OpenRegistry

Real-time direct access to unmodified data and raw filings of about 80+ official government registries via MCP.

Tools: search companies, get profiles, officers, shareholders, charges, filings, and financial-statement documents.

Covers UK Companies House, Ireland CRO, France RNE, Spain BORME, Italy InfoCamere, Norway Brreg, Poland KRS, Netherlands KVK, Belgium KBO, Switzerland Zefix, Finland, Czechia, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, Cayman Island, Australia, Canada and a lot more.

Free tier; paid keys for higher quota and depth.

Data licensed from 🇬🇧 UK Companies House · 🇮🇪 CRO Ireland · 🇳🇴 Brønnøysund · 🇨🇭 Zefix · 🇵🇱 KRS Ministry of Justice — and 75+ more national registries under their respective open-data licences.

Above: an AI agent walks the shareholders of Iceland Foods Ltd through 4 UK holding companies — WD FF MIDCO → ICELAND VLNCO → LANNIS → WD FF LIMITED — and surfaces the 8 individuals who actually own the chain (Tarsem Dhaliwal 41.35% as the largest shareholder, Walker family 51.31% combined). Every share count, every percentage, read verbatim from the registry's own CS01 PDFs.

We return the registry's own response — unmodified. Every field name, every status value, every raw filing byte (XHTML iXBRL / PDF / XBRL) is preserved exactly as the government's system emits it. The identifiers and jurisdiction routing let you reconstruct the government URL for any record. No aggregator markup. No field renames. No document re-rendering. No AI reinterpretation. No stale cache.

Chain queries across borders in a single prompt — a UK Ltd → its Luxembourg SARL → its Cayman LP → the Jersey trust → the individual beneficiary, all in one conversation. Walk ownership structures through 80+ jurisdictions to unmask the real person behind any company.

Hosted endpoint: https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp

A platform by Sophymarine.

The 6 pillars

1. Live	Every tool call is a real-time query to the upstream government registry API at the moment you ask.
2. Direct-to-government	No aggregator, no third-party data warehouse, no nightly scrape. Your AI talks to UK Companies House, France INSEE, German Registerportal, Korean FSS OpenDART directly.
3. Unmodified + source-linked	Every field name, every status code, every raw filing byte returned verbatim. The registry's own identifiers are preserved so any response traces back to the government record. Enterprise tier adds pre-synthesised source_url / registry_url / data_license fields.
4. Zero-stale	No cache layer we control can ever go stale. You see an update the moment the government records it. Contrast with commercial data providers that serve 6-24 hour-old snapshots.
5. Stable	Production-grade reliability, running on Cloudflare Workers' global edge + a warm pool of per-jurisdiction workers for stateful registries.
6. Cross-border	Chain queries across 80+ registries in a single prompt. Walk UK Ltd → LU SARL → KY LP → individual without leaving the conversation.

How OpenRegistry differs

	OpenRegistry	OpenCorporates	Companies House API direct	Bureau van Dijk Orbis
Coverage	80+ national registries	~140, mostly aggregated from upstream sources	UK only	~430M companies, aggregated
Data freshness	Live — every call hits upstream	Scrape-and-cache (hours–days lag)	Live	7-day to quarterly refresh
Field shape	Verbatim upstream payload + unified envelope	Normalised to OC's own schema	Per-registry CH schema	BvD's own schema
Source identifier preserved	Yes — registry URL reconstructable from response	OC ID is primary; mapping back is lossy	Native	BvD ID is primary
Filing PDFs / iXBRL bytes	Returned raw	Metadata only; full bytes paywalled	Native	Paywalled
Cross-border chain walking	One MCP prompt, ≤80+ jurisdictions	Manual ID-stitching across countries	Out of scope (UK only)	Limited to BvD-mastered entities
Authentication	OAuth 2.1 + DCR	API key (signup required)	API key (signup required)	Per-seat license, $30k–$50k+/yr
Made for AI agents	MCP-native, JSON-RPC over Streamable HTTP	REST; no MCP wrapper	REST; no MCP wrapper	REST; no MCP wrapper

One-liner. OpenCorporates and BvD are aggregators that re-shape and cache; CH-direct is single-jurisdiction. OpenRegistry is the layer between an AI agent and the original government APIs — verbatim, live, multi-country, no API key for the free tier.

