REST API

Sijilat API Reference

Programmatic access to Bahrain's commercial registry. Search 271,829+ businesses, retrieve company details, ownership data, and contact information through a simple REST API.

Base URL

api.sijilat.io

Protocol

HTTPS only

Format

JSON

Quick Start

Make your first API call in seconds. No authentication required for basic usage.

terminal

curl "https://api.sijilat.io/search?q=Gulf+Trading"

Authentication

The API can be used without authentication for quick exploration. For production use, pass an API key to bypass rate limits.

With API Key

Unlimited requests. No rate limiting. Pass via x-api-key header.

Without API Key

5 requests per hour per IP address. Good for testing and exploration.

Example Request

terminal

curl "https://api.sijilat.io/search?q=Bahrain" \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"

Get your API key by subscribing to one of our paid plans. The Small Business plan and above include full API access.

Rate Limiting

Unauthenticated requests are limited to 5 requests per hour per IP address. Authenticated requests with a valid API key have no rate limits.

Rate Limit Headers

All responses from unauthenticated requests include these headers:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 5
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 4
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1640995200

When Rate Limited

If you exceed the limit, you'll receive a 429 response with an additional header:

Retry-After: 3600

429 response body

{
  "error": "Too Many Requests",
  "message": "Rate limit exceeded. Maximum 5 requests per hour allowed.",
  "retryAfter": 3600
}

Rate limit counters reset on a rolling window basis. The X-RateLimit-Reset header contains a Unix timestamp indicating when the current window expires.

GET/search

Search across the entire Bahrain commercial registry. Supports both simple free-text queries and advanced multi-field searches. Results are categorized by CR matches, company matches, and person matches, each with relevance scoring.

Simple Search

Search across all fields with a single query string.

terminal

curl "https://api.sijilat.io/search?q=Gulf+Trading" \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"

Parameter	Type	Description
`q`required	string	Search query. Minimum 2 characters. Searches company names, CR numbers, and person names.

Advanced Search

Search with targeted filters. At least one parameter must be provided with a minimum of 2 characters.

terminal

curl "https://api.sijilat.io/search?companyName=Gulf&ownerName=Ahmed" \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"

Parameter	Type	Description
`crNumber`	string	CR registration number to search for.
`companyName`	string	Company name — supports both Arabic and English.
`ownerName`	string	Owner or person name associated with a company.
`shareholderName`	string	Shareholder name to search across all companies.

Response

200 OK — application/json

{
  "crMatches": [
    {
      "cr": "123-1",
      "nameAr": "شركة الخليج",
      "nameEn": "Gulf Trading Co.",
      "status": "ACTIVE",
      "matchType": "exact",
      "relevanceScore": 100
    }
  ],
  "companyMatches": [
    {
      "cr": "456-1",
      "nameAr": "شركة البحرين",
      "nameEn": "Bahrain Trading",
      "status": "ACTIVE",
      "matchType": "partial",
      "relevanceScore": 85
    }
  ],
  "personMatches": [
    {
      "personNameAr": "أحمد المنصور",
      "personNameEn": "Ahmed Al-Mansoor",
      "companies": [
        {
          "cr": "123-1",
          "companyNameAr": "شركة الخليج",
          "companyNameEn": "Gulf Trading Co.",
          "role": "owner"
        }
      ],
      "matchType": "exact",
      "relevanceScore": 95
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "query": "Gulf Trading",
    "totalResults": 3,
    "executionTimeMs": 45,
    "searchType": "simple"
  }
}

Response Fields

crMatches[]

crCR and branch number (e.g. "123-1")

nameArCompany name in Arabic

nameEnCompany name in English (nullable)

statusCompany status (e.g. "ACTIVE")

matchType"exact" or "partial"

relevanceScoreRelevance score from 0–100

companyMatches[]

crCR and branch number

nameArCompany name in Arabic

nameEnCompany name in English (nullable)

statusCompany status

matchType"exact", "partial", "fuzzy", or "multiword"

relevanceScoreRelevance score from 0–100

personMatches[]

personNameArPerson name in Arabic

personNameEnPerson name in English (nullable)

companies[]Array of companies associated with this person

matchType"exact", "subsequence", "fuzzy", or "multiword"

relevanceScoreRelevance score from 0–100

metadata

queryThe original query string or advanced search parameters

totalResultsTotal number of results across all categories

executionTimeMsServer-side query execution time in milliseconds

searchType"simple" or "advanced"

GET/cr

Retrieve comprehensive details for a specific company by its CR number and branch. Returns registration info, contact details, ownership, capital structure, business activities, and amendment history.

Request

terminal

curl "https://api.sijilat.io/cr?cr=12345-1" \
  -H "x-api-key: your_api_key_here"

Parameter	Type	Description
`cr`required	string	CR number and branch in "CR_NO-BRANCH_NO" format (e.g. "12345-1"). The branch number is typically "1" for the main registration.

Results are cached for 24 hours. Subsequent requests for the same CR within that window return cached data instantly while triggering a background refresh.

