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Semantic search helps when a company may describe the idea you care about without using your exact words. Ask for a concept, constrain the issuer or form when you can, and review the filing passage that comes back. It is a retrieval tool, not an opinion engine. A relevant result is a reason to inspect the cited filing, not proof of a risk, accounting treatment, or investment conclusion.

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Search for a disclosure by concept

curl "https://api.secapi.ai/v1/search/semantic?q=artificial%20intelligence%20regulatory%20risk&ticker=GOOGL&form=10-K&mode=hybrid&limit=5" \
  -H "x-api-key: $SECAPI_API_KEY"
The endpoint is GET /v1/search/semantic and the query parameter is q. Choose mode=keyword, mode=semantic, or mode=hybrid; the default is hybrid. 
{
  "object": "semantic_search",
  "query": "artificial intelligence regulatory risk",
  "mode": "hybrid",
  "sections": {
    "object": "list",
    "data": [
      {
        "accession": "0001652044-25-000014",
        "section_key": "item_1a",
        "ticker": "GOOGL",
        "source_url": "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/...",
        "highlighted_snippet": "...regulation of artificial intelligence...",
        "char_start": 120,
        "char_end": 260
      }
    ],
    "count": 1,
    "degradedState": null
  }
}
Fields not needed for agent handoff can be omitted with view=agent where documented. Citation fields remain available so an agent can return the accession, source URL, and excerpt boundary instead of an unsupported summary.

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Use the citation, then verify it

  1. Keep accession, section_key, and source_url with the result.
  2. Retrieve the cited section by accession when you need the full text.
  3. Treat char_start and char_end as offsets in section markdown, not raw filing HTML.
  4. When citation offsets are null or the response reports a degraded citation state, preserve the filing identity and inspect the source rather than slicing text programmatically.

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When to use another search path

  • Use full-text search for an exact phrase or a combined filing-and-section result.
  • Use section search for a cited passage with issuer, form, and filing filters.
  • Use filing search when the question is which filings exist rather than what they say.
See the semantic search reference, search guide, semantic-search glossary entry, and SEC filing RAG guide.