Where OpenRegistry deliberately doesn't have data, the response carries a structured alternative_url pointing at the AML-obliged-only statutory portal. We don't pretend to have data we don't.

Quick example calls

Three full request → response examples for the most common tools. All three reproducible on the free tier. Calls are JSON-RPC over MCP Streamable HTTP at https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp; for brevity we show the tool name + arguments + the unwrapped response.

1. search_companies — find a UK company

// Request
{
  "name": "search_companies",
  "arguments": { "jurisdiction": "GB", "query": "Monzo Bank", "limit": 5 }
}

// Response (truncated to 1 result)
{
  "jurisdiction": "GB",
  "count": 5,
  "results": [
    {
      "jurisdiction": "GB",
      "company_id": "09446231",
      "company_name": "MONZO BANK LIMITED",
      "status": "active",
      "incorporation_date": "2015-02-06",
      "registered_address": "Broadwalk House, 5 Appold Street, London, England, EC2A 2AG",
      "jurisdiction_data": {
        "company_number": "09446231",
        "company_status": "active",
        "company_type": "ltd",
        "date_of_creation": "2015-02-06",
        "title": "MONZO BANK LIMITED",
        "address_snippet": "Broadwalk House, 5 Appold Street, London, England, EC2A 2AG",
        "kind": "searchresults#company",
        "links": { "self": "/company/09446231" }
        // ... 20+ verbatim CH fields
      }
    }
  ]
}

2. get_persons_with_significant_control — UK PSC for a known company

// Request
{
  "name": "get_persons_with_significant_control",
  "arguments": { "jurisdiction": "GB", "company_id": "OC404063" }
}

// Response
[
  {
    "jurisdiction": "GB",
    "psc_id": "...",
    "name": "[REDACTED — UK CH residential-address suppression]",
    "kind": "individual-person-with-significant-control",
    "nature_of_control": ["ownership-of-shares-25-to-50-percent"],
    "notified_on": "2024-08-15",
    "is_active": true,
    "jurisdiction_data": {
      "etag": "...",
      "natures_of_control": ["ownership-of-shares-25-to-50-percent"],
      "notified_on": "2024-08-15",
      "country_of_residence": "United Kingdom",
      "date_of_birth": { "month": 7, "year": 1985 },
      "address": { "country": "United Kingdom" },
      "links": { "self": "/company/OC404063/persons-with-significant-control/individual/..." }
      // ... full CH PSC record
    }
  }
]

PSC ≠ shareholders. UK Companies House publishes a structured PSC register and a separate (filing-only) statement of capital. They disagree: a 10% shareholder appears in the statement of capital but not in PSC; a corporate trustee appears in PSC without being a shareholder. We surface both via get_persons_with_significant_control and get_shareholders respectively — see the shareholders-vs-PSC case study.

3. fetch_document — raw iXBRL annual accounts bytes

// Request — get the document_id from list_filings or get_financials first
{
  "name": "fetch_document",
  "arguments": { "document_id": "MzQ0MTUyNDU5N2FkaXF6a2N4", "max_bytes": 5000000 }
}

// Response (metadata + base64-encoded body)
{
  "jurisdiction": "GB",
  "document_id": "MzQ0MTUyNDU5N2FkaXF6a2N4",
  "content_type": "application/xhtml+xml",
  "size_bytes": 348721,
  "encoding": "base64",
  "content": "PCFET0NUWVBFIGh0bWwgUFVCTElDIC...",
  // signed proxy URL for human download / out-of-band fetch
  "proxy_url": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/document/gb/MzQ0MTUyNDU5N2FkaXF6a2N4/content?token=..."
}

The content is the literal iXBRL bytes Companies House sends — your AI agent parses or re-renders as it sees fit. We don't re-encode, normalise tags, or extract figures into our own schema. Pass format: "png" (Browser Rendering required) to receive a rasterised page-by-page render of scanned PDFs instead.

Quotas, errors, and back-off

OpenRegistry surfaces three distinct kinds of failure with structured responses so AI agents can branch on them.

Rate limits

Per-IP for anonymous, per-user for signed-in. The cross-border fan-out cap is a separate counter that limits how many distinct jurisdictions a caller can hit via search_companies in a rolling 60-second window.

