> ## 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.

# Special Situations API

> Track durable special situations — M&A, tender offers, going-private, spin-offs, activist campaigns, restructuring, and bankruptcy — with lifecycle status, deal terms, per-filing timelines, and browse-by-form access through one SEC API surface.

Track durable special situations across their full lifecycle. Mergers, tender offers, going-private transactions, spin-offs, activist campaigns, restructuring, and bankruptcy — each with lifecycle status, deal terms, a market snapshot, and a per-filing timeline assembled from the underlying EDGAR record.

<Info>
  The public [Situations database](https://secapi.ai/situations) is a free, recent, rate-limited research and discovery surface. This API family is the paid, authenticated product: it unlocks the complete archive, higher limits, source-cited Copy-for-LLM exports, and application or agent workflows.
</Info>

## Why use this

A special situation is not a single filing — it is a durable, evolving object that accretes filings over weeks or months. The SEC API Special Situations surface stitches the triggering and follow-on filings into one situation with a stable `situation_id`, a lifecycle status, and a timeline, so agents and applications never have to reassemble a deal from raw EDGAR events.

* **Durable situations** -- one object per deal, with a stable `situation_id` that survives across follow-on filings
* **Lifecycle status** -- announced, pending, completed, terminated, and related states, so deal risk is legible at a glance
* **Browse by EDGAR form** -- resolve "what did this `SC 13D` / `SC TO-T` / `425` / `DEFM14A` filing trigger?" directly, with the form expanded to the situation types it drives
* **Per-filing timeline** -- the ordered filing history behind each situation, available inline or as a paginated sub-resource
* **Enriched or stripped** -- request the full projection, or the lean stripped shape for wide scans (billed identically)
* **Agent-ready evidence** -- carry issuer identifiers, source filings, freshness metadata, field availability, and machine-readable lifecycle fields through the same workflow

## Quick start

```bash theme={null}
# List active mergers
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations?types=merger&limit=10"
```

## Enriched vs. stripped

Every situation list and detail endpoint accepts `enrich`:

* `enrich=true` (default) returns the full projection — deal terms, market snapshot, and timeline context.
* `enrich=false` returns the minimal stripped projection: identity, status, and key dates only.

Both are **billed identically** — choose `enrich=false` only to reduce payload size on wide scans, never to save quota.

```bash theme={null}
# Lean stripped shape for a wide scan
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations?statuses=pending&enrich=false&limit=100"
```

## Browse by form

When you already have an EDGAR form in hand and want the situations it opened or advanced, use the by-form endpoint. The form is expanded server-side to the situation types it triggers. URL-encode the form (a space becomes `%20`):

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations/by-form/SC%2013D?limit=10"
```

Filter further with `statuses`, `tickers`, and `enrich`. Common triggering forms include `SC 13D` (activist stake), `SC TO-T` (third-party tender offer), `425` (merger communications), and `DEFM14A` (merger proxy).

## The filing timeline

Each situation carries an ordered, oldest-first timeline of the filings that built it. Fetch it inline with the situation, or page it as a standalone sub-resource:

```bash theme={null}
# Full situation, timeline included
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations/sit_abc123"

# Just the timeline, paginated
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations/sit_abc123/filings?limit=50"
```

## Compact summary

When you need the headline — rendered markdown, deal terms, and the latest timeline event — without the full timeline, use the summary sub-resource:

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations/sit_abc123/summary"
```

## Copy for an LLM, without losing provenance

Use the Markdown export when an agent needs a concise underwriting-ready brief rather than a wide JSON object. It preserves source filing links, accession numbers, dates, and explicitly absent fields. Treat it as evidence to inspect, never as an investment recommendation.

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/situations/sit_abc123/export"
```

For machine-readable timeline and field-level work, retrieve the detail or filings resource instead.

## Endpoints

| Endpoint                                    | Description                                                                  |
| ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `GET /v1/situations`                        | List situations; filter by `types`, `statuses`, `tickers`, `forms`, `enrich` |
| `GET /v1/situations/feed`                   | Reverse-chronological feed of situation events                               |
| `GET /v1/situations/calendar`               | Upcoming key dates (record, vote, expiry, expected close)                    |
| `GET /v1/situations/stats`                  | Counts by type, status, sector, and market-cap bucket                        |
| `GET /v1/situations/performance`            | Closed-situation outcome cohorts                                             |
| `GET /v1/situations/by-form/{form}`         | Situations opened or advanced by an EDGAR form                               |
| `GET /v1/situations/{situation_id}`         | One situation with its full per-filing timeline                              |
| `GET /v1/situations/{situation_id}/filings` | Paginated per-filing timeline                                                |
| `GET /v1/situations/{situation_id}/summary` | Compact summary: markdown, deal terms, latest event                          |
| `GET /v1/situations/{situation_id}/export`  | Source-cited Markdown Copy-for-LLM brief                                     |

## SDK and CLI

The `secapi` CLI mirrors the plane:

```bash theme={null}
secapi situations list --types merger --limit 10
secapi situations by-form --form "SC 13D"
secapi situations get --situation-id sit_abc123
secapi situations filings --situation-id sit_abc123
secapi situations summary --situation-id sit_abc123
```

The JavaScript SDK exposes the same surface under `client.situations`:

```js theme={null}
await client.situations.list({ types: "merger", limit: 10 })
await client.situations.byForm("SC 13D")
await client.situations.get("sit_abc123")
await client.situations.filings("sit_abc123")
await client.situations.summary("sit_abc123")
```

## Product boundary

This documentation describes the customer-facing Special Situations plane only. TIKR-style fundamentals, estimates, valuation, screener, and symbol-breadth data are proprietary omni-apps infrastructure and are not a public SEC API, SDK, CLI, MCP, pricing, or marketing product.

## Related

* [API Reference: Special Situations](/api-reference/situations)
* [Filing Search API](/products/filing-search)
* [Ownership & Insider Trading API](/products/ownership)