US Compliance API Reference

Base URL: https://api.techcompass.com.au — Covers SEC EDGAR and Federal Reserve FRED endpoints.

About this Dataset

The US Compliance API combines two of the most widely used US financial data sources into a single authenticated endpoint: SEC EDGAR and the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API.

SEC EDGAR

The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR system is the authoritative public repository for all regulatory filings by US-listed public companies. The Tech Compass API exposes three EDGAR data streams:

Company Facts (XBRL): Structured financial statement data — income statement, balance sheet, cash flow — for every reporting period back to the company’s first electronic filing. Updated within minutes of each SEC filing acceptance.
Filings: The full filing history for any company by CIK number, filterable by form type (10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, DEF 14A, S-1, and 400+ others). Each record includes the accession number, filing date, and direct URL to the submission on EDGAR.
Submissions: Company identity metadata — legal name, ticker, SIC code, state of incorporation — keyed by SEC Central Index Key (CIK).

Use cases: Due diligence on US public companies, financial modelling inputs, earnings monitoring, material event detection (8-K), beneficial ownership research, SEC filing compliance verification.

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)

Maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, FRED provides access to over 800,000 macroeconomic time series from 100+ data sources. Via Tech Compass you can retrieve both series metadata and observation history for any FRED series ID.

Commonly used series: Federal Funds Rate (FEDFUNDS), US GDP (GDP), CPI inflation (CPIAUCSL), unemployment rate (UNRATE), 10-year Treasury yield (DGS10).

Use cases: Macroeconomic scenario analysis, interest rate risk modelling, inflation-adjusted return calculations, regulatory capital stress testing.

Licensing

SEC EDGAR data is US Government public domain — unrestricted commercial use. FRED data is released under FRED’s Terms of Use, which permit commercial use with attribution. The data_lineage block on every response provides the source URL, retrieval timestamp, and license string for audit purposes.

Authentication

All endpoints except /health and /health/ready require an API key passed in the Authorization header:

Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>

Keys beginning with sk_live_ (issued before May 2026) remain valid. New keys use the tc_live_ prefix. Obtain a key at signup.

Tiers

Tier	Calls/month	Price
Free	10,000	$0
Professional	500,000	USD $1,500/mo or AUD $2,250/mo
Enterprise	Unlimited	Contact sales

Rate limit headers

Every response includes:

Header	Description
`X-RateLimit-Limit`	Monthly quota for your tier
`X-RateLimit-Remaining`	Calls remaining this month
`X-RateLimit-Reset`	UTC Unix timestamp when quota resets

Common Response Structure

All data endpoints return a consistent envelope:

{
  "data": { ... },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-...",
    "cached": false,
    "upstream_latency_ms": 142,
    "timestamp": "2026-05-09T07:00:00Z",
    "upstream_available": true,
    "cached_at": null
  },
  "data_lineage": {
    "source": "SEC EDGAR",
    "source_url": "https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000320193.json",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-05-09T07:00:00Z",
    "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-...",
    "license": "US Government Public Domain - SEC EDGAR"
  }
}

Field	Type	Description
`meta.request_id`	string	UUID for this request — matches audit log entry
`meta.cached`	bool	`true` if response served from cache
`meta.upstream_latency_ms`	int\|null	Milliseconds to fetch from upstream (null on cache hit)
`meta.upstream_available`	bool\|null	`false` if upstream was down and stale cache was served
`meta.cached_at`	ISO 8601\|null	When cached data was originally fetched (present when `upstream_available: false`)
`data_lineage.source`	string	Authoritative data source name
`data_lineage.source_url`	string	Exact upstream URL used to fetch the data
`data_lineage.retrieved_at`	ISO 8601	When data was fetched from upstream
`data_lineage.license`	string	Data licence

Graceful Degradation

When an upstream source is temporarily unavailable:

If cached data exists, it is returned with HTTP 200 and meta.upstream_available: false
meta.cached_at shows when the data was last successfully fetched
If no cache exists, HTTP 503 is returned
/health/ready returns degraded: true — the service is still operational

Error Reference

All errors use a consistent body: {"error": "string", "message": "string"}

Status	Meaning
400	Invalid parameters
401	Missing or invalid API key
429	Monthly quota exhausted — check `X-RateLimit-Reset`
500	Unexpected server error
502	Upstream returned an unexpected error
503	Upstream down and no cached data available

Endpoints

GET /v1/sec/company/{cik}/facts

Returns all XBRL company facts for a given CIK — balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow data tagged under US-GAAP and IFRS.

Parameter	Type	Description
`cik`	path	SEC Central Index Key. Zero-padding applied automatically.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/sec/company/0000320193/facts" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

Errors: 401, 429, 502, 503

GET /v1/sec/filings

Returns filtered filing history for a company.

Parameter	Required	Description
`cik`	Yes	SEC Central Index Key
`form_type`	No	SEC form type. Default: `10-K`. Examples: `10-K`, `10-Q`, `8-K`

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/sec/filings?cik=0000320193&form_type=10-K" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

Errors: 400, 401, 429, 502, 503

GET /v1/sec/submissions

Returns full submission metadata — entity details, filing history across all form types, and current addresses.

Parameter	Required	Description
`cik`	Yes	SEC Central Index Key

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/sec/submissions?cik=0000320193" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

Errors: 400, 401, 429, 502, 503

GET /v1/fred/series/{series_id}

Returns metadata for a FRED economic series — title, units, frequency, seasonal adjustment, and last update.

Parameter	Description
`series_id`	FRED series ID. Examples: `GDP`, `UNRATE`, `FEDFUNDS`, `CPIAUCSL`

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/fred/series/GDP" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

Errors: 401, 429, 502, 503

GET /v1/fred/series/{series_id}/data

Returns time series observations for a FRED economic series.

Parameter	Required	Description
`series_id`	Yes (path)	FRED series ID
`observation_start`	No	Start date `YYYY-MM-DD`. Default: series start
`observation_end`	No	End date `YYYY-MM-DD`. Default: today

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/fred/series/GDP/data?observation_start=2020-01-01" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

Errors: 401, 429, 503

GET /health & /health/ready

No authentication required. /health returns 200 if the process is running. /health/ready verifies database connectivity and upstream availability — always returns HTTP 200, use the degraded field to detect partial outages.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/health/ready"

{
  "status": "ok",
  "degraded": false,
  "database": "ok",
  "upstreams": {
    "sec_edgar": { "available": true },
    "fred": { "available": true }
  }
}

GET /health/data

No authentication required. Returns the freshness of all pipeline-ingested datasets. Returns HTTP 200 if all datasets are within their staleness thresholds, or HTTP 503 if any dataset is overdue. Use this to verify data currency before running compliance-critical workflows.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/health/data"

{
  "status": "ok",
  "stale_sources": [],
  "sources": {
    "ofac":         { "status": "ok", "last_date": "2026-06-19", "max_age_days": 2,  "age_days": 0 },
    "un":           { "status": "ok", "last_date": "2026-06-19", "max_age_days": 8,  "age_days": 0 },
    "eu":           { "status": "ok", "last_date": "2026-06-19", "max_age_days": 8,  "age_days": 0 },
    "fcdo":         { "status": "ok", "last_date": "2026-06-19