CVR System-til-System or a CVR API?

What is System-til-System?

System-til-System is the Business Authority's official CVR data distribution. You get a username and password and send Elasticsearch queries to the cvr-permanent/virksomhed, cvr-permanent/produktionsenhed and cvr-permanent/deltager indexes. Responses include the full history of each company.

What a lookup looks like

curl -u "$CVR_USER:$CVR_PASSWORD" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -X POST "http://distribution.virk.dk/cvr-permanent/virksomhed/_search" \
  -d '{
    "query": { "term": { "Vrvirksomhed.cvrNummer": 24256790 } },
    "size": 1
  }'

# The response is the full CVR document: names, addresses, participants
# and attributes as historical lists with validity periods.

Every field is a list with validity periods. To get the current name, you have to find the period that's still valid yourself:

# Find the name that is valid today in the raw System-til-System response
def current_name(vrvirksomhed):
    for navn in vrvirksomhed["navne"]:
        if navn["periode"]["gyldigTil"] is None:
            return navn["navn"]
    return None

The same goes for addresses, industry codes, status, headcount and especially participant relations, where owners and management are buried several levels deep.

The same lookup with apicvr.dk

curl https://apicvr.dk/api/v1/24256790

{
  "vat": 24256790,
  "name": "NOVO NORDISK A/S",
  "address": "Novo Allé 1",
  "zipcode": 2880,
  "city": "Bagsværd",
  "status": "NORMAL",
  ...
}

apicvr.dk sends the query to System-til-System for you, picks out the current values and returns a flat object. No application, no password.

When should you use System-til-System directly?

• You need history: previous names, addresses, owners or directors.
• You need bulk extracts, e.g. every company in an industry or municipality.
• You need fields apicvr.dk doesn't return.
• You don't want to depend on a third party.

For everyday lookups in a web shop, CRM, onboarding flow or spreadsheet, a ready-made API like apicvr.dk is faster to start with and easier to maintain.

Frequently asked questions