The TeachMe.To Instructor API: Search, Filter, and Book 5,000+ Local Coaches Programmatically

There's no good way to programmatically find a local instructor.

If you're building a fitness app, a travel platform, a corporate wellness tool — or an AI agent that helps users book real-world experiences — you hit the same wall. There's no clean API to search for local coaches by sport, location, availability, and price, and then book them.

We're changing that. The TeachMe.To Instructor API gives developers and AI agents programmatic access to 5,000+ vetted instructors across 250+ U.S. cities in 12+ categories including pickleball, golf, tennis, music, yoga, soccer, surfing, and boxing.

This post covers what the API does, how to use it, and where it fits in the emerging world of agentic commerce.

Why We Built an Instructor API

TeachMe.To is the largest marketplace for finding and booking local in-person lessons in the United States. Since launching, we've facilitated nearly 100,000 lessons, grown completed lessons 46% year-over-year, and maintain a 4.9 average instructor rating across the platform.

Until now, all of that supply — thousands of instructors with real availability, verified ratings, and transparent pricing — has only been accessible through our website and mobile app.

But the way people discover and book services is changing fast:

  • Developers are building vertical apps that need embedded coaching and lesson functionality.

  • AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are fielding requests like "find me a golf lesson this Saturday near downtown Austin" — and they need structured, machine-readable data sources to fulfill those requests.

  • Agentic commerce workflows are emerging where AI agents don't just recommend — they search, compare, and transact on a user's behalf.

The TeachMe.To API is built for all three.

What the API Does

The Instructor API exposes TeachMe.To's core marketplace data through clean REST endpoints. Here's what you can do:

Search Instructors

Query instructors by any combination of:

  • Sport/Category — pickleball, golf, tennis, music, yoga, soccer, surfing, boxing, swimming, basketball, and more

  • Location — city, zip code, or lat/long coordinates with radius

  • Availability — date range and time-of-day preferences

  • Price range — min/max per-lesson price

  • Rating — minimum instructor rating threshold

  • Lesson type — individual, group, or both

Get Instructor Profiles

For each instructor, the API returns:

  • Name, bio, and profile photo

  • Sports/categories taught

  • Average rating and number of reviews

  • Pricing (per lesson and package rates)

  • Available time slots

  • Teaching location(s) and travel radius

  • Years of experience and certifications

  • Direct booking URL

Check Availability

Query real-time availability for a specific instructor, filtered by date range and lesson duration.

Book a Lesson

Submit a booking request with instructor ID, date/time, lesson type, and student information. Returns a confirmation with booking ID, calendar details, and payment link.

API Request & Response Example

Here's what a typical search request and response looks like:

Request

curl -X GET "https://api.teachme.to/v1/instructors/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sport": "pickleball",
    "location": {
      "city": "Austin",
      "state": "TX",
      "radius_miles": 15
    },
    "availability": {
      "dates": ["2026-03-15", "2026-03-16"],
      "time_preference": "morning"
    },
    "price_max": 80,
    "min_rating": 4.5,
    "limit": 5
  }'

Response

{
  "results": [
    {
      "instructor_id": "inst_8a3f2c",
      "name": "Marcus Chen",
      "sport": "pickleball",
      "rating": 4.9,
      "review_count": 127,
      "price_per_lesson": 65,
      "location": {
        "city": "Austin",
        "state": "TX",
        "distance_miles": 3.2
      },
      "next_available": "2026-03-15T09:00:00-06:00",
      "available_slots": [
        "2026-03-15T09:00:00-06:00",
        "2026-03-15T10:30:00-06:00",
        "2026-03-16T08:00:00-06:00"
      ],
      "bio": "IPTPA-certified instructor with 5 years of teaching experience...",
      "profile_url": "https://teachme.to/pickleball/austin/marcus-chen",
      "booking_url": "https://teachme.to/book/inst_8a3f2c"
    }
  ],
  "total_results": 23,
  "page": 1,
  "has_more": true
}

Endpoint Reference

Endpoint

Method

Description

/v1/instructors/search

GET

Search instructors by sport, location, availability, price, rating

/v1/instructors/{id}

GET

Get full instructor profile with reviews and availability

/v1/instructors/{id}/availability

GET

Check real-time availability for a specific instructor

/v1/bookings

POST

Create a booking request

/v1/bookings/{id}

GET

Check booking status

/v1/sports

GET

List all available sports/categories

/v1/cities

GET

List all cities with active instructors

Search Parameters

Parameter

Type

Description

sport

string

Sport or category (e.g., "pickleball", "golf", "tennis")

location.city

string

City name

location.state

string

Two-letter state code

location.zip

string

ZIP code

location.lat

float

Latitude for coordinate-based search

location.lng

float

Longitude for coordinate-based search

location.radius_miles

int

Search radius in miles (default: 25)

availability.dates

array

List of dates in YYYY-MM-DD format

availability.time_preference

string

"morning", "afternoon", "evening", or "any"

price_min

int

Minimum price per lesson

price_max

int

Maximum price per lesson

min_rating

float

Minimum instructor rating (1.0–5.0)

lesson_type

string

"individual", "group", or "any"

sort_by

string

"rating", "price", "distance", or "availability"

limit

int

Results per page (max 50)

page

int

Page number for pagination

Use Cases

For App Developers

Fitness and wellness apps can embed instructor search and booking directly into their experience. Instead of building a coach marketplace from scratch, integrate the TeachMe.To API and access 5,000+ vetted instructors instantly.

