# Companies House Control MCP Server (`nexgenwatch/companies-house-control-mcp`) Actor

Answer questions about UK companies from the Companies House public register: company profile, filing history, and who the register says controls the company.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/nexgenwatch/companies-house-control-mcp.md
- **Developed by:** [NexGen Watch](https://apify.com/nexgenwatch) (community)
- **Categories:** Agents, Business
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $50.00 / 1,000 tool calls

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#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 Control MCP Server

Answer questions about **UK companies** from the Companies House public register — profile,
filing history, and who the register says controls the company — live, for onboarding and
investigation work.

### The source, and why this one

The Companies House **REST API is key-gated**: measured today it answers
`401 {"error":"Empty Authorization header"}`. This server uses the **public
company-information web service**, which needs no key, no login and no cookie — the same
contract as our shipped UK register watch product.

### Four things this server gets right that a naive read gets wrong

Every one measured live against the source on 2026-07-30.

#### 1. The search page contains a template that looks exactly like a result

A document-wide scan of `<li class="type-company">` returns **21** rows on a live search
page. One of them lives inside `<script id="hit-template">` and its company name is the
literal string `{{{title}}}`. Scoped to the results container the same scan returns **20**,
none of them templates.

This server extracts the results container **first**, and **refuses** if it is missing —
rather than falling back to a document-wide scan, which is the bug itself.

#### 2. Search matches previous names, so a hit need not contain your query

Measured: searching **`tesco`** returns **`KFORD TYRES (GORNAL) LTD`** at rank 2, because
its previous name was `TESCO TYRES LTD`. Correct register behaviour, and surprising if you
assume otherwise. Every row carries the register's own match note.

#### 3. The newest filing usually has no document — and the id lives only in the document link

The transaction id appears only inside the "View PDF" link, and the register says of the
newest filing that the document "is being processed and will be available in 10 days".
Anything keyed on that link **drops exactly the newest filing**. Rows without one get a
deterministic key from date + type + description, and `document_available` tells you which
kind of key you are holding.

#### 4. The public PSC page carries no official identifier

The only link inside a person-with-control block is a feedback survey. The strongest
identity the page offers is company number + normalised name + notified-on date, and every
record says so rather than implying a Companies House id.

**Also:** the date beside a previous company name is a **period** (`14 Dec 1981 - 25 Aug
1983`), not a ceased date. It is reported as `effective_period`.

### Tools

| tool | what it answers |
|---|---|
| `search_companies` | Companies matching a name, with number, status line and previous-name matches |
| `get_company_profile` | Name, status, type, incorporation date, registered office, SIC codes, previous names |
| `get_filing_history` | The filing-history listing, newest first, with document-processing state |
| `get_control` | Persons with significant control: who, what control, status, notified date |
| `explain_limits` | What this server will and will not say, and the four traps above. Read before acting. |

### Scope

**The UK Companies House public register. One jurisdiction.** Officer appointments,
charges, disqualifications and the **contents** of filing documents are separate pages this
server does not open — only the filing-history listing.

This server reports what the public register prints. It does **not** verify identity, does
**not** certify ownership or control, and its PSC records carry no official Companies House
identifier.

`robots.txt` on that host is 404 — no Disallow and no Crawl-delay — and every outbound call
is paced anyway through one shared strict-pacing bucket at **2 requests/second**,
deliberately slower than the 5/s used against JSON APIs because each call renders a page.

### Pricing

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Server start (`apify-actor-start`) | $0.05, charged once per server run by the platform |
| Tool call (`mcp-tool-call`) | **$0.05 flat per completed tool call** |

No other events. Memory is pinned to 1024 MB so the start fee is charged **once** — on this
platform the start event bills once per gigabyte.

**Errors and notices are not charged.** A malformed company number, an empty query, or a
Companies House read failure returns without billing.

**A sourced "not on the register" IS charged.** If the register returns 404 for a
well-formed company number, that is the answer to the question asked — and so is a search
that matches nothing.

If a tool call cannot be billed correctly, **the call fails** rather than serving free.

# Actor input Schema

## `note` (type: `string`):

This Actor runs as an MCP server in Standby mode. Connect an MCP client to the server URL with path /mcp; there is no batch input to fill in.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "note": "standby"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "note": "standby"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("nexgenwatch/companies-house-control-mcp").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 = { "note": "standby" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("nexgenwatch/companies-house-control-mcp").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 '{
  "note": "standby"
}' |
apify call nexgenwatch/companies-house-control-mcp --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/5x2MhfvsSbac2g8nh/builds/MfVlkVUz82j1RvHoO/openapi.json