# Companies House UK Bulk Data Importer (`dromb/companies-house-uk`) Actor

Import bounded records from the official Companies House Free Company Data Product with no Companies House API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/dromb/companies-house-uk.md
- **Developed by:** [Dmitriy Gyrbu](https://apify.com/dromb) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.20 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Companies House UK Bulk Data Importer

Import structured UK company records from the official **Companies House Free Company Data Product**. The base route uses the public monthly bulk snapshot and does **not** require a Companies House API key.

### What it does

- Discovers the latest official split snapshot from `download.companieshouse.gov.uk`, or accepts an explicit URL on that same official host.
- Downloads one bounded ZIP/CSV source with a hard byte limit.
- Streams the CSV from the ZIP without extracting the archive tree.
- Normalizes company number, name, status, incorporation date, registered office address, postcode, SIC codes and source provenance.
- Saves records to the run's default Apify dataset.

### Default run

```json
{
  "sourceMode": "latest_part",
  "partNumber": 1,
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

The Actor discovers the current snapshot date and number of split parts from the official Companies House download page. To import another part, change `partNumber`.

### Explicit official URL

```json
{
  "sourceMode": "url",
  "sourceUrl": "https://download.companieshouse.gov.uk/BasicCompanyData-YYYY-MM-DD-part1_N.zip",
  "maxItems": 5000
}
```

For safety, custom source URLs are restricted to HTTPS on `download.companieshouse.gov.uk`.

### Output

Each dataset item contains:

- `company_number`
- `company_name`
- `company_status`
- `incorporation_date`
- `registered_office_address`
- `locality`
- `postcode`
- `sic_codes`
- `sic_details`
- `source_uri`
- `source_provenance`

The run also writes a sanitized `OUTPUT` summary containing item count and selected snapshot metadata.

### Data freshness and scope

The Free Company Data Product is a monthly snapshot of basic data for live companies. For the newest company state, follow the record's Companies House URI or use an authenticated Companies House API integration separately. This Actor intentionally keeps the no-key bulk route independent from customer API credentials.

### Resource controls

- Default source download cap: 100 MB, suitable for current split files.
- Default output cap: 1,000 companies.
- Maximum output cap: 100,000 companies per run.
- No browser or proxy is used.
- No arbitrary URL fetching is allowed.

### Source and affiliation

Source: Companies House Free Company Data Product. This community Actor is not affiliated with Companies House or the UK government.

# Actor input Schema

## `sourceMode` (type: `string`):

Use the latest official split snapshot part or an explicit official Companies House ZIP/CSV URL.

## `partNumber` (type: `integer`):

Part number to use when sourceMode is latest\_part. The Actor discovers the current total part count from Companies House.

## `sourceUrl` (type: `string`):

Optional explicit HTTPS URL under download.companieshouse.gov.uk. Required only for sourceMode=url.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum non-blank company records to save to the default dataset.

## `maxDownloadBytes` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap for the selected ZIP/CSV download. Current split files are below the default cap.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Timeout for each official Companies House HTTP request.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "sourceMode": "latest_part",
  "partNumber": 1,
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "maxDownloadBytes": 100000000,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 60
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("dromb/companies-house-uk").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("dromb/companies-house-uk").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call dromb/companies-house-uk --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,dromb/companies-house-uk"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/ujtoT0SoSxyH4F53C/builds/Sr7HKVAnh18jDbht9/openapi.json