The RentCheck API gives you access to your entire RentCheck account — properties, inspections, residents, leases, maintenance flags, work orders, and more. Combined with AI tools like Claude, you can build custom tools and get more out of your data than you ever could manually, without any coding experience. This article walks you through exactly what to do, step by step. Watch how to get started!
Step 1: Generate your API credentials
You'll need an App ID and Secret to connect the AI tool to your RentCheck account. The RentCheck API is available on the Accelerate or Professional plan.
Go to app.getrentcheck.com/account/integrations/rentcheck-api (or navigate to Account Settings → Integrations → RentCheck API).
Scroll down to “RentCheck REST API” and click “Generate Client Id and Secret”.
Copy both your App ID and your Secret and store them somewhere safe — like a password manager. You won't be able to see the Secret again once you leave the page.
💡 You'll also need your regular RentCheck login email and password in Step 3, so have those ready too.
Step 2: Export the API documentation
The AI tool needs the RentCheck API documentation so it knows how to communicate with the API correctly. You only need to do this once.
Export the API docs — look for the export or download option and save the file somewhere easy to find on your computer. It will download as a JSON or YAML file.
You’ll need both this file and the web link (developers.getrentcheck.com) to send with your prompt.
Tip: The web link helps your AI stay up to date as we release new API features!
💡 Keep this file handy — you'll upload it in Step 3.
Step 3: Open your AI tool of choice and upload the docs
We used Claude Code in this guide, but you can use any AI coding agent you're comfortable with — Cursor, Windsurf, or similar tools will all work.
Open your AI coding agent.
Upload the API docs file you downloaded in Step 1 — usually by dragging and dropping it into the chat or using an attach/upload button.
Copy the prompt below and paste it in.
Note: For simpler prompts like reporting, portfolio health, and resident views, regular Claude (claude.ai) would work fine. You'd just upload the API docs, use Prompt 1 to set the context, and ask away. Claude will make the API calls and return the data directly in the chat.
The prompt
This prompt has been fine-tuned to work correctly with the RentCheck API. Before sending, fill in your App ID, Secret, email and password where indicated — these are clearly marked with square brackets, in the section My credentials.
Build me a local web app to explore my RentCheck property-inspection data.I'll attach the RentCheck API documentation (OpenAPI YAML). Use base URLhttps://prod-public-api.getrentcheck.com.
My credentials:- App ID: [YOUR APP ID]- App Secret: [YOUR APP SECRET]- Email: [YOUR RENTCHECK EMAIL]- Integration password: [YOUR RENTCHECK PASSWORD]STACK- Node.js + Express.
If Node isn't installed, install Node 18+ first (the app relies on the built-in `fetch`).- Proxy ALL RentCheck API calls server-side so credentials never reach the browser. Frontend can be vanilla JS + a chart lib (e.g. Chart.js via CDN).- Ship a README with setup/run steps and a .env.example.AUTH (server-side only)- Authenticate via POST /v1/oAuth2/emailPasswordAuth with headers `x-app-id` and `x-app-secret` and body { email, password }, where `password` is the integration password. Response is { data: { access_token, refresh_token } }.- Cache the access token in memory. It's a JWT — decode its `exp` and refresh ~5 min before expiry. Use POST /v1/oAuth2/refreshToken (body { refresh_token }) as the cheap path, falling back to a full re-login. Retry once on a 401.- Handle rate limiting: on HTTP 429, back off and retry (honor `Retry-After` when present).DATA MODEL — IMPORTANT- Compute Maintenance trends AND Move-out trends from the maintenance FLAGS on each inspection — NOT from /v2/maintenance_reports. - List inspections from GET /v3/inspections (paginate all pages). - For each inspection, get its flags from GET /v1/inspections/{id}/maintenanceFlags. - On each flag, the issue is the flag's CATEGORY (the `skill` field) and the flag's NOTE (the `note` field). The `feature_name`/room is just the location.- Respect the rate limit: - Skip flag fetch for inspections with status "Scheduled" or "Not Started". - Fetch remaining flags with bounded concurrency (~8 at a time). - Cache assembled data in memory (~60 min TTL), warm on startup, expose ?refresh=1. - Tolerate occasional 500s on flag endpoints — log and skip.SECTIONS1) Maintenance trends — across ALL inspection types. - Most common issue CATEGORIES (flag `skill`), ranked, with a chart. - A Flagged issues table: category, note, location, property, date — most recent first. - Properties with the highest maintenance-flag volume. - Window selector: 6 / 12 / 24 months / all time. Default 6 months.2) Move-out maintenance — same analysis, scoped to move-out inspections (detected by matching "move-out" in the inspection template name).3) Cost estimator — a searchable inspection picker. - Search locally across property + template + status (not via API search). - Show AI-generated cost estimate (low / expected / high) per flag with rationale and a total. Use Claude if ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is set, otherwise a rule-based estimator. Show which engine was used.INTERACTIVITY- Clicking a flagged issue opens that inspection in the Cost estimator.- Clicking a property searches its inspections in the Cost estimator.- Clickable rows get a pointer cursor and hover highlight.- Add a View link on each flagged issue row that opens the inspection in RentCheck at https://app.getrentcheck.com/inspections/{id} (target=_blank). Style as a subtle light-green chip. Clicking it should NOT trigger the row drill-down.
