About Open Labor Project
Free automotive labor times, torque specs, fluid specs, DTC codes, battery specs, and recalls — for every vehicle, forever.
We're building the open, transparent, programmatically-accessible counterweight to Mitchell 1, ALLDATA, and the proprietary data silos that keep good repair information locked behind expensive shop subscriptions.
Mission
Automotive repair information is one of the last great asymmetric markets. The data exists — every OEM, every shop manual, every flat-rate book has it — but accessing it cleanly, programmatically, and without a four-figure annual subscription is unreasonably hard. That asymmetry hurts independent shops, parts retailers, fleet operators, indie developers, and the DIY mechanics keeping older cars on the road.
Open Labor Project exists to make accurate automotive repair data free for end users, and accessible by API for everyone else at a price that doesn't require a procurement department.
What's in the database
- Labor times — flat-rate hours per repair job, with low/high range and confidence rating, across thousands of vehicle/engine combinations.
- Torque specifications — Nm and lb-ft for critical fasteners on every job.
- Fluid specs — capacities, types, and intervals for engine oil, transmission, coolant, brake, power steering, differential, and transfer case.
- OBD-II diagnostic trouble codes — full P/B/C/U code library with descriptions, common causes, and severity.
- Battery specs — BCI group, CCA, AGM/standard, OEM and aftermarket cross-references.
- NHTSA recalls — every active and historical recall, queryable by make/model/year.
- Repair procedures — step-by-step walkthroughs (sponsor-funded, AI-augmented, expert-reviewed for high-risk jobs).
- Timing-system data — belt vs chain, replacement intervals, component-level torque, recently audited end-to-end via Claude Opus 4.7.
How we're funded
OLP is funded by paid developer API tiers. Builder ($49/mo, 1,000 req/day), Business ($149/mo, 10,000 req/day with webhooks and bulk export), and Enterprise ($499/mo, 50,000+ req/day with custom integrations and a 99.9% SLA) cover infrastructure costs, data acquisition, AI auditing budget, and engineering time. Annual plans get two months free.
The Hobbyist API tier (50 req/day, attribution required) and all web data remain free forever. We do not sell user data. We do not run ads. We do not charge mechanics or DIYers to look up information about their own cars.
Vehicle owners who want a specific car's full step-by-step procedures, torque diagrams, and waveform references unlocked can sponsor that vehicle for a one-time $99 — your name appears on every page, the data stays free for everyone else, and the funds go directly to AI generation + expert review for that vehicle. This is opt-in, not paywall.
How OLP differs from Mitchell, ALLDATA, Identifix
Those products are excellent for what they do — comprehensive shop management, DRM-protected wiring diagrams, expert support hotlines. They cost $1,800–$5,000+ per shop per year, license-locked to specific workstations.
OLP is none of that. It is open data, web-first, free to view, and developer-API-accessible. We are not trying to replace those products. We're building the open complement: the public data layer that should have existed all along. Independent shops typically use both — the paid product for shop management, OLP for quick lookups, second opinions, and customer-facing pages.
See: OLP vs Mitchell 1 · OLP vs ALLDATA.
Data quality & transparency
Every data point in the database carries a confidence rating — high, medium, low, expert-verified, or OEM-verified — and that rating is visible to users on the page and returned in API responses. We do not hide AI-generated data behind a "trust us" wall. When something is medium-confidence, the page says so, and we audit it on a recurring schedule with Claude Opus 4.7 + manual expert review for high-risk procedures (brakes, fuel system, suspension, anything where wrong = injury).
High-risk repair procedures are gated until reviewed by a working ASE-certified mechanic. AI-graded medium data is shown with a clear "AI-generated" badge so professional users can cross-check before quoting a customer.
Get involved
- Use the data: every vehicle page on the site is free, no login required.
- Build with the API: get started — free Hobbyist tier, paid plans from $49/mo.
- Sponsor a specific car: $99 unlocks every step-by-step procedure for that vehicle, name on every page.
- Submit data: shop owners and independent mechanics can submit verified labor times and torque specs — email us.
- Press & partnerships: see the press kit for stats, contact, and brand assets.
Contact
General & press: [email protected]
Developer support: [email protected]