Response

200 OK — application/json

{
  "companyInfo": {
    "registrationNumber": "12345",
    "branchNumber": "1",
    "arabicName": "شركة الخليج للتجارة",
    "englishName": "Gulf Trading Co. WLL",
    "companyType": "WLL - With Limited Liability",
    "registrationDate": "2020-01-15",
    "expiryDate": "2025-01-15",
    "status": "ACTIVE",
    "financialYearEnd": "December"
  },
  "contactDetails": {
    "building": "Tower 123",
    "flat": "Office 456",
    "roadNumber": "3802",
    "roadName": "Road 38",
    "block": "338",
    "areaTown": "Diplomatic Area",
    "poBox": "12345",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "phone": "+973 1700 1234",
    "mobile": "+973 3900 5678",
    "fax": null,
    "website": "https://gulftrading.bh"
  },
  "socialMedia": {
    "Facebook": "https://facebook.com/gulftrading",
    "Instagram": "@gulftrading",
    "Twitter": null
  },
  "activities": [
    {
      "activityCode": "4610",
      "isicCode": "4610",
      "description": "Wholesale on a fee or contract basis",
      "details": "General trading",
      "capitalAmount": "50000"
    }
  ],
  "capitalDetails": {
    "authorizedCapital": "100000",
    "issuedCapital": "50000",
    "totalShares": "500",
    "nominalValuePerShare": "100",
    "currency": "BHD",
    "paidInCash": "50000",
    "actualPaidCapital": "50000"
  },
  "shareholders": [
    {
      "name": "Ahmed Al-Mansoor",
      "nameInArabic": "أحمد المنصور",
      "nationality": "Bahraini",
      "numberOfShares": "250",
      "ownershipPercentage": "50"
    }
  ],
  "authorizedSignatories": [
    {
      "name": "Ahmed Al-Mansoor",
      "nameInArabic": "أحمد المنصور",
      "nationality": "Bahraini",
      "signingAuthority": "Full"
    }
  ],
  "boardOfDirectors": [],
  "partners": [],
  "amendments": [
    {
      "date": "2023-06-15",
      "amendmentType": "Change of Address",
      "applicationNumber": "APP-2023-12345"
    }
  ],
  "branches": []
}

Response Structure

companyInfo

registrationNumberCR registration number

branchNumberBranch number

arabicNameOfficial name in Arabic

englishNameOfficial name in English (nullable)

companyTypeLegal entity type (e.g. WLL, BSC)

registrationDateDate of registration

expiryDateCR expiry date

statusCurrent status

financialYearEndFinancial year end month

contactDetails

buildingBuilding name/number

flatFlat/office number

roadNumber / roadNameRoad details

block / areaTownBlock and area

poBoxPO Box number

email / phone / mobile / faxContact channels

websiteCompany website

activities[]

activityCodeBusiness activity code

isicCodeISIC Rev. 4 classification code

descriptionActivity description

detailsAdditional activity details

capitalAmountCapital allocated to activity

capitalDetails

authorizedCapitalMaximum authorized capital

issuedCapitalCurrently issued capital

totalSharesTotal number of shares

nominalValuePerShareFace value per share

currencyCurrency code (typically BHD)

paidInCash / actualPaidCapitalCapital paid in

shareholders[]

name / nameInArabicShareholder name (bilingual)

nationalityNationality

numberOfSharesShares held

ownershipPercentageOwnership %

Other arrays

authorizedSignatories[]People authorized to sign for the company

boardOfDirectors[]Board members with positions

partners[]Company partners

amendments[]History of CR amendments

branches[]Other branches of the company

Error Handling

The API uses standard HTTP status codes. Errors return a JSON body with an error field describing the problem.

Status	Meaning	When
`400`	Bad Request	Missing or invalid query parameters, or search query under 2 characters.
`401`	Unauthorized	An x-api-key header was provided but the key is invalid.
`429`	Too Many Requests	Rate limit exceeded. Wait for the Retry-After duration.
`500`	Internal Error	Unexpected server error. Retry after a brief delay.

Error Response Format

400 Bad Request

{
  "error": "Invalid search query",
  "code": "INVALID_QUERY",
  "details": "Search query must be at least 2 characters long"
}

401 Unauthorized

{
  "error": "Unauthorized",
  "code": "UNAUTHORIZED"
}

If no API key header is sent, the API treats the request as unauthenticated and applies rate limiting. If an invalid key is sent, it returns a 401 immediately.

Search Features

The search engine uses multiple matching strategies with intelligent scoring to return the most relevant results.

Match Types

exactbase 100

Exact Match

Full string match after normalization. Highest possible relevance.

multiwordbase 85

Multi-word Match

All query words found flexibly within the value.

partialbase 80

Partial Match

Query found as a substring within company or person names.

subsequencebase 60

Subsequence Match

Characters found in order. Optimized for Arabic name variations.

fuzzybase 40

Fuzzy Match

Similarity-based matching using Levenshtein distance (≥70% similarity).

Relevance Scoring

Each result receives a relevance score from 0–100 based on the match type plus contextual bonuses and penalties:

Modifier	Points	Condition
Exact string match	+20	Normalized query equals field value exactly
Starts-with bonus	+15	Match occurs at the beginning of the field
All words found	+30	Every word in a multi-word query is present
Missing words	-50	Some words in a multi-word query are absent

Bilingual Support

All search queries work with both Arabic and English input. Arabic text is matched using Unicode-aware subsequence algorithms that handle the full Arabic script range, including presentation forms and diacritics. You can search شركة الخليج or Gulf Trading and get matching results for the same companies.

Result Categories

Search results are returned in three categories, each scored and sorted independently:

CR Matches

crMatches

Direct matches on CR registration numbers.

Company Matches

companyMatches

Matches on company names in Arabic or English.

Person Matches

personMatches

People matched by name, with their associated companies.