UK VAT number checker

# Specify the base Docker image. You can read more about
# the available images at https://sdk.apify.com/docs/guides/docker-images
# You can also use any other image from Docker Hub.
FROM apify/actor-node:16

# Copy just package.json and package-lock.json
# to speed up the build using Docker layer cache.
COPY package*.json ./

# Install NPM packages, skip optional and development dependencies to
# keep the image small. Avoid logging too much and print the dependency
# tree for debugging
RUN npm --quiet set progress=false \
    && npm install --omit=dev --omit=optional \
    && echo "Installed NPM packages:" \
    && (npm list --omit=dev --all || true) \
    && echo "Node.js version:" \
    && node --version \
    && echo "NPM version:" \
    && npm --version \
    && rm -r ~/.npm

# Next, copy the remaining files and directories with the source code.
# Since we do this after NPM install, quick build will be really fast
# for most source file changes.
COPY . ./


# Run the image.
CMD npm start --silent

{
    "title": "CheerioCrawler Template",
    "type": "object",
    "schemaVersion": 1,
    "properties": {
        "vatIds": {
            "title": "Vat numbers",
            "type": "array",
            "description": "UK Vat numbers to check.",
            "editor": "stringList",
            "prefill": ["GB123456789"],
            "example": ["GB123456789"]
        }
    },
    "required": ["vatIds"]
}

1# UK VAT number checker
2
3Checks if given UK VAT number(s) is valid. Uses `https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/` to perform the check.
4
5# Input
6
7Array of UK VAT numbers.
8
9# Output
10
11Array of check results.
12
13```
14[
15    {
16        "vatId": "GB220430231",
17        "isValid": true,
18        "businessName": "TESCO PLC",
19        "checkedAt": "2025-03-28T13:33:56.267Z",
20        "address": "CIRRUS A SHIRE PARK KESTREL WAY WELWYN GARDEN CITY AL7 1GA GB"
21    }
22]
23```

{
	"actorSpecification": 1,
	"name": "uk-vat-id-check",
	"title": "UK VAT number checker",
	"description": "",
	"version": "0.0",
	"input": "./INPUT_SCHEMA.json",
	"readme": "./README.md",
	"dockefile": "./Dockerfile",
	"minMemoryMbytes": 256,
	"maxMemoryMbytes": 4096,
	"storages": {
		"dataset": {
			"actorSpecification": 1,
			"title": "UK VAT number check result",
			"views": {
				"results": {
					"title": "UK VAT number check result",
					"transformation": {
						"fields": [
							"vatId",
							"isValid",
							"businessName",
                            "checkedAt",
                            "address"
						]
					},
					"display": {
						"component": "table",
						"properties": {
							"vatId": {
								"label": "VAT number",
								"format": "string"
							},
							"isValid": {
								"label": "Is valid",
								"format": "boolean"
							},
							"businessName": {
								"label": "Business name",
								"format": "string"
							},
                            "address": {
								"label": "Address",
								"format": "string"
							},
                            "checkedAt": {
								"label": "Checked at",
								"format": "datetime"
							}
						}
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

