EARLY API · DESIGN PARTNER ACCESS

Headless Records turns public SEC Form 4 filings into structured API responses with freshness, caveats, and source provenance so agents can use official records without scraping, guessing, or hiding assumptions.

The first API focuses on reported insider activity from a bounded watched ticker universe for design partners.

Built for finance-agent builders, AI-agent developers, and product teams adding public-record research automation.

Request design partner accessRead the docs
SEC Form 4Watched ticker universeHash-verifiable provenanceAgent-native API

Design partner access is open.

We are onboarding a small number of builders with custom watched ticker universes. Best fit: teams building finance agents, SEC data workflows, research tools, or public-record infrastructure.

  • Bring the tickers you care about
  • Test freshness and provenance against real workflows
  • Shape the API response format before general availability
  • Use API key access first; local stdio MCP setup guidance is available
Request design partner access

SEC Form 4 data is public. Using it cleanly is not.

Before a finance agent can safely use insider transaction data, developers have to resolve tickers, fetch SEC filings, parse XML, normalize transactions, track freshness, and preserve source references.

Without Headless Records

  • Resolve ticker to CIK
  • Find recent Form 4 filings
  • Fetch SEC XML from EDGAR
  • Parse and normalize transactions
  • Track whether each ticker is fresh
  • Preserve filing-level provenance
  • Add caveats so agents do not overclaim

With Headless Records

GET /v1/insider-activity/TSLA/assessment?period=90d

One response with structured activity, freshness status, source provenance, caveats, and request metadata.

How it works

Headless Records provides an agent-native API layer over imported public SEC filing data. The workflow keeps freshness, provenance, and caveats visible from source document to agent response.

01

Public SEC filings

02

Headless Records ingestion

03

Normalized records + provenance

04

Freshness / assessment / provenance API

05

Agents, MCP clients, and finance tools

  • Headless Records does not replace official SEC records.
  • It makes public SEC filing data easier for agents to inspect and use responsibly.
  • Responses include deterministic caveats and source metadata.
  • Provenance includes source URLs, retrieval timestamps, and SHA-256 hashes for processed bytes.

One call. Agent-readable insider activity.

The assessment endpoint returns a compact, non-advisory summary your agent can use directly, with freshness status, deterministic caveats, methodology, and source references included by default.

Endpoint

GET /v1/insider-activity/TSLA/assessment?period=90d

Use this endpoint first when an agent or backend workflow needs a source-backed, non-advisory assessment for a ticker in your watched universe.

Example response shape

{
  "ticker": "TSLA",
  "period": "90d",
  "freshness": {
    "freshness_window_hours": 24,
    "status": "degraded",
    "last_attempted_sync_at": "2026-05-21T11:40:00Z",
    "last_completed_sync_at": "2026-05-21T11:45:00Z",
    "last_successful_sync_at": "2026-05-20T11:45:00Z",
    "last_status": "completed_with_errors"
  },
  "assessment": {
    "activity_level": "moderate",
    "dominant_activity": "sales",
    "data_quality": "degraded",
    "summary_text": "Reported insider activity was moderate during the selected period, with sales as the dominant reported activity. Data quality is degraded."
  },
  "caveats": [
    {
      "code": "freshness_degraded",
      "severity": "warning",
      "message": "The latest SEC Form 4 sync completed with errors, so freshness is degraded."
    },
    {
      "code": "form4_amendments_excluded",
      "severity": "warning",
      "message": "Form 4/A amendments are currently excluded until amendment semantics are implemented."
    },
    {
      "code": "period_limited",
      "severity": "info",
      "message": "This assessment covers only the selected period."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "accession_number": "0000001318-26-000123",
      "filing_date": "2026-05-20",
      "provenance_status": "available",
      "source_document_url": "https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000000131826000123/primary_doc.xml",
      "source_metadata_url": "https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0001318605.json",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-05-20T18:00:00Z",
      "content_sha256": "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef"
    }
  ]
}

This excerpt is derived from the copied canonical API example. Full responses and error examples are available in the docs.

Built for agents that need to know what they can trust.

Freshness

Know whether a watched ticker has been synced recently before your agent acts on the data.

Provenance

Every normalized filing links back to its SEC source document, accession number, retrieval metadata, and SHA-256 hash of the source bytes processed.

Structured caveats

Machine-readable warnings help agents avoid over-interpreting insider activity or presenting public filing summaries as financial advice.

The SHA-256 hash verifies the source bytes processed by Headless Records. It does not mean the SEC cryptographically signed the data.

Who this is for

Headless Records is built for developers building on public SEC data, not for retail investors looking for buy/sell conclusions.

Finance agent builders

Need fresh, normalized insider transaction data without maintaining a scraper or XML parser.

Research workflow builders

Need source-backed public-record data that analysts and agents can verify against primary SEC filings.

Backend data teams

Need a reliable freshness signal and normalized upstream data for downstream tools.

AI infrastructure builders

Need agent-readable APIs with structured outputs, caveats, provenance, and local stdio MCP support.

Request design partner access

We are looking for a small number of builders who want to test Headless Records against real finance-agent, AI-agent, or public-record research automation workflows.

Design partners get:

  • A bounded watched ticker universe configured around your workflow
  • API key access to early endpoints
  • Freshness and provenance responses for your selected tickers
  • Direct input into response shape, caveats, and access patterns
  • MCP setup guidance for local stdio demos

Best fit:

  • You are building a finance agent, SEC data workflow, or public-record tool
  • You currently scrape, parse, normalize, or manually review SEC filings
  • You care about freshness, source links, and caveats
  • You can test one endpoint in a real workflow within two weeks
Email hello@headlessrecords.dev

Include your project, the tickers or universe you care about, desired freshness window, preferred access style, and the workflow you would test first.

Public filing data, not financial advice.

Headless Records summarizes public SEC filing activity. It does not provide investment advice, price predictions, trading recommendations, or claims about future stock performance. Insider transactions can occur for many reasons, including scheduled plans, taxes, compensation, diversification, or other context not fully captured in a filing.

Current design partner access is limited to configured watched ticker universes. Headless Records does not currently claim full-market coverage or complete historical coverage.