canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/credas.co.uk/credas

# Credas API

The Credas API powers the identity verification, AML, and onboarding checks used by regulated UK businesses such as estate agents, conveyancers, and lettings firms. It exposes registrations as the central object that group an individual or company subject's documents, biometric images, credit and bankruptcy checks, property register lookups, and final report exports. The API also produces secure web verification links and PDF reports so a calling application can hand off the customer-facing capture flow or share completed evidence with a third party.

## For AI agents

Run UK identity, KYC, and AML checks by creating registrations, adding ID documents and selfie or liveness images, and pulling back report PDFs and verification status. Use it for property, financial, or legal customer onboarding flows.

## Scope

Does not handle payments, ongoing transaction monitoring, or non-UK government data sources - use for UK identity, AML, and property onboarding checks only.

## Capabilities

- Create a registration record for an individual or company subject and resend the customer invitation when needed
- Attach an ID document, selfie, and liveness image to a registration and retrieve those images back per registration
- Run a credit-status check that flags bankruptcy, insolvency, CCJs, and active company directorships against a subject
- Trigger a property register lookup and retrieve the resulting registry data tied to a registration
- Verify a UK bank account and look up companies by Companies House number through dedicated endpoints
- Export a registration's evidence as a full PDF report, a Share Code settlement PDF, or a section-filtered PDF
- Generate secure customer-facing report-view or web-verification URLs by registration ID or your own reference ID

## Use cases

### UK customer onboarding with KYC

Onboard a UK customer end to end by creating a registration, capturing or uploading an ID document and a selfie or liveness image, and pulling the completed PDF report once checks have run. The single 'instant' registration endpoint creates the record and attaches an ID document and optional selfie in one call, which is convenient for self-serve flows where the user has already taken a photo.

Example prompt: Call POST `/api/registrations/instant` with the subject's details, ID document image, and selfie, then poll GET `/api/registrations/{id}/summary` until checks complete and call GET `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-export.`

### AML and credit screening for property deals

Screen a buyer or tenant for AML risk by combining a credit-status check that surfaces bankruptcy, insolvency, CCJs and directorships with a property register lookup against the same registration. The agent can then download the settlement-status Share Code PDF when proof of funds is required by the conveyancer.

Example prompt: Call POST `/api/credit-status/perform` and POST `/api/property-register` against an existing registrationId, then call GET `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-settlement-status` to retrieve the Share Code PDF.

### Bank account and company verification

Verify that a sort code and account number belong to the named payer before settling a transaction, and confirm the counterparty company is current at Companies House. The pair of endpoints is useful for finance teams checking supplier details ahead of a first payment without running a full registration.

Example prompt: Call POST `/api/bank-accounts/verify` with the sort code, account number and account name, then POST `/api/companies` with the Companies House number to confirm the linked company.

### Agent-driven onboarding via Jentic

Let an agent run a Credas onboarding without hard-coding endpoint URLs by routing through Jentic. The agent searches Jentic for an identity verification operation, loads the matching Credas schema, and executes the registration plus document upload steps while Jentic injects the API credential from the vault.

Example prompt: Through Jentic, run search('start a UK identity verification'), load the Credas POST `/api/registrations` operation, then chain POST `/api/images/id-document` and GET `/api/registrations/{id}/summary.`

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| POST | `/api/registrations` | Create a new registration |
| POST | `/api/registrations/instant` | Create a registration with ID document and optional selfie in one call |
| POST | `/api/images/id-document` | Add an ID document image to a registration |
| POST | `/api/credit-status/perform` | Run credit, bankruptcy, CCJ, and directorship checks |
| POST | `/api/bank-accounts/verify` | Verify UK bank account details |
| POST | `/api/companies` | Look up a company by Companies House number |
| GET | `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-export` | Download the full PDF report for a registration |
| POST | `/api/web-verifications/by-registrationid` | Get a secure web verification link by registration ID |

## Key resources

- **Registrations** — Central onboarding object; create, search by reference or reg code, fetch summary, update contact details and settings, and export PDF reports.
- **Images** — Upload and retrieve ID document, selfie, and liveness images tied to a registration, plus a scan-report PDF per scanned document.
- **Checks** — Credit status, data checks, bank account verification, company lookup, and property register checks performed against registrations.
- **Report views and web verifications** — Generate secure customer-facing URLs to detail pages and web verification flows by registration ID or external reference ID.

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring Credas by hand means managing its API key against the pi-api.credas.co.uk host and sequencing registration, document upload, and check calls across a 37-endpoint onboarding surface. Through Jentic you install once, import Credas from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** Credas puts the registration id in the URL path (`/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-export`), so a rule can pin the agent to reading the registrations you allow. You choose the operations it may call, so credit-status or bank-account checks are not included unless you add them.
- **Credential handling:** Your Credas API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and applied to pi-api.credas.co.uk requests at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'start a UK identity verification' or 'run a bankruptcy check', and Jentic returns the matching Credas operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Onfido** — Global identity verification API with document and biometric checks similar to Credas.
- **Sumsub** — End-to-end KYC, AML, and transaction monitoring platform with global coverage.
- **Veriff** — Identity verification API focused on document plus liveness checks.

## FAQ

### What authentication does the Credas API use?

Credas issues per-tenant API credentials that are passed on each call to https://pi-api.credas.co.uk. The OpenAPI spec does not declare a securityScheme block, so refer to your Credas onboarding pack for the exact header name. Through Jentic, the credential is stored encrypted and injected at request time so it never enters the agent's prompt.

### Can I run a credit and bankruptcy check with the Credas API?

Yes. POST `/api/credit-status/perform` against an existing registrationId runs a check that identifies bankruptcy, insolvency, CCJs, and active company directorships for the subject of that registration.

### How do I attach an ID document and selfie to a Credas registration?

Create the registration with POST `/api/registrations`, then call POST `/api/images/id-document` and POST `/api/images/selfie` with the registrationId. To do all three in one round trip, use POST `/api/registrations/instant` which creates the record and attaches an ID document plus optional selfie in a single call.

### How do I retrieve a completed Credas report as a PDF?

Call GET `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-export` for the full report, GET `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-export-sections` for a section-filtered version, or GET `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-settlement-status` for the Share Code settlement status PDF.

### What are the rate limits for the Credas API?

The published OpenAPI spec does not declare rate limits. Limits are set per Credas contract, so confirm your tenant's quota with your account manager. Build retries around HTTP 429 responses on POST `/api/credit-status/perform` and the image upload endpoints, which are the heaviest in the API.

### How do I start a Credas onboarding flow through Jentic?

Install Jentic with pip install jentic, then async-search for 'start a UK identity verification'. Jentic returns Credas POST `/api/registrations` and the related image and check operations; load the registration schema, execute it, and chain POST `/api/images/id-document.` Jentic attaches the Credas credential automatically.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Credas API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which Credas operations and credentials the agent may use, so you pick exactly what it can call. Since Credas puts the registration id in the URL path, such as GET `/api/registrations/{id}/pdf-export`, a rule can pin the agent to reading only the registrations you allow. Sensitive operations like POST `/api/credit-status/perform` or POST `/api/bank-accounts/verify` are not available to the agent unless you explicitly add them.