SEC EDGAR Setup

SEC fair-access policy requires a descriptive User-Agent header on all EDGAR requests. Disclosure Alpha reads this from the environment and optionally caches filings on disk.

User-Agent (required)

macOS / Linux (bash, zsh):

export SEC_USER_AGENT="YourName your@email.com"

Windows (PowerShell):

$env:SEC_USER_AGENT = "YourName your@email.com"

Process manager / .env file:

SEC_USER_AGENT=YourName your@email.com

Use your real name and contact email. Requests without a proper User-Agent may be blocked.

Cache directory (optional)

Default cache path: data/cache/sec_filings

export DISCLOSURE_ALPHA_CACHE_DIR="/path/to/cache"

When set, filings are cached automatically on first fetch — no extra flag needed. Cached filings speed up repeat lookups.

Fair access

  • Respect SEC rate limits; the client includes polite delays.

  • Do not distribute bulk-scraped filings without reviewing SEC terms of use.

  • For production deployments, set SEC_USER_AGENT in the process environment for the HTTP API or MCP server — see Production Notes.

See Environment Variables for all configuration options.