Check whether a company is registered, where it was formed, whether it's still active and who its registered agent is, without opening five state websites. With the Firecrawl plugin, ChatGPT can look up an LLC or corporation through Firecrawl Alexandria, reading the record straight from registries such as Florida's Sunbiz, the Delaware Division of Corporations and UK Companies House.
Best for
- Confirming a vendor, landlord or client is a real, registered entity before you sign or pay.
- Finding the registered agent to serve papers on or send a formal notice to.
- Seeing which state a company was formed in and which other states it has registered in.
Plugins and data providers
Plugin: the Firecrawl plugin. Lets ChatGPT reach the registry tools in Firecrawl Alexandria, each call billed in Firecrawl credits.
Data providers in Firecrawl Alexandria
| Provider | Tool | Returns |
|---|---|---|
| Delaware Division of Corporations | Entity search and record | Name or file number search, then the free entity record: formation date, kind (corporation or LLC), type, domestic or foreign, and the registered agent with address and phone. No status. |
| Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) | Entity search and record | An alphabetical name list with status, then the full record: filing date, status, FEI/EIN, last event, registered agent, officers and directors, annual reports and links to filed PDFs. |
| Colorado Secretary of State | Entity search and record | Name search with status and formation date, then the record: status, form, jurisdiction of formation, principal office, registered agent and the month the annual report is due. |
| UK Companies House | Company search, profile, officers and PSC | Company search, then the profile (status, type, incorporation date, registered office, previous names, SIC codes, accounts and confirmation statement dates), officers and persons with significant control. |
| Virginia SCC, Georgia, Missouri | Business entity search | Name searches that return entity type and status in each row. Virginia and Georgia rows also name the registered agent, and each registry has a separate record tool for the full entry. |
Explore Firecrawl Alexandria data providers across categories
Starter prompt
Put in the company name and the states you care about:
@firecrawl Look up Palantir Technologies Inc. in the Delaware and Colorado
business registries through Firecrawl Alexandria. Tell me what each tool
costs before you call it.
For each state, give me:
- The exact legal name and the file or ID number.
- Entity type, formation date and whether it's domestic or foreign there.
- Status, or say plainly if that registry didn't return one.
- The registered agent's name and address.
Only report what the registry returned. If a field is missing, say so
instead of filling it in.Before you start
- Install the plugin. Use the button below to open the Firecrawl listing in ChatGPT.
- Connect Firecrawl. Registry lookups are billed in credits, so ChatGPT needs your account. New users can create one here.
- Know the jurisdiction if you can. A company can be formed in one state and registered in several others, and each registry is a separate search.
Limitations of using ChatGPT to look up an LLC or corporation
Company records are spread across government databases that change daily and publish different things. Asked from memory or a web search, ChatGPT runs into six problems.
- No single US register. Companies register with a state, and OpenCorporates counts over 50 separate official registers, each run by a state or territory and each structuring its data its own way (OpenCorporates). A question that doesn't name the state leaves ChatGPT guessing which registry to read.
- Delaware charges for status. The state's free search covers the entity name, file number, formation date and registered agent, and says more can be had for a fee (Delaware Division of Corporations). Checking status online costs $10 per entity, or $20 with franchise tax and filing history (Delaware). A snippet calling a Delaware company "active" didn't come from the free record.
- Search hits say nothing about standing. Delaware's search lists active and inactive entities together and warns that a result doesn't indicate current status. Status changes over time, so an old directory page can show a dissolved company as live.
- Officers aren't always on file. Officer or director names appear only in some states' databases, and beneficial ownership is generally not part of public state records (OpenCorporates). South Carolina's Secretary of State says it doesn't have officers' or directors' names or addresses at all (SC Secretary of State). Ask who runs an LLC and ChatGPT may fill the gap with a name from somewhere else.
- UK companies follow different rules. Companies House is a national register that gives out the registered address, incorporation date, current and resigned officers, previous names and insolvency information for free (GOV.UK). US habits such as looking for a registered agent don't carry over.
- Invented records. Without a tool, ChatGPT has no knowledge of anything past its training cutoff, and OpenAI warns it can state wrong facts with confidence and invent citations (OpenAI). A plausible file number or formation date is easy to make up.
How it works
A registry lookup in ChatGPT runs on three pieces:
- Firecrawl Alexandria: the data layer between AI agents and the sources they need, with 100+ official providers paid under agreement, public registries like these, and Firecrawl's indexes of the web, research, developer docs and government records. Firecrawl ran 845 tasks with identical models and prompts, and answer quality came out 21% higher when agents had Firecrawl Alexandria than when they had only built-in web tools.
