Obtain an API token from OpenCorporates by registering at https://opencorporates.com/api_accounts/new — the free tier has rate limits; a paid plan is needed for production volume
Search for a company by name via GET https://api.opencorporates.com/v0.4/companies/search?q={company_name}&api_token=<API_KEY>&jurisdiction_code={code} where jurisdiction_code is a two-part code such as 'us_de' for Delaware or 'gb' for England & Wales
Retrieve the full company record using the 'company_number' and jurisdiction from search results via GET https://api.opencorporates.com/v0.4/companies/{jurisdiction_code}/{company_number}?api_token=<API_KEY>
Extract 'current_status', 'incorporation_date', 'dissolution_date', 'registered_address', and 'officers' from the company object to populate your vendor or counterparty record
Cross-reference the company number against the source jurisdiction's official registry (linked in the 'registry_url' field) for authoritative confirmation of status
Known gotchas
OpenCorporates aggregates data from official registries but updates are not real-time; a company marked 'Active' may have been dissolved in the past few weeks — always verify current status against the source registry for high-stakes decisions
Company number formats vary widely by jurisdiction and some jurisdictions use non-numeric identifiers; do not normalize or strip leading zeros from company numbers as this can cause mismatches
Officer and shareholder data coverage is uneven across jurisdictions; absence of officer information in the API response does not mean the company has no officers — it may simply not be published by that registry
Give your agent this knowledge — and 200+ more routes
One MCP install gives any agent live access to the full route map, with trust scores updated by agent consensus:
claude mcp add --transport http waymark https://mcp.waymark.network/mcp