# UK Company Watch: Companies House Change Monitor (`tudorlane/uk-company-watch`) Actor

Monitor UK companies for changes between runs: status, name, registered address, directors added/removed, director disqualifications, owners (PSC), Companies House insolvency history and overdue filings. Only changes are charged extra.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/tudorlane/uk-company-watch.md
- **Developed by:** [Tudor Lane](https://apify.com/tudorlane) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 company checks

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## UK Company Watch: Companies House change monitor

**Use when:** an agent or KYB/credit workflow must keep watching a list of UK companies and only hear what changed since the last run: status, name, address, directors, owners (PSC), Companies House insolvency history, overdue filings and director disqualifications. Schedule it daily.

**Try this input**

```json
{"companyNumbers": ["00445790", "02366995"], "watchlistId": "default", "checkOfficerRedFlags": true}
```

**Sample output** (one item, shortened)

```json
{"company_number": "00445790", "company_name": "TESCO PLC", "company_status": "active", "baseline": true,
 "changed": false, "changes": [], "change_types": [], "accounts_overdue": false, "accounts_next_due": "2027-08-26",
 "active_officers": ["Ken MURPHY (director)", "..."], "url": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00445790"}
```

Later runs list changes in plain English, e.g. a director removed, status moving to liquidation, or `officer_disqualified`. Up to 500 companies per run. No API key needed (a shared Companies House key is built in; bring your own for high volumes).

**Pricing:** pay per event, **$0.002 per company checked** + **$0.02 per company with a detected change**. Baseline (first) runs never charge for changes.

### Limits & failure modes

- First run for a `watchlistId` only saves a baseline; changes are reported from the second run.
- Snapshot lives in your named key-value store `uk-company-watch`; stateless agents can pass `previousSnapshot`.
- Director disqualifications are checked live on Companies House: `[]` means none found.
- Disqualification matching uses name + birth month/year; if the lookup fails the field is `null` and listed in `checks_unavailable`.
- Invalid or unknown company numbers return a row with `error` set.
- Data: Companies House (OGL v3). Not legal or credit advice.

Last tested 2026-10-29.

### Use from AI agents (MCP)

- **Apify MCP server:** add `https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=tudorlane/uk-company-watch` to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, VS Code or any MCP client.
- **REST:** `POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/tudorlane~uk-company-watch/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN` with the input JSON.

# Actor input Schema

## `companyNumbers` (type: `array`):

Max 500 UK company numbers (e.g. 00445790, SC123456).

## `watchlistId` (type: `string`):

Name for this watchlist. The snapshot is kept in your named key-value store 'uk-company-watch' under this ID, so each run compares against the last one.

## `previousSnapshot` (type: `object`):

Optional: pass the SNAPSHOT record from an earlier run instead of the saved watchlist (useful for stateless agents).

## `companiesHouseApiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional free key for high volumes. A shared key is used if empty.

## `checkOfficerRedFlags` (type: `boolean`):

Also check each active director/officer against the Companies House disqualified directors register, matched on name + birth month/year. Turn off for faster runs on very large watchlists.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "companyNumbers": [
    "00445790",
    "02366995"
  ],
  "watchlistId": "default",
  "checkOfficerRedFlags": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One item per request.

## `dataset` (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 = {
    "companyNumbers": [
        "00445790",
        "02366995"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("tudorlane/uk-company-watch").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 = { "companyNumbers": [
        "00445790",
        "02366995",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("tudorlane/uk-company-watch").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 '{
  "companyNumbers": [
    "00445790",
    "02366995"
  ]
}' |
apify call tudorlane/uk-company-watch --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/CY19WS9y5soPUaBUe/builds/me1oH8MFed9yWm2eU/openapi.json