- Search, then record: each registry has a search tool that turns a name into the registry's own ID (a Delaware file number, a Florida document number, a Colorado 11-digit ID, a UK company number) and a record tool that reads the full entry for that ID.
- As the registry prints it: fields come back with the registry's own labels and values, so a Colorado status reads "Good Standing" and a Florida one reads "ACTIVE". Delaware's tool marks every record with status not included, so ChatGPT can't pass off a missing status as a clean one.
Looking up an LLC in ChatGPT with and without Firecrawl Alexandria
| Training data plus search | Registry tools via Firecrawl Alexandria | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the record comes from | Memory, directory sites and old news | The state or national registry, read at the time you ask |
| Identifiers | Often missing or invented | The registry's own file, document or company number on every result |
| Status | Whatever a cached page said | The registry's current status, except in Delaware, where the tool says status isn't included |
| Registered agent | Rarely included | Name and address from the record, with phone in Delaware |
| Officers and owners | Pulled from LinkedIn, press or guesswork | Florida's officer and director list, Companies House officers and persons with significant control |
| Several states at once | One search result at a time | Delaware formation and a foreign registration in Colorado, Virginia or Georgia, side by side |
| Source | Hard to trace | Government registries, listed in Firecrawl Alexandria next to 100+ official providers and other public sources spanning companies, finance, government and media. Explore the catalog |
Build your own entity lookup workflow
Shape the prompt around the decision you're making. A small business checking a new vendor wants a quick yes or no:
@firecrawl Is Publix Super Markets, Inc. an active Florida company? Search
Sunbiz, open the record for the exact legal name and give me the status,
filing date, last event, registered agent and the three most recent annual
reports. Show the cost of each call first.A paralegal preparing to serve a company needs the agent and the right state:
@firecrawl Find the Delaware file number for "Palantir Technologies Inc.",
then pull its Delaware entity record and its Colorado record. List the
registered agent in each state with the full address, and note which state
it was formed in.Both prompts name the registry and the exact entity, which keeps ChatGPT from picking a similarly named company from the search list.
Take it further
Directors of a UK company
@firecrawl Search Companies House for Tesco PLC and list its current
officers with role and appointment date.Who controls a UK company
@firecrawl Show the persons with significant control for UK company number
01959090, with the nature of control and when each was notified.Filter by entity type in Virginia
@firecrawl Search the Virginia SCC registry for stock corporations named
Capital One Financial and give me the entity ID, status, principal office
and registered agent.Exact match in Georgia
@firecrawl Search Georgia's business registry for an exact match on
"The Home Depot, Inc." and tell me the control number, business type,
status and registered agent.Prices first
@firecrawl Which Firecrawl Alexandria tools search state business
registries? List each with the state and its price per call before
running anything.What it costs
Finding a registry tool and reading its price costs nothing. Credits come off your Firecrawl balance only when ChatGPT calls a tool, and plan sizes are on the pricing page.
| Registry tool | Answers | Credits per call |
|---|---|---|
| Delaware search | File numbers matching a name | 5 |
| Delaware entity | Formation date, kind, type and registered agent | 5 |
| Florida (Sunbiz) search | Names near your query, with status | 5 |
| Florida (Sunbiz) entity | Full record with officers and annual reports | 5 |
| Colorado search | IDs, status and formation dates for a name | 5 |
| Colorado entity | Status, form, jurisdiction and registered agent | 3 |
| Companies House search, company, officers or PSC | One page or one profile per call | 5 |
| Virginia, Georgia or Missouri search or entity | One results page or one record | 5 |
Every reply lists the registry tools ChatGPT ran and the credits each took.
[ Business entity search in ChatGPT ]
Install the Firecrawl plugin and have ChatGPT check a company against the official registry. Looking up tools and prices is free.
Related use cases
- How to check if a brand name is trademarked in ChatGPT: see whether a company's name is also a registered mark before you rely on it.
- How to check a company's BBB complaints in ChatGPT: see how the business handles customer complaints before you sign with it.
- How to find someone's work email in ChatGPT: once the record names an officer, get a work address to contact them.
Coverage limits
- Only the registries in the catalog. This guide covers Delaware, Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri and UK Companies House. A company formed in another state needs that state's own site.
- Delaware status and history aren't included. The Delaware tool returns the free record only, so for good standing you'll need the state's paid lookup or a certificate.
- Search lists are loose. Florida's search returns nearby names, inactive companies and even trademarks, and Missouri's exact-match search also returned expired fictitious names. Open the record for the exact legal name before relying on it.