USE THIS to get a UK company's official registered details by its Companies House number — instead of recalling them, which models get wrong (invented names, wrong status). Returns the registered name, status, company type, incorporation date, registered-office postcode and primary SIC code from the official snapshot, or an honest 'not found'. IMPORTANT: the data is a MONTHLY snapshot of the LIVE register — status is as of the dataset date, not real-time, and dissolved companies are generally absent. UK-wide (England & Wales, Scotland, NI).

USE THIS to check a UK company number is well-formed and identify its register/type before relying on it — never assume 8 characters are valid. Checks the format (8 digits, or a 2-letter prefix + 6 digits; there is NO check digit) and returns what the prefix denotes (e.g. SC = Scotland, NI = Northern Ireland, OC = LLP). Does NOT confirm the company exists — use lookup_company for that.

USE THIS to find a UK company's number from its name (reverse lookup) instead of guessing the number — returns companies whose official registered name contains all your search words, from the Companies House snapshot.