> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bigdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SSL certificate verification

If you encounter SSL certificate verification errors on macOS, you may see an error message like this:

```bash theme={null}
Failed to search companies: Network error: Cannot connect to host api.bigdata.com:443 
ssl:True [SSLCertVerificationError: (1, '[SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED] certificate 
verify failed: unable to get local issuer certificate (_ssl.c:1028)')]
```

This error occurs because Python on macOS might not automatically trust the system's SSL certificates by default.

## 1. Install Certificates Using `Install Certificates.command`

macOS comes with a script to install the necessary SSL certificates for Python. This is often required because Python on macOS might not automatically trust the system's certificates by default.

1. Open a terminal.
2. Navigate to the directory where Python is installed (typically `/Applications/Python<version>`).
3. Run the `Install Certificates.command` script. This will install the certificates needed by Python to verify SSL connections.

```bash theme={null}
cd /Applications/Python\ 3.x/
./Install\ Certificates.command
```

This script will install the system certificates that Python needs.