Publisher research

Cat-Scan gets current information about publisher owners, managers, seller accounts and business contacts. You can use an app ID, a website domain or a company name. Each result includes source URLs and the time of the lookup.

Use the API, the MCP tool or the CSV command for this function. There is no publisher research screen or saved publisher directory. The function does not select publishers by spend or contact companies.

Information sources

Source	Information	Limit
Google Play or Apple	Developer name and website	A developer is not necessarily the publisher owner.
ads.txt or app-ads.txt	Owner domain, manager domain and seller accounts	These are declarations from the website.
A declared manager's sellers.json	Business contacts and matching seller records	A match must have the same advertising-system domain and seller ID.
Google Marketplace	Visible publisher profiles and contacts for deals	Access depends on the buyer account and the service account.

OWNERDOMAIN identifies the declared owner domain. MANAGERDOMAIN identifies a declared manager domain. Some manager declarations apply to a specified country. The result keeps this country information.

A DIRECT seller entry identifies an account relationship. The entry does not prove that the seller manages the publisher. A Google parent profile does not prove a Google Multiple Customer Management relationship. A company-name match is a possible association that must have more evidence.

A missing result means that the identity is unknown. The sources do not prove exclusive rights or access through a buying route that does not use Google. An app-store support address is not a verified advertising sales contact.

Use Grok or another MCP client

The client must have an agent token with the agent:publishers:read permission. The token must also give access to the selected buyer account. See MCP access and Grok setup.

1. Tell the client to call rtbcat_list_buyers.
2. Select a buyer ID from the result.
3. Tell the client to call rtbcat_lookup_publisher with that buyer ID and the app ID or domain.
4. Examine the source URLs, checked_at, partial and truncation fields.
5. Keep unknown identities and source failures in your report.

For a company search, supply publisher_name. For example, use AnyMind to find profiles that you can see with that name. This search does not prove an association with a specified app. An explicit company search takes precedence over automatic Google seller-account matching.

Use the API

Send this example body to POST /api/agent/v1/publisher-lookup with an agent token. Replace the buyer ID and app ID with the required values.

{
  "buyer_id": "12345678",
  "app_id": "com.example.app",
  "include_google": true
}

Use an Android package name or a numeric Apple app ID for app_id. For a website, use domain as an alternative to app_id. With both fields, domain overrides the developer website for the app. The result marks this override as provided_domain. It does not claim that the app store supplied the domain.

An authenticated app session can use POST /api/publisher-lookup. The API applies the user's buyer permissions to this request.

Process a CSV file

Use the Python environment in the platform repository. The command below gets public evidence for each app ID in the input file.

venv/bin/python scripts/publisher_lookup.py \
  --input-csv /path/publishers.csv \
  --app-id-column 'Mobile app ID' \
  --output-json /path/publisher-evidence.json \
  --output-csv /path/publishers-enriched.csv

Add --domain-column COLUMN for a domain column. Add --buyer-id BUYER_ID --credentials /secure/service-account.json for Google results. With a buyer ID and no credentials file, the command uses Google Application Default Credentials.

The output CSV keeps the input columns and row sequence. It adds columns for the evidence. Rows without an app ID or domain stay in the output with identity_required. The JSON file keeps all result data up to the lookup limits. Credentials do not enter either output file.

Google setup and limits

Enable authorizedbuyersmarketplace.googleapis.com in the service account's Google Cloud project. Give that service account Marketplace access to the buyer account. API activation alone does not give access to a buyer.

The API uses the buyer's linked active service account. It does not use a different customer's account if that link fails. Public evidence can stay available when Google sends an error.

The lookup distinguishes an empty result from an authentication error, a rejected query and a timeout. For example, no_visible_match and query_rejected have different meanings. Do not report a source failure as proof that a publisher is absent.

The Google tests on 14 October 2026 found these results:

• Seller-code and company-name filters worked.
• The documented nested app filter was rejected.
• Domain filters gave HTTP 500.

Google profiles can omit apps, domains or contacts. This function cannot reproduce every inventory association in the Authorized Buyers interface.

Limit	Value
API lookup time	12 seconds; completed sections can stay in a partial result
Declared managers with seller-file requests	3
Google DIRECT accounts used for automatic matching	20
Seller entries in the result	500, with a total count and truncation flag
Google profile pages	3 pages of up to 100 profiles

The CSV command processes rows in sequence. Store the output to keep a record of the lookup. Cat-Scan does not automatically save these results as publisher records.

References

• Google publisher profile fields
• Google profile access and visibility
• IAB ads.txt and app-ads.txt specifications
• Platform implementation guide

---

Built from docs ecd09fc (platform N/A) — last updated October 14, 2026 14:41:43.