OpenRegistry

Unmodified government company records, live. Cross-border ownership chain walker. 27 national registries.

Data licensed from 🇬🇧 UK Companies House · 🇮🇪 CRO Ireland · 🇳🇴 Brønnøysund · 🇨🇭 Zefix · 🇵🇱 KRS Ministry of Justice — and 22 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.

OpenRegistry is your AI agent's live hotline to 27 national company registries — UK Companies House, France RNE, Germany Handelsregister, Italy InfoCamere (via EU BRIS), Spain BORME, Poland KRS, Korea OpenDART, Canada CBCA, 10 US states, and more.

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 27 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 27 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	27 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, ≤30 jurisdictions	Manual ID-stitching across countries	Out of scope (UK only)	Limited to BvD-mastered entities
Authentication	OAuth 2.1 + DCR; anonymous tier free	API key (signup required)	API key (signup required)	Per-seat license, $30k–$50k+/yr
Self-serve free tier	20 req/min/IP — all tools, all jurisdictions	Free for non-commercial only, throttled	Free, single-jurisdiction	None
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 (statutorily restricted BO registers post-CJEU C-37/20: DE, ES, IT, NL, LU, AT, MT, PT), 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 against the free anonymous tier — no signup, no API key. 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
}

Some tools also return 501 with an alternative tool suggestion when the upstream registry doesn't expose the requested concept (e.g. CZ political parties don't have officers in the standard sense — call search_specialised_records with source="rpsh" instead):

{
  "error": "alternative_tool_required",
  "alternative_tool": "search_specialised_records",
  "alternative_args": { "jurisdiction": "CZ", "source": "rpsh", "...": "..." },
  "human_message": "Czech political parties register is exposed via the RPSH sub-source."
}

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

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

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

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

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

Claude Code

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

Cline (VS Code)

Settings → Cline → MCP Servers → Add:

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

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

Anything else speaking MCP

Streamable HTTP transport per MCP spec 2025-06-18. OAuth 2.1 authorization flow for authenticated tiers (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

Tiers

Tier	Price	Rate limit	Cross-border fan-out	Source URLs
Anonymous	free	20/min per IP	3 countries / 60s	identifiers only (URL reconstructable)
Free (signed in)	free	30/min per user	3 countries / 60s	identifiers only
Pro	$9/mo	180/min per user	10 countries / 60s	identifiers only
Max	$29/mo	900/min per user	30 countries / 60s	identifiers only
Enterprise	contact	3000/min per user	unlimited	source_url / registry_url / data_license synthesised

All tiers receive the full unmodified upstream data — the only thing Enterprise adds is pre-built source-URL fields for audit-trail convenience.

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

• Auth: OAuth 2.1 + PKCE, passwordless email magic links, RFC 7591 Dynamic Client Registration. No pre-shared API keys.
• Privacy: OpenRegistry proxies official public-registry data. Beneficial-ownership registers that became access-restricted post-CJEU C-37/20 (DE, ES, IT, NL, LU, AT, MT, PT) are not proxied — the tool returns 501 alternative_url pointing at the statutory gated portal (AML-obliged entities only). We explicitly flag where AML gates block the ownership chain.
• Rate limits: per-user for authenticated traffic, per-IP for anonymous — plus a per-jurisdiction upstream-protection cap shared across all users, to keep OpenRegistry a good citizen with the registries we depend on.

Support

• Hosted app + account management: openregistry.sophymarine.com/account
• Tool capability matrix: call list_jurisdictions or visit openregistry.sophymarine.com/jurisdictions
• Enterprise inquiries / partnerships: contact@sophymarine.com
• Status + uptime: openregistry.sophymarine.com/status
• This repo is documentation only. The OpenRegistry service implementation is closed-source; raise issues here for the integration experience (documentation, examples, install flows).

Security

Found a vulnerability? Please email security@sophymarine.com rather than opening a public issue. See SECURITY.md for the full reporting policy, scope, and safe-harbor terms.

Code of Conduct

Participation in this project is governed by our Code of Conduct, adapted from the Contributor Covenant 2.1. Report issues to conduct@sophymarine.com.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome for:

• Bridge bugs (server.mjs)
• Documentation improvements (README, llms-install.md, GEMINI.md)
• Skill / prompt refinements (skills/, commands/, .claude-plugin/)
• Brand assets and metadata (brand/, glama.json, .mcp.json, gemini-extension.json)

The OpenRegistry service implementation (jurisdiction adapters, MCP server, billing, auth) is closed-source and not accepted via PR. For tool / behavior requests against the hosted service, open an issue describing the use case.

Changelog

Tagged releases live on the GitHub Releases page. Versions follow SemVer — patch for fixes, minor for additive changes, major for breaking changes to the bridge protocol or tool surface contract.

License

Documentation, skills, and brand assets in this repository are released under CC-BY-4.0 — you may share and adapt the material for any purpose with attribution. The openregistry stdio bridge (server.mjs) is also released under CC-BY-4.0 for consistency. The hosted MCP service implementation is not open-source and is operated under separate commercial terms; see the Tiers section.

See NOTICE.md for third-party attribution.

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OpenRegistry is a platform by Sophymarine.

© 2026 Sophymarine. OpenRegistry and Sophymarine are trademarks of Sophymarine. Documentation in this repository is published under CC-BY-4.0.