Quick Start Guide

Get up and running with EdgarTools in 5 minutes. This guide will take you from installation to your first meaningful analysis.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• Internet connection
• Basic familiarity with Python

Step 1: Install EdgarTools

pip install edgartools

Step 2: Set Your Identity

The SEC requires all API users to identify themselves. Set your identity once:

from edgar import set_identity

# Use your name and email (required by SEC)
set_identity("John Doe john.doe@company.com")

💡 Tip: You can also set the EDGAR_IDENTITY environment variable to avoid doing this in every script.

Step 3: Your first filings

Let's see available filings on the SEC Edgar

from edgar import *

filings = get_filings()

Step 4: Filtering for insider trading filings

To focus on insider trading activity, filter for Form 4 filings:

insider_filings = filings.filter(form="4")

Step 5: Getting a Company

If you would like to focus on a specific company, you can use the Company class. For example, to analyze Apple Inc. (AAPL):

c = Company("AAPL")  # Apple Inc.

Step 6: Getting filings for a Company

You can retrieve all filings for a company using the company.get_filings method:

# Get Apple's recent SEC filings
aapl_filings = c.get_filings()

Step 7: Insider Filings for Apple Inc.

To analyze insider trading activity for Apple Inc., filter the filings for Form 4:

insider_filings = c.get_filings(form="4")
# Get the first insider filing
f = insider_filings[0]

# Convert to a Form4 object
form4 = f.obj()

What You Just Learned

In 5 minutes, you:

1. ✅ Installed and configured EdgarTools
2. ✅ Retrieved and filtered SEC filings
3. ✅ Focused on insider trading with Form 4
4. ✅ Analyzed a specific company (Apple Inc.)
5. ✅ Extracted structured data from filings
6. ✅ Converted filings to data objects for easy analysis
7. ✅ Explored company filings and insider activity

Getting Help

• 📖 Documentation: Browse our comprehensive guides
• 💬 GitHub Discussions: Ask questions and share insights
• 🐛 Issues: Report bugs or request features

Support EdgarTools

If you found this quickstart helpful, consider supporting EdgarTools development:

Your support helps us maintain and improve EdgarTools!

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🎉 Congratulations! You're now ready to analyze SEC data with EdgarTools.

What's your next analysis goal? Choose a path above and dive deeper into the world of financial data analysis.