# UK Companies House Scraper (`ivosandoval/uk-companies-house-scraper`) Actor

Scrape company data from the official UK Companies House register. Get company details, officers, directors, and filing history. Search by name or company number. Clean JSON output. Supports PostgreSQL persistence. Free API key required from developer.company-information.service.gov.uk.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ivosandoval/uk-companies-house-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ivo Sandoval](https://apify.com/ivosandoval) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Other, Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 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.

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

## UK Companies House Scraper

> Scrape company data from the UK Companies House register — details, officers, filing history.

### Data Source

- **URL**: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/
- **API docs**: https://developer.company-information.service.gov.uk/api/docs/
- **Rate limits**: 600 requests / 5 minutes
- **Auth required**: Yes — free API key from https://developer.company-information.service.gov.uk/

### Output Schema

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| company\_number | string | Unique company identifier (e.g. "00445790") |
| company\_name | string | Registered company name |
| company\_status | string | Active, dissolved, liquidation, etc. |
| type | string | ltd, plc, llp, etc. |
| date\_of\_creation | string | ISO date of incorporation |
| date\_of\_cessation | string | ISO date of dissolution (if applicable) |
| registered\_office\_address | string | Full registered address |
| sic\_codes | array | Standard Industrial Classification codes |
| officers | array | List of officers (if include\_officers=true) |
| filing\_history | array | Filing history entries (if include\_filing\_history=true) |

### Example Output

```json
{
  "company_number": "00445790",
  "company_name": "TESCO PLC",
  "company_status": "active",
  "type": "plc",
  "date_of_creation": "1947-11-27",
  "registered_office_address": "Tesco House, Shire Park, Kestrel Way, Welwyn Garden City, AL7 1GA, United Kingdom",
  "sic_codes": ["47110"],
  "officers": [
    {
      "name": "MURPHY, Ken",
      "officer_role": "director",
      "appointed_on": "2020-10-01",
      "nationality": "Irish"
    }
  ]
}
```

### Input Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-----------|------|----------|-------------|
| api\_key | string | Yes | Companies House API key (Basic Auth) |
| search\_query | string | No | Company name or number to search |
| company\_numbers | array | No | Specific company numbers to fetch |
| include\_officers | boolean | No | Fetch officers (default: true) |
| include\_filing\_history | boolean | No | Fetch filings (default: false) |
| max\_results | integer | No | Max results (default: 100, max: 10000) |
| database\_url | string | No | PostgreSQL URL for persistence |
| proxy\_configuration | object | No | Apify proxy config |

### Database

- **Database name**: `datamon_uk_companies`
- **Tables**: `companies`, `officers`, `filings`
- **Upsert key**: `company_number` (companies), replace strategy (officers/filings)

### Pricing (Apify Store)

- **Model**: Pay-per-event (PPE)
- **Price**: $3 / 1,000 results

### Development

```bash
## Local runner (no Apify dependency)
cd actors/uk-companies-house
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

## Test without DB
COMPANIES_HOUSE_API_KEY="your_key" python runner.py --search-query "tesco" --max-results 5 --no-db

## Test with DB persistence
DATABASE_URL="postgresql+asyncpg://user:pass@host:5432/datamon_uk_companies" \
COMPANIES_HOUSE_API_KEY="your_key" \
    python runner.py --search-query "tesco" --max-results 10

## Fetch specific companies
COMPANIES_HOUSE_API_KEY="your_key" \
    python runner.py --company-numbers 00000006,00445790 --no-db

## Apify run
apify run --purge
```

### Status

- \[x] Scraper implementation
- \[x] Database models + migrations
- \[x] Input/output schemas
- \[x] Local runner (runner.py)
- \[x] DB persistence (persist.py)
- \[ ] Apify Store listing

# Actor input Schema

## `api_key` (type: `string`):

API key from developer.company-information.service.gov.uk (free). Used as HTTP Basic Auth username.

## `search_query` (type: `string`):

Company name or number to search for

## `company_numbers` (type: `array`):

List of specific company numbers to fetch

## `include_officers` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch officer details for each company

## `include_filing_history` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch filing history for each company

## `max_results` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of companies to return

## `database_url` (type: `string`):

PostgreSQL connection string to persist results. Format: postgresql+asyncpg://user:pass@host:port/dbname

## `proxy_configuration` (type: `object`):

Apify proxy configuration

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "include_officers": true,
  "include_filing_history": false,
  "max_results": 100
}
```

# 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("ivosandoval/uk-companies-house-scraper").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("ivosandoval/uk-companies-house-scraper").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 ivosandoval/uk-companies-house-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/GCybFjbN8A21Piw6A/builds/TT5H3fYiUuj3DMJUy/openapi.json