Find independent local businesses for a given query and location, ranked by LocalRoots' independence score instead of Google's review-volume default. The algorithm penalizes high review counts, disqualifies national chains, and rewards long tenure, family-ownership name signals, sparse marketing footprint, and (for farms) direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Use this when a user asks for local coffee, an independent bookstore, a real bakery, etc. Returns up to max_results businesses, each with a tier (tier_1 = strong independent, tier_4 = chain), the total score, the full signal_breakdown, and a per-result practical_note. Always include the place_id from results so follow-up tools can reference the specific business.

Score a specific business by place_id, or by (name + near). Returns the same tier and signal_breakdown shape as discover_local_independents, but for a single place the user already has in mind. Use this when a user asks 'is X actually independent?' or wants to understand why a particular business ranked where it did. Will fetch Place Details from Google Places if a place_id is given, or run a top-1 text search if only name+near are given.

Find independent farms near a location that have direct-to-consumer e-commerce. Detection works by fingerprinting the farm's website against the bundled list of farm-first DTC platforms (GrazeCart, Local Line, Barn2Door, Harvie, Farmigo, GrownBy, LocalHarvest). Farms confirmed to have a DTC store are ranked first, then other independent farms without a confirmed store. Use this when a user wants to buy direct from a farm without going through an aggregator or marketplace. Optional product_focus narrows by meat / produce / dairy / CSA / eggs / flowers.

Score a neighborhood for its overall independent-business density. Samples each of a set of categories (restaurant, coffee, grocery, hardware, bookstore, bakery by default), runs LocalRoots scoring on each result, and aggregates into a single Local Index plus per-category stats. Use this when a user asks 'how local is X neighborhood' or wants to compare two areas. The per-category breakdown is the real signal; a neighborhood can be chain-dominant for restaurants and strongly independent for hardware, and surfacing that nuance is the point.

Score a local independent head-to-head against a national chain at the same location. Resolves both businesses via Google Places, runs LocalRoots scoring on each, and returns a side-by-side breakdown with a score delta and plain-language verdict. Use this when a user wants to understand exactly how much more independent a local spot is compared to the chain down the street, or to validate that a suspected chain is actually disqualified. National chains will score tier_4 (disqualified) in almost all cases. A warning fires if the chain somehow scores higher than the independent, which usually means the chain name is not in the bundled database or the independent has a very thin Google profile. Checks the Wayback Machine for the independent's website to infer tenure before 2005, 2010, or 2015.