1/**
2 * This template is a production ready boilerplate for developing with `CheerioCrawler`.
3 * Use this to bootstrap your projects using the most up-to-date code.
4 * If you're looking for examples or want to learn more, see README.
5 */
6
7// For more information, see https://sdk.apify.com
8import { Actor } from 'apify';
9// For more information, see https://crawlee.dev
10import { BasicCrawler } from 'crawlee';
11import { gotScraping } from 'got-scraping';
12import cheerio from 'cheerio';
13import { FingerprintGenerator } from 'fingerprint-generator';
14
15// UK (Standard = 9 digits), (Branches = 12 digits), (Government = GD + 3 digits), (Health authority = HA + 3 digits), "XI" prefix is used for Northern Ireland!
16const UK_VAT_NUMBER_REGEX = /^(GB|XI)?([0-9]{9}([0-9]{3})?$|(GD|HA)[0-9]{3}$)/;
17
18// Initialize the Apify SDK
19await Actor.init();
20const input = await Actor.getInput();
21
22const vatIdsToValidate = [];
23for (const vatId of input.vatIds) {
24    // UK VAT number is 9 or 12 numbers. Could be prefixed by GB.
25    if (!vatId.match(UK_VAT_NUMBER_REGEX)) {
26        await Actor.pushData({ vatId, isValid: false, checkedAt: new Date(), address: null, businessName: null, status: 'error' });
27    } else {
28        vatIdsToValidate.push(vatId);
29    }
30}
31
32const startUrls = vatIdsToValidate.map((vatId) => ({
33    url: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details',
34    uniqueKey: vatId,
35    userData: { vatId, label: 'start' },
36}));
37
38const fingerprintGenerator = new FingerprintGenerator();
39
40const proxyConfiguration = await Actor.createProxyConfiguration();
41
42const crawler = new BasicCrawler({
43    useSessionPool: true,
44    async requestHandler({ request, session, log }) {
45        const  browserFingerprintWithHeaders = fingerprintGenerator.getFingerprint({
46            devices: ['desktop'],
47            browsers: ['chrome'],
48        });
49
50        const proxyUrl = await proxyConfiguration.newUrl();
51        const response = await gotScraping({
52            url: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details',
53            method: 'GET',
54            proxyUrl,
55            http2: true,
56            headers: {
57                ...browserFingerprintWithHeaders.headers,
58            },
59        });
60    
61        let $ = cheerio.load(response.body);
62        const token = $('input[name="csrfToken"]').val();
63        const payload = {
64            csrfToken: token,
65            target: request.userData.vatId,
66            requester: '',
67        };
68        await session.setCookiesFromResponse(response);
69
70        let postResponse;
71        // We have to catch the redirect as the response contains set-cookie headers
72        // And gotScraping won't use these cookies in redirect request
73        // That's why this hack with maxRedirects: 0
74        try {
75            await gotScraping({
76                url: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details',
77                form: payload,
78                method: 'POST',
79                proxyUrl,
80                http2: true,
81                maxRedirects: 0,
82                headers: {
83                    ...browserFingerprintWithHeaders.headers,
84                    Cookie: session.getCookieString('https://www.tax.service.gov.uk'),
85                    'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
86                    Referer: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details'
87                },
88            });
89        } catch (err) {
90            if (!err.response.headers.location) throw err;
91            postResponse = err.response;
92        }
93
94        if (!postResponse) throw new Error('VAT number check failed: Post to gov.uk failed');
95        await session.setCookiesFromResponse(postResponse);
96
97        log.info('Fetching result', { location: postResponse.headers.location });
98        const checkResponse = await gotScraping({
99            url: `https://www.tax.service.gov.uk${postResponse.headers.location}`,
100            proxyUrl,
101            http2: true,
102            maxRedirects: 1,
103            headers: {
104                ...browserFingerprintWithHeaders.headers,
105                Cookie: session.getCookieString('https://www.tax.service.gov.uk'),
106            },
107        });
108        $ = cheerio.load(checkResponse.body);
109    
110        const isInvalid = $('h1.govuk-heading-xl').text().toLowerCase().includes('invalid uk vat number');
111        const isValid = $('h1.govuk-panel__title').text().toLowerCase().includes('valid uk vat number');
112        if (!isInvalid && !isValid) {
113            await Actor.setValue(`debug-${request.userData.vatId}`, checkResponse.body, { contentType: 'text/html'});
114            throw new Error('Could not check VAT number: Unknown response');
115        }
116
117        const result = {
118            isValid,
119            checkedAt: new Date(),
120            vatId: request.userData.vatId,
121            businessName: null,
122            address: null,
123            status: 'success',
124        }
125
126        const subHeaders = $('h3.govuk-heading-s');
127        subHeaders.each((i, el) => {
128            if ($(el).text().includes('Registered business name')) {
129                result.businessName = $(el).next().text().trim();
130            }
131            if ($(el).text().includes('Registered business address')) {
132                result.address = $(el).next().text().trim().replace(/\s+/g, ' ');
133            }
134        });
135
136        await Actor.pushData(result);
137
138    },
139    async failedRequestHandler({ request }, err) {
140        await Actor.pushData({
141            isValid: null,
142            status: 'error',
143            checkedAt: new Date(),
144            vatId: request.userData.vatId,
145            businessName: null,
146            address: null,
147            error: err.message,
148        });
149    }
150});
151
152await crawler.run(startUrls);
153
154// Exit successfully
155await Actor.exit();

1import { Dataset } from 'crawlee';
2
3export const router = createCheerioRouter();
4
5router.addDefaultHandler(async ({ enqueueLinks, log }) => {
6    log.info(`enqueueing new URLs`);
7    await enqueueLinks({
8        globs: ['https://apify.com/*'],
9        label: 'detail',
10    });
11});
12
13router.addHandler('vatId', async ({ request, $, log }) => {
14    const title = $('title').text();
15    log.info(`${title}`, { url: request.loadedUrl });
16
17    await Dataset.pushData({
18        url: request.loadedUrl,
19        title,
20    });
21});

# configurations
.idea

# crawlee and apify storage folders
apify_storage
crawlee_storage
storage

# installed files
node_modules

# git folder
.git

root = true

[*]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4
charset = utf-8
trim_trailing_whitespace = true
insert_final_newline = true
end_of_line = lf

{
    "extends": "@apify",
    "root": true
}

# This file tells Git which files shouldn't be added to source control

.DS_Store
.idea
dist
node_modules
apify_storage
storage

{
    "name": "crawlee-cheerio-javascript",
    "version": "0.0.1",
    "type": "module",
    "description": "This is a boilerplate of an Apify actor.",
    "engines": {
        "node": ">=16.0.0"
    },
    "dependencies": {
        "apify": "^3.0.0",
        "crawlee": "^3.0.0",
        "got-scraping": "^3.2.0",
         "cheerio": "1.0.0-rc.12",
         "fingerprint-generator": "^2.1.10"
    },
    "devDependencies": {
        "@apify/eslint-config": "^0.3.1",
        "eslint": "^8.20.0"
    },
    "scripts": {
        "start": "node src/main.js",
        "lint": "eslint ./src --ext .js,.jsx",
        "lint:fix": "eslint ./src --ext .js,.jsx --fix",
        "test": "echo \"Error: oops, the actor has no tests yet, sad!\" && exit 1"
    },
    "author": "It's not you it's me",
    "license": "ISC"
}