When you exceed either limit, the response is HTTP 429:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "error": {
    "code": -32000,
    "message": "rate-limited",
    "data": {
      "reason": "rate-limited",
      "retry_after_ms": 12400,
      "scope": "ip"           // or "user" or "fanout"
    }
  }
}

The HTTP layer also sets the standard Retry-After: 13 header (seconds, rounded up). Honour retry_after_ms exactly — exponential back-off on top is unnecessary; the limit window is fixed-rolling, not adaptive. Fan-out cap (scope: "fanout") is a 60-second rolling window — the second your oldest country falls off, you can hit a new one. Pro tier caps at 10 distinct countries / 60s, Max at 30, Enterprise unlimited.

Statutorily restricted (CJEU C-37/20 and similar)

Some beneficial-ownership registers became access-restricted to AML-obliged entities post-CJEU C-37/20 (DE, ES, IT, NL, LU, AT, MT, PT) and the Cayman Beneficial Ownership Transparency Act. We don't proxy these — the tool returns HTTP 501 with structured guidance:

{
  "jurisdiction": "DE",
  "error": "not_proxied_by_design",
  "reason": "CJEU-C-37-20",
  "alternative_url": "https://www.transparenzregister.de",
  "alternative_access": "AML-obliged entities only (banks, lawyers, notaries, etc.)",
  "human_message": "The German Transparency Register is statutorily gated since 22 Nov 2022."
}

This is a design response, not a transient failure — retrying won't help. The alternative_url is the canonical statutory portal where qualified entities can register for access.

Upstream errors and tool-level structured 501s

When the upstream registry has its own outage, we surface its error verbatim with a structured wrapper:

{
  "jurisdiction": "ES",
  "error": "upstream_error",
  "upstream_status": 524,
  "human_message": "Spain BORME upstream timed out (Madrid bulletin renderer slow). Retry in 30-60s.",
  "retry_after_ms": 45000
}

Recommended client back-off

Error	Action
429 rate-limited	Sleep retry_after_ms, then retry once.
429 fanout	Don't retry the same call; route the next request to a country you've already hit in the window.
501 not_proxied_by_design	Don't retry. Surface alternative_url to the user.
501 alternative_tool_required	Re-issue with alternative_tool + alternative_args.
5xx upstream_error	Sleep retry_after_ms if present, else 30s. Max 3 retries.
4xx not_found	Don't retry. Re-search with search_companies to discover a valid id.

A reference back-off implementation is published in every framework integration guide under /docs/integrations.

Ready-to-use skills

We publish 10 professional Claude Agent Skills for the most common OpenRegistry workflows. Drop them into your Claude Code project's .claude/skills/ directory or into any Claude-compatible agent — invoke by intent.

#	Skill	Outcome in one prompt
1	KYC & Cross-Border Due Diligence	Full statutory dossier: profile + directors + UBO + shareholders + charges + latest accounts
2 ⭐	Cross-Border UBO Chain Walker	Walk the ownership chain across jurisdictions until you reach the real individual
3	Director Search & PEP Screening	Every company a person has run + co-director network
4	Live Company Accounts & XBRL Financials	Latest statutory accounts as machine-readable XBRL / iXBRL / PDF + key figures
5	Corporate Filing Monitor & Event Alert	Material filings in a window, categorised and flagged
6	Global Company Name Availability Check	Is a name free to register across 10+ countries?
7	Industry & Competitor Company Search	Every company in a sector across N jurisdictions, ranked + enriched
8	Shell Company Detector	Flag 1-director + no-accounts + overseas-office shells (AML signal)
9	Phoenix Company Radar	Detect dissolved-then-reborn fraud patterns (same director, same address)
10	Sector Gatekeeper List	Every CIMA / FCA / BaFin / FSS-licensed regulated entity

See skills/README.md for the skillpack overview.

Same 10 workflows, also as MCP prompts

Every skill above is also served by the MCP server as a named prompt — so any MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Cline, Goose, Zed, …) shows them in its prompt picker without installing skill files. Call prompts/list to discover them, prompts/get to invoke. Same names: kyc_cross_border_due_diligence, ubo_cross_border_chain_walker, director_search_pep_screening, live_company_accounts_xbrl, corporate_filing_monitor, global_company_name_availability, industry_competitor_search, shell_company_detector, phoenix_company_radar, sector_gatekeeper_list.

