# References

Every person, organisation and event has a UUID reference. Filters take references, never names.

Canonical: https://chikaraintel.com/docs/concepts/references

## What a reference is

A reference is a lowercase UUID, for example `3f2a9c1e-7b4d-4e8a-9c21-5d6e7f8a9b01`. It's stable: the same organisation keeps the same reference for as long as it's in the data, so you can store it in your CRM and look the record up again later.

## Getting a reference from a name

Organisation, person and job title filters need a reference. There are two ways to get one.

| You have | Use | Returns |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A company name or a job title | [resolve_search_terms](/docs/mcp/tools/resolve_search_terms) or [GET /v1/search/suggestions](/docs/api/reference/search/list-suggestions) | `field`, `value` and `label` per match, ready to use as a filter |
| A person's name | [search_people](/docs/mcp/tools/search_people) or [GET /v1/profiles](/docs/api/reference/profiles/list-profiles) | Matching profiles, each with its `reference` |
| A company name, and you want the record itself | [search_companies](/docs/mcp/tools/search_companies) or [GET /v1/organisations](/docs/api/reference/organisations/list-organisations) | Matching organisations, each with its `reference` |

A suggestion, used as a filter:

```json
{
  "field": "Organisation",
  "value": "3f2a9c1e-7b4d-4e8a-9c21-5d6e7f8a9b01",
  "label": "Halberd Industrial Group"
}
```

## Matching is by substring

Name lookups match a substring of the stored name. A short, distinctive fragment finds more than a full legal name with a suffix. If nothing comes back, drop words like Limited or plc and try again.

## Related

- https://chikaraintel.com/docs/concepts/organisations.md
- https://chikaraintel.com/docs/concepts/search-and-filtering.md
- https://chikaraintel.com/docs/mcp/tools/resolve_search_terms.md