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The Companies House integration brings the UK public register into client and counterparty research. Ask who the directors of Contoso Retail Ltd are, who controls a supplier, whether the latest accounts are overdue, or what charges a lender holds over a company, and Hebno answers from Companies House with each filing cited. An owner or admin connects Companies House once for the organisation with an API key. Hebno reads only and never files or writes anything.

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At a glance

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Before you start

You need:
  • An owner or admin role in Hebno.
  • A Companies House account on the developer hub at developer.company-information.service.gov.uk.
  • A live REST API key. In the developer hub, select Your applications → Create an application, choose the Live environment, then open the application and select Create new key with the key type REST.
Hebno sends the key with HTTP basic authentication and reads these Companies House Public Data API resources: When you attach a filing, Hebno opens the document through the Companies House Document API, for example the latest full accounts.

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Connect Companies House

1

Allow the integration

Open Admin → Connectors → Catalogue, find Companies House under Company and market data, and set it to Allow.
2

Connect the organisation

Select Connect, paste the live REST API key, then select Test connection. Hebno looks up a company profile to check the key.
3

Choose teams and data areas

Under Who can use it, choose All teams or pick teams. Under Data areas, choose what members can see. See Data areas.
4

Check access

Access is Read only. Select Save.
The card shows Connected with the application name from the developer hub. Members in the selected teams can use Companies House in chat straight away.

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Data areas

Data areas control what members of the allowed teams can see through the organisation connection. The register is public, so every area defaults to all allowed teams.
Admin connector panel showing who can use it, access and data areas

An organisation connection with team access and data areas. Financial figures default to owners and admins.

To limit counterparty checks to the risk team, open the Companies House card in Admin → Connectors and change Who can use it to that team.

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What Hebno reads

Chat reply citing a Companies House company profile

A Companies House company profile attached to a chat.

Reads are live. Hebno queries the register when a request needs it, so answers reflect the latest filings. Only what a reply used is stored with the conversation as its sources, each cited with a link to the record on the Companies House service.

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What Hebno writes

Hebno does not write to Companies House. It does not file documents, change company details or set up following alerts. Filings are made by the company or its agent through Companies House services. Linking marks which registered company belongs to a project, so you can ask “who are the directors?” without naming the client.
  1. Open the project and select Brain.
  2. Under Linked records, select Link record, then Companies House.
  3. Search by company name or number and select the company. Repeat for subsidiaries or counterparties in the engagement.
In chats tagged to the project, Hebno starts with the linked companies for any question about directors, ownership, filings or charges. See Linked records.

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Use Companies House in chat

  • Attach: open the + menu, choose Sources → Companies House, and pick a company, its officers, its persons with significant control or a filing. Or type / and choose Companies House.
  • Ask: name the company or its number in your request. For example:
    Run a counterparty check on Contoso Retail Ltd: status, directors, controllers, overdue filings and outstanding charges.
    Summarise the director changes at Contoso Retail Ltd since January 2025 and list each director’s other appointments.
    Pull the revenue and operating profit from Contoso Retail Ltd’s latest filed accounts.
  • Research runs show a Checking Companies House step, with a chip for each company, officer list and filing it read.
  • Agents can read Companies House on a schedule, for example a weekly check for new filings and director changes at linked companies. Writes an agent proposes elsewhere appear in agent approvals for review.

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Troubleshooting