Companies Office NZ

Goal

Query rich public Companies Register data through a deterministic no-login Python CLI. Covers company identity, registered addresses, current and historical directors, shareholder allocations, and the complete filing/document history.

Use this when

• A user asks to find an NZ company by name, number, or NZBN
• A workflow needs director names, appointment dates, or residential cities
• A user wants shareholder allocations and ownership percentages
• A workflow needs the full filing history or document list for a company
• A user asks about a company's registered office, address for service, or contact details from the register
• A task requires company number, incorporation date, status, or entity type

Do not use this for

• Private or suppressed register data
• Authenticated actions: director appointments, shareholder updates, annual return filing
• Paid company extract purchase (CompanyExtract fee document)
• PPSR / Personal Property Securities Register — this is a separate register at ppsr.companiesoffice.govt.nz
• GST numbers, industry classifications, trading names, or Australian Business Numbers — use nzbn-register for these
• Non-company entities (trusts, partnerships, incorporated societies) — limited support
• Bulk scraping or full-register replication

Preferred workflow

1. search <name> to find the company number
2. entity <number> for summary + addresses
3. directors <number> and shareholders <number> for governance data
4. documents <number> for filing history
5. Or use full <number> to get everything in one call
6. Use --json for agent chaining; --output md for reports

CLI

Run with:

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py <command> [flags]

Commands

search <query> [--limit N] [--start N] [--json] [--output md]

Search by company name, company number, or NZBN text.

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py search "Holt Group"
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py search "xero" --limit 5 --json
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py search 1830488 --json

entity <company_number> [--nzbn <nzbn>] [--json] [--output md]

Company summary and addresses. Pass --nzbn to look up by NZBN.

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py entity 1830488
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py entity --nzbn 9429034042984 --json

directors <company_number> [--json] [--output md]

Current and historical directors, appointment dates, residential addresses (public).

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py directors 1830488
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py directors 973228 --json

shareholders <company_number> [--json] [--output md]

Shareholder allocations, percentages, holder names and addresses.

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py shareholders 1830488
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py shareholders 9400535 --json

documents <company_number> [--limit N] [--start N] [--json] [--output md]

Filing history and document list. Includes document URLs for public attachments.

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py documents 1830488 --limit 20
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py documents 973228 --json

full <company_number> [--doc-limit N] [--json] [--output md]

All of the above in one call: entity summary + directors + shareholders + recent documents.

python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py full 973228
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py full 1830488 --doc-limit 20 --json
python3 skills/companies-office-nz/scripts/cli.py full 1830488 --output md

Resources

• CLI entrypoint: scripts/cli.py
• Live smoke test: scripts/smoke_test.py
• API and stability notes: references/api-notes.md

Related skills

• nzbn-register — NZBN Register: trading names, GST numbers, industry classifications, ABN, and broader entity identity for all NZ entity types. Complement this skill when you need GST or trading name data.
• nz-pricewatch — not related, different domain

Notes

• No API key, OAuth token, username, password, or browser session required
• Director and shareholder data is HTML-parsed from the public register pages (the equivalent JSON service endpoints require an authenticated session)
• Director residential addresses are shown as registered on the public register — some may be suppressed by the company
• Listed companies (extensive shareholding flag) show only the top shareholder parcels; contact the company for a full register
• Charges and security interests (PPSR) are on a separate register; this skill does not cover them
• NZBN field is not returned by the entity detail endpoint — it is available in search results; use search <nzbn> to resolve
• Documents with a drmKey have a public download URL included in output; others are listed without a URL
• Keep queries small and respectful; this is an unofficial use of the website's own proxy