About
A vehicle's facts sit with the people who build it, sell it and repair it, and no two of them write them down the same way. Cardog does the join and returns one answer per field, naming the source that gave it.
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5
check digit verifiedWMImanufacturer
VDSbuild
checkcomputed
VISvehicle
Decoded record
7 of 8 fields sourced
Sample decode. The trim row has no source, so it says that instead of guessing.
What we build
A VIN, a build record, a recall notice and a listing all describe the same vehicle, and none of them share a format. Cardog reads all four and ties them to one vehicle.
You get one vehicle back, not three near matches to reconcile yourself.
Each value names what produced it, so you can argue with the source rather than with us.
How we work
This is the rule the platform is built on, and it costs us fields. A short answer that is true is worth more than a full one that is not.
A VIN pattern and an OEM catalogue do not always agree, so the response says which one answered.
When no source carries a field it comes back empty and says so, rather than holding the closest guess.
The story so far
Each entry names where you can check it. The dogs were present for all of it and contributed to none of it.
March 2025
Cardog starts as a VIN decoder and the data behind it.
May 2025
The decoder goes out under an ISC licence, and it has stayed open since. It is called Corgi. Neither dog is a corgi.
July 2026
The API client reaches 1.0.0, and the vehicle identifiers publish under Apache 2.0 the same week.
Now
Specs, recalls, listings, battery health, charging stations and weight class, each value naming where it came from. Every release is written up in the changelog.
The namesakes
The company is named after these two. Simba is the malamute, dramatic and opinionated; Misha is half Bernese and entirely unbothered.
They have since sat for formal portraits, with mixed results. See the portraits
