compliance advice. Always verify any determination against official Federal Register publications and the original lists maintained by Commerce, State, and Treasury before relying on them for compliance decisions.

Next steps