SEC filings contain far more than regulatory documents. They include structured financial statements, detailed narrative disclosures, filing metadata, and continuously published updates that power research platforms, financial applications, compliance systems, and AI workflows.
The FinFeedAPI SEC Filings API provides multiple capabilities for working with SEC filings beyond basic filing discovery. Developers can convert supported XBRL filings into structured JSON, retrieve filing content as either plain text or HTML, and receive newly discovered filings in real time through WebSocket streaming.
These capabilities can be used independently or combined within larger SEC filing processing workflows.
| Capability | Purpose | Output |
|---|---|---|
| XBRL Financial Data | Convert supported XBRL filings into structured financial information | JSON |
| Filing Content | Retrieve filing content for downstream processing | Plain Text or HTML |
| Real-Time Filing Discovery | Receive notifications when new filings become available | WebSocket Events |
Many SEC filings include financial information published using XBRL. The XBRL Converter transforms supported filings into structured JSON that can be consumed directly by software applications without processing raw XBRL documents.
The converter accepts one of three supported inputs. Only one input method is supplied for each request.
Use GET /v1/xbrl-converter with accession-no, htm-url, or xbrl-url. If more than one is provided, priority is htm-url, then xbrl-url, then accession-no.
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Financial Statements | Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement |
| Accounting Information | Accounting Policies |
| Company Information | Cover page company information |
| Filing Metadata | Filing metadata included in the XBRL document |
The available information depends on the contents of the processed filing. Supported types include 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, S-1, S-3, 20-F, and 40-F.
Different applications consume filing content in different ways. Some workflows require plain text for language processing, indexing, or analytics. Others need HTML to preserve document structure and formatting for presentation or review.
The filing extraction endpoints support both representations through the type parameter, allowing developers to retrieve the same filing content in the format most appropriate for their application. This flexibility allows filing content to support both machine processing and human-readable workflows.
| Output Format | Typical Applications |
|---|---|
| Plain Text | AI applications, natural language processing, search indexing, document analysis |
| HTML | Web applications, document rendering, preserving formatting |
Applications choose the desired representation when requesting filing content.
Applications that continuously monitor SEC activity benefit from receiving filing updates immediately after discovery.
The WebSocket API provides a persistent connection that delivers filing discovery events without requiring repeated polling.
After establishing a connection, the service first delivers a historical backlog of recently discovered filings before continuing with newly discovered filings as they become available. Optional heartbeat messages help monitor connection health, while reconnect instructions support planned maintenance events.
Following backlog delivery, new filing events are streamed with approximately 100 ms latency.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Historical Backlog | Recently discovered filings are delivered immediately after connecting |
| Live Filing Events | Newly discovered filings are streamed continuously |
| Heartbeat Messages | Optional events confirming connection health |
| Reconnect Notifications | Messages indicating scheduled maintenance and reconnection timing |
These features support applications that require continuous visibility into SEC filing activity.
The three capabilities are designed to complement one another. Developers can choose the workflow that best matches their processing requirements without maintaining separate integrations.
An application may receive a filing discovery event through WebSocket, retrieve the filing content as plain text for downstream language processing, and separately convert XBRL data into structured JSON for financial analysis.
Other applications may only require one capability, for example extracting filing content for document indexing or converting XBRL financial statements into structured data.
Each capability addresses a different way of working with SEC filing data while remaining part of the same API platform.
| If you need... | Recommended Capability |
|---|---|
| Structured financial statements | XBRL Financial Data |
| Accounting policies and filing metadata | XBRL Financial Data |
| Filing content for AI and NLP | Plain Text Extraction |
| Filing content with preserved formatting | HTML Extraction |
| Notifications when new filings are available | WebSocket Filing Discovery |
The FinFeedAPI SEC Filings API supports more than filing discovery.
Developers can convert supported XBRL filings into structured JSON, retrieve filing content in plain text or HTML, and monitor newly discovered filings in real time through WebSocket streaming. These capabilities simplify document processing, financial analysis, AI pipelines, compliance systems, and monitoring applications by providing standardized ways to consume SEC filing data.
Explore each capability in more detail through the dedicated documentation and build SEC filing workflows that match the needs of your application.
