API Quickstart

Get from zero to a working API call in under 90 seconds. All you need is a free account and a terminal.

The API is served from https://api.edgar.tools/v1.

1. Get your API key

Sign up at edgar.tools/signup, then go to Settings → API Keys. Name your key (something like production or local-dev) and click Generate key. Copy the value — it starts with etk_ and is shown only once.

API keys section of the Settings page showing the empty state with the etk_ placeholder, a name input pre-filled with "production", and a Generate key button

export EDGAR_API_KEY="etk_your_key_here"

2. Search for a company

Search for Apple. Paste this into your terminal:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $EDGAR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.edgar.tools/v1/search?q=Apple" | python3 -m json.tool

3. Check the response

You should get back a JSON object with matching companies:

{
  "entities": [
    {
      "cik": "0000320193",
      "name": "Apple Inc.",
      "ticker": "AAPL",
      "entity_type": "company",
      "sic_description": "Electronic Computers",
      "state_of_incorporation": "CA",
      "fiscal_year_end": "0928"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "query": "Apple"
}

The cik field is the company's unique SEC identifier. You'll use it for all subsequent API calls.

4. Get company filings

Use the CIK from the search result to fetch recent filings:

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $EDGAR_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.edgar.tools/v1/companies/0000320193/filings?form_type=10-K&limit=3" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

That's it — you're up and running.

To summarize

  • Create a free account and generate an API key from Settings → API Keys.
  • Send your key in the Authorization: Bearer header with every request.
  • Use /v1/search to find companies, then /v1/companies/{cik}/filings for their SEC filings.
  • Free tier includes search, companies, and filings. Paid tiers (Professional, Analyst) add live filings, financials, intelligence, webhooks, and more — see Authentication for the full tier model.

What's next