AirNow
· #293 most-usedQuery real-time and forecast air quality data from 2,500+ US monitoring stations
AirNow is the US Environmental Protection Agency's official air quality information platform, aggregating real-time AQI observations from over 2,500 monitoring stations and daily forecasts for more than 500 cities across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Connect it to Actionist and your agents can pull current AQI readings by ZIP code or coordinates, fetch next-day forecasts before outdoor events, retrieve pollutant-level breakdowns for PM2.5 and ozone, and monitor geographic bounding-box data for facilities across multiple sites — all without a developer writing a single HTTP call.
Eliminates manual work. Agents eliminate the manual cycle of checking AirNow maps, copying AQI values into spreadsheets, and assembling daily air-quality alerts for field teams and stakeholders.
What your AirNow agent runs on autopilot
A week of scheduled jobs your Actionist agent will execute on your behalf.
AirNow × every other app you use
End-to-end automations that span multiple apps — each one a real business outcome.
Morning air quality advisory to field crews before first shift
Field crews start every day knowing whether protective equipment is required, before they leave the depot — without a supervisor manually checking AirNow.gov.
Time saved for your team — every week, on autopilot
Savings
What your team gets back — two angles: what you stop doing manually, and what that's worth.
What you do manually today
What your agent runs for you
- Sales25 min / weekManual AQI research per listing
Sales reps visit AirNow.gov, type in a ZIP code, screenshot the reading, and paste it into the listing notes — repeating for each property before every buyer inquiry.
Sales Agent0 minAgent enriches all listing records automaticallyThe Sales Agent queries current AQI for every active listing ZIP on Monday morning and writes the reading directly to the CRM record — reps answer air-quality questions with live data before the question is asked.
- Marketing20 min / weekManual pre-event AQI check
The event coordinator manually checks AirNow the morning of each outdoor activation and scrambles to communicate changes to attendees if the air quality is poor.
Marketing Agent0 minAgent delivers go/no-go 18 hours in advanceThe Marketing Agent checks the next-day forecast for each event venue the evening before and posts a go/no-go decision with EPA guidance text — giving the team time to communicate changes before attendees have already left home.
- Customer Support18 min / weekSupport agents look up AQI during calls
When customers call asking about air quality, support agents put them on hold, open AirNow.gov, find the relevant reading, and try to explain AQI categories from memory.
Customer Support Agent0 minAgent pre-loads AQI data before the queue opensThe Support Agent fetches current AQI and EPA guidance descriptions for all key service regions each morning, so agents have verified data and correct language in front of them before the first call arrives.
- Human Resources30 min / weekReactive employee advisories after someone checks the news
HR learns about poor air quality from a news alert or an employee complaint, then writes an advisory from memory and sends it mid-morning — by which point most employees have already commuted.
Human Resources Agent0 minAgent sends proactive advisories before the commuteThe HR Agent checks current AQI for all office ZIPs at 7 AM and sends advisories with EPA-standard guidance text to employees in affected locations — before anyone has left for work.
- Finance60 min / weekEnvironmental consultant for insurance renewal data
Finance engages an environmental consultant to pull air-quality exposure data for the property portfolio ahead of each insurance renewal — a process that takes days and costs hundreds of dollars per property.
Finance Agent0 minAgent generates portfolio air-quality report automaticallyThe Finance Agent pulls 12 months of historical AQI for every portfolio ZIP and generates the air-quality exposure report before the renewal meeting — EPA-sourced, formatted, and attached to the renewal pack without a consultant.
- Operations45 min / weekEHS manager manually checks AirNow every morning
The EHS manager opens AirNow.gov each morning, checks each facility one by one, and sends manual alerts to site managers if any location is elevated — often after the first shift has already begun.
Operations Agent0 minAgent checks all facilities and triggers restrictions before 6:30 AMThe Operations Agent queries current AQI for all facility coordinates at 6:30 AM and automatically sends restriction briefs to site managers for any location above AQI 100 — before the first shift begins, not during it.
- Legal90 min / weekManual EPA data retrieval for each compliance case
Legal staff manually navigate AirNow's historical tools or contact EPA's data management center to retrieve air-quality readings for specific dates and locations — a research task that can take half a day per case.
Legal Agent0 minAgent attaches historical AQI to case files automaticallyThe Legal Agent retrieves historical AQI by GPS coordinates for every open compliance case each Monday morning and attaches the EPA-sourced data to the case file — the research is done before the attorney opens the file.
Calculate what your team saves
Based on AirNow's typical team usage — the visible tasks plus a few other automations the agent runs: ~1.2 hrs / person / week of admin work automated.
How to plug AirNow into Actionist
Pick the connection method that suits your environment.
Register a free account at airnowapi.org, generate an API key, and paste it into Actionist. No OAuth required — the key grants read-only access to all web service endpoints.
Go to airnowapi.org and click 'Request Account'. Fill in your name, organisation, and intended use. EPA typically approves accounts within one business day.
Log in to airnowapi.org — your API key appears on the account dashboard. Copy it and store it securely.
Open the Apps tab, find AirNow, and paste your key. Actionist runs a test call to confirm the key is valid before any agent actions run.
14 actions your agent can call
Read and write operations available to your Actionist agent.
0 events your agent can react to
Events your agent watches for, and the actions it kicks off in response.