Prerequisites
- An SEC API key (set as
SECAPI_API_KEY) - Basic familiarity with REST APIs
- (Optional) Python 3.8+ or Node.js 18+ for SDK examples
Step 1 — Run a basic semantic search
The/v1/search/semantic endpoint accepts a natural language query and returns the most relevant passages from SEC filings.
curl
Python
JavaScript
Expected output
Step 2 — Scope the search to specific companies or form types
Add filters to narrow your search to a watchlist of companies or specific filing types.curl
Python
JavaScript
Step 3 — Compare risk disclosures across periods
Search for the same risk factor across multiple years of filings from one company to track how their disclosure language evolves.Python
Expected output
Next steps
- Build a risk dashboard: Run semantic search across your portfolio holdings to surface emerging risk themes.
- Combine with structured data: Cross-reference risk factor mentions with financial metrics from
/v1/statementsto quantify potential impact. - Track disclosure changes: Set up a quarterly job to re-run the same queries and diff the results.