Connect

OpenRegistry works with every major MCP-capable client. The same https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp endpoint works across all of them.

Claude Desktop

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → paste https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp.

For older builds without the Connectors UI, add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http openregistry https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp

On Claude Code 2.1.1+ you can also use the JSON form:

claude mcp add-json openregistry '{"type":"http","url":"https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"}'

Gemini CLI

One-line install via the gemini-extension.json manifest in this repo:

gemini extensions install https://github.com/sophymarine/openregistry

Or add to ~/.gemini/settings.json manually (Gemini uses httpUrl, not url):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "httpUrl": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Google's consumer Gemini app at gemini.google.com does not support custom MCP today — only the CLI and Gemini Enterprise (Google Cloud admin path) do.

ChatGPT

Plus / Pro / Business / Enterprise / Education plans only (Free tier doesn't expose Developer Mode).

1. Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings → enable Developer Mode.
2. On the Connectors page, click Create and paste https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp.

See OpenAI's developer-mode help article.

Perplexity

Pro / Max / Enterprise plans only. Settings → Connectors → Add custom remote connector → paste the URL → choose OAuth. Works in regular chat, the Comet browser, and Computer agent workflows. (Changelog 2026-03-13.)

Cursor

Or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json manually:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "url": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code (1.101+, Copilot Agent mode)

Or add to .vscode/mcp.json (workspace) or User Settings → MCP. VS Code uses servers (not mcpServers) and requires type: "http":

{
  "servers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot in JetBrains, Visual Studio, Xcode, and Eclipse also supports custom MCP via the same mcp-config.json pattern — see docs.github.com/copilot for the IDE-specific setup. Copilot CLI uses ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json or the interactive /mcp add command.

Microsoft 365 Copilot (Word / Excel / PowerPoint / Teams / Outlook)

Organization-level deployment via Microsoft Copilot Studio agent path. Requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license.

1. In Microsoft Copilot Studio, open or create an agent → Tools → Add a tool → New tool → Model Context Protocol.
2. Paste https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp, then for Authentication pick OAuth 2.0 → Dynamic discovery (OpenRegistry implements DCR with discovery — zero config).
3. Publish the agent and submit it for admin approval. After your Global / Teams Admin approves it in the Microsoft 365 admin center, it appears in the Agent Store across Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

See Microsoft's Copilot Studio MCP docs and the Agent Store guide.

Cline

Settings → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit settings → paste into cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "url": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp",
      "transport": "streamable-http"
    }
  }
}

See llms-install.md for automated LLM-driven installs.

Windsurf

Cascade panel → hammer icon (🔨) → Configure opens ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json. Add this block (note Windsurf uses serverUrl, not url), then click Refresh (🔄):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "serverUrl": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Anything else speaking MCP

Zed, Goose, Continue, and any other MCP 2025-06-18 client work with the standard config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "openregistry": {
      "url": "https://openregistry.sophymarine.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Streamable HTTP transport per MCP spec 2025-06-18. OAuth 2.1 authorization flow (Dynamic Client Registration per RFC 7591 — no API key to paste).

AI agent frameworks (code samples)

Every major agent framework ships a generic MCP adapter, so OpenRegistry's 27 tools + 10 prompt workflows plug in with zero framework-specific code. Minimum working example per framework:

• LangChain / LangGraph (Python) → openregistry.sophymarine.com/docs/integrations/langchain
• LlamaIndex (Python) → /docs/integrations/llamaindex
• CrewAI (Python) → /docs/integrations/crewai
• Haystack (Python) → /docs/integrations/haystack
• AutoGen (Microsoft) (Python) → /docs/integrations/autogen
• Vercel AI SDK (TypeScript) → /docs/integrations/vercel-ai-sdk

Provenance & Auditability

Every response preserves the upstream registry's identifiers so any fact can be verified at the government record:

• jurisdiction + company_id → reconstruct the government URL (e.g. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09446231)
• document_id → the government's own filing identifier, resolvable back to their portal
• jurisdiction_data → the raw upstream object with every field name preserved
• Filing documents (XHTML iXBRL / PDF / XBRL) returned as raw bytes — no re-rendering

Enterprise tier pre-synthesises source_url / registry_url / registry_name / data_license / alternative_url into every response for one-click audit-trail in compliance reports.

Security and compliance