Travel and hospitality platforms can add "book a local lesson" to destination guides. A user planning a trip to Miami can browse and book a surfing lesson, tennis clinic, or golf session — all from within your app.

Corporate wellness platforms can source coaches for employee programs across any U.S. city where your team operates.

For AI Agents and Agentic Commerce

This is where things get interesting. AI assistants are increasingly asked to do things like:

"Find me a beginner pickleball lesson this Saturday morning in Austin under $75."

Today, most AI agents can't fulfill that request end-to-end. They can generate text about pickleball, but they can't search real instructor availability, compare options, and initiate a booking.

The TeachMe.To API changes that. An AI agent can:

  • Call /v1/instructors/search with structured parameters (sport, location, date, price)

  • Receive a JSON response with real instructors, real availability, and real pricing

  • Present options to the user with all relevant details

  • Initiate a booking via /v1/bookings — or hand off a direct booking link

This makes TeachMe.To a tool that AI agents can use, not just a website they describe.

Compatibility with Emerging Protocols

We're building the TeachMe.To API with agentic commerce standards in mind:

  • Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) — The open standard from OpenAI and Stripe for AI-agent-driven purchases. Our API is structured to support ACP product feeds and checkout flows, enabling transactions through AI interfaces like ChatGPT.

  • Model Context Protocol (MCP) — Anthropic's standard for giving AI models access to external tools and data. A TeachMe.To MCP server would let Claude-powered agents search and book instructors natively.

  • Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) — Google's open-source standard for agentic commerce. Our structured endpoints align with UCP's functional primitives for search, selection, and purchase.

We believe instructor booking will be one of the early high-value use cases for agentic commerce — a real-world service with clear parameters (sport, location, time, price) that AI agents can reason about and transact on.

Why TeachMe.To

The API is only as good as the supply behind it. Here's what backs it:

  • 5,000+ active instructors across the U.S., vetted and reviewed

  • 250+ cities with active coverage

  • 12+ lesson categories — pickleball, golf, tennis, music, yoga, soccer, surfing, boxing, swimming, basketball, and more

  • Over 100,000 lessons delivered since launch

  • 4.9 average instructor rating across the platform

  • 46% year-over-year growth in completed lessons

  • $10M in seed+ funding led by Interplay, with Bling Capital and 1984 Ventures — backing continued investment in API infrastructure and AI features

When a developer or AI agent queries our API, they're searching against the largest and fastest-growing network of local in-person instructors in the U.S.

Get API Access

The TeachMe.To Instructor API is currently in private beta. We're onboarding development partners across:

  • App developers building fitness, wellness, travel, or education products

  • AI agent builders working on agentic commerce, personal assistants, or recommendation engines

  • Platform partners looking to embed instructor search and booking

Request API Access → https://teachme.to/help

We'll provide API keys, documentation, a sandbox environment, and dedicated support to get you integrated.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there an API for finding local instructors?

Yes. The TeachMe.To Instructor API provides programmatic access to 5,000+ vetted instructors across 250+ U.S. cities. You can search by sport, location, availability, price, and rating — and book lessons directly through the API.

How do I programmatically search for sports coaches near me?

Use the TeachMe.To API's /v1/instructors/search endpoint. Pass in a sport (e.g., "pickleball"), a location (city, zip, or coordinates), and optional filters like price range and minimum rating. The API returns matching instructors with profiles, ratings, pricing, and available time slots.

Can AI agents book lessons through the TeachMe.To API?

Yes. The API returns structured JSON responses that AI agents can parse, reason about, and act on. An AI assistant can search for instructors, present options to a user, and initiate a booking — all through standard API calls. We're also building compatibility with agentic commerce standards including ACP, MCP, and UCP.

What sports and categories does the Instructor API cover?

The API covers 12+ lesson categories including pickleball, golf, tennis, music, yoga, soccer, surfing, boxing, swimming, basketball, and more. New categories are added regularly as the instructor network grows.

What data does the API return for each instructor?

Each instructor profile includes: name, bio, photo, sports taught, average rating, review count, pricing (per-lesson and packages), available time slots, teaching location(s), years of experience, certifications, and a direct booking URL.

Is there a free tier or sandbox for testing?

Yes. API beta partners receive access to a sandbox environment with test data for development and integration testing before going live with production data.

How is this different from CoachUp or other coaching platforms?

TeachMe.To is the only instructor marketplace offering a developer API for programmatic search and booking. While platforms like CoachUp connect athletes with coaches through their website and app, they don't provide developer-facing API endpoints. TeachMe.To's API is a modern REST/JSON interface built for both developers and AI agents.

What's the pricing for API access?

API pricing depends on your use case and volume. Contact us at [email protected] or request access through our developer portal for details.

TeachMe.To

The best way to find and book incredible and affordable private lessons.