clearbit enrichment api 404 person not found on every lookup

TL;DR

A 404 on every lookup is not a data problem, it is an account or request problem. Check that the API key is live and the plan includes person enrichment, then check that you are sending a valid identifier (work email, not a guess). If some lookups 404 and others work, that is normal coverage. Every lookup 404ing means the requests never had a chance.

clearbit enrichment api 404 person not found on every lookup

Use this when

• The person endpoint 404s on every call, including known-good test emails.
• Company enrichment works but person does not (or vice versa).
• The integration is new and has never returned a hit.

Not for this skill when

• The error is 401. That is authentication, a different fix.
• Some lookups succeed. Partial 404s are coverage, not a bug.

Steps

1. Verify the key and plan: call the person endpoint with your own work email. Verify: if even that 404s, the problem is account-side.
2. Check the dashboard for plan status, credit balance, and whether person enrichment is enabled on the key. Verify: the plan actually includes what you are calling.
3. Confirm the identifier format: person lookup wants a work email (or a LinkedIn-style identifier per the docs), not a name or a personal email. Verify: a well-formed work email is in the request.
4. Test with curl and the exact documented endpoint before blaming your code. Verify: curl reproduces the 404, ruling out client bugs.
5. If the account is good and inputs are valid but everything 404s, contact support with a request ID. Verify: you have a ticket, not a mystery.

Variant phrasings

clearbit person enrichment 404

The endpoint-named search, same account-first diagnosis.

clearbit api person not found always

Frequency phrasing, points at step 1.

clearbit enrichment returns 404

Symptom phrasing, lands on the identifier check.

Compatibility: Clearbit Enrichment API v2. Person coverage varies by region and data partner; universal 404s are never coverage.

Why it happens

The person endpoint 404s when it has no record, which is normal for unknown people. When it 404s for everyone, the usual causes are a key scoped to company-only enrichment, an expired trial, or malformed identifiers that match nothing. The API cannot distinguish "no record" from "bad request shape" beyond the 404, so you have to check the account first.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Personal emails (gmail, etc.) have thin coverage by design. Test with work emails.
• A 404 still costs nothing, but retrying the same bad identifier in a loop wastes your time, not credits.
• Do not "fix" universal 404s by enriching junk emails harder. Fix the account or the input pipeline.
• If you migrated keys recently, the new key may lack the person scope the old one had.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst0H0zWhj-YYAMJrKU4o-mg