> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.secapi.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# SEC filing types and exhibits

> Choose the SEC API filing workflow that matches a filing family, and distinguish broad retrieval from structured extraction

SEC API can retrieve filing manifests across filing families. Structured extraction is narrower: use a purpose-built workflow only where its public route documents a result. This distinction matters when your application needs a cited disclosure rather than simply a link to a filing.

## Start with the filing

For an unfamiliar form, begin with [filing search](/api-reference/filings/get-v1-filings), [latest filing](/api-reference/filings/get-v1-filings-latest), or an [accession lookup](/api-reference/filings/get-v1-filings-accession-number).

```bash theme={null}
curl -sS -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/filings?ticker=AAPL&forms=10-K,10-Q,8-K&limit=25"
```

The response identifies an SEC filing. It does not promise a normalized parser for every form, attachment, or exhibit.

## Choose a documented workflow

| Filing family                      | Documented use                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `10-K`, `10-Q`                     | Filing retrieval and named-section extraction for supported keys such as `item_1a`, `item_7`, and `item_8` |
| `10-K`, `10-Q`, `20-F`, `40-F`     | Facts and statements workflows                                                                             |
| `8-K`, `6-K`                       | Filing retrieval and persisted filing-event coverage where available                                       |
| `S-1`, `S-1/A`, `424B*`            | Filing retrieval and offerings workflows                                                                   |
| `13F-HR`, `13F-HR/A`               | Institutional ownership workflows                                                                          |
| `SC 13D`, `SC 13G`, and amendments | Beneficial-ownership workflows                                                                             |
| Forms `3`, `4`, `5`                | Insider-ownership workflows                                                                                |
| `DEF 14A`                          | Board and compensation workflows                                                                           |
| `NPORT-P`, `NPORT-EX`              | N-PORT holdings workflows                                                                                  |

## Know the exhibit boundary

Some workflows read selected exhibits for a documented purpose. SEC API does not publish a general exhibit-enumeration and normalization API for every filing.

* Institutional-ownership workflows read the 13F information table.
* Selected `EX-99` material can support transcript and guidance extraction.
* XBRL and inline XBRL support facts and statements; this is structured-data extraction, not raw-exhibit delivery.
* For an exhibit without a named workflow, retrieve its filing and follow the SEC filing URL.

For a production workflow, retain the accession number and filing URL even when a structured result is available. See [Coverage and historical depth](/coverage-and-depth) for availability boundaries, [find a filing](/products/filing-search) for retrieval patterns, and the [Filings API reference](/api-reference/filings) for field-level contracts.