Note: Do not keep the square brackets around your credentials when you fill them in, it should be exactly the credentials. Like this:
My credentials:- App ID: EXAMPLEAPPID123 - App Secret: EXAMPLEAPPSECRET123 - Email: test@getrentcheck.com - Integration password: MyPassword STACK- Node.js + Express.
Step 4: Follow the prompts and run the app
Once you've sent the prompt, the AI tool will start building the app. Here's what to expect:
It may ask you where to save files on your computer — just choose somewhere easy to find, like your Desktop or Documents folder (or create another AI dedicated folder).
You'll get a few pop-ups asking you to accept certain things — this is the AI asking for access to run files and install things locally. Just follow what they're asking and it'll take care of the rest.
The whole process takes around 30 minutes in real life (however, it can take longer). If you get stuck at any point, refer back to this article or search online — there are plenty of tutorials out there for getting started with AI coding tools.
When it's done, it'll give you a web address to open in your browser — usually something like http://localhost:3000. Open that and you should see your dashboard.
💡 The app loads your RentCheck data on startup, so the first load may take a moment while it fetches everything.
What you'll get
The app built with this prompt has three sections:
1. Maintenance trends
An overview of maintenance activity across your entire portfolio — which issues are coming up most frequently, which properties have the highest volume of maintenance flags, and how that's changed over time. You can click any flagged issue to open the full inspection, or click View to go straight to that inspection in RentCheck.
2. Move-out maintenance
The same view but scoped to move-out inspections only — so you can see which issues are consistently coming up when residents vacate a unit. Useful for setting expectations with residents, planning for turnover costs, or spotting properties that need more attention at move-out. At the bottom you'll see a breakdown of recent move-out flag notes, each with a link to the inspection in RentCheck.
3. Cost estimator
Select any inspection and the app will generate an estimated repair cost for each maintenance flag. For this example, AI-generated cost estimates are intended to provide a high-level approximation of repair costs. For greater accuracy, upload a cost sheet with your standard pricing by trade or service. We're also continuing to enhance our cost estimation capabilities to deliver more detailed and precise estimates in future updates.
💡 Cost estimates are AI-generated and should be used as a rough guide only, not as formal quotes.
If you want to expand on it or add more views, you can do so easily by continuing to work with the AI coding agent — just describe what you want and it'll update the app for you.
💡Quick Tips
To refresh the data at any time, add ?refresh=1 to the end of the URL in your browser.
Clicking any flagged issue in the maintenance views will open it directly in the cost estimator.
Each flagged issue has a View link that opens the full inspection in RentCheck — useful for following up on anything that needs attention.
More ideas for prompts to try
Show me all residents whose leases are ending in the next 90 days, alongside their last inspection date and any open maintenance flags.
Build me a move-in readiness tracker — properties with a new resident moving in within the next 30 days, flagged to indicate whether a move-in inspection has been scheduled.
Show me the average inspection score per property over the last 12 months, ranked from lowest to highest so I can see which properties need the most attention.
Need help?
For the full RentCheck API docs, visit developers.getrentcheck.com.
If you're new to AI coding tools, there are also plenty of step-by-step tutorials online to help you get started and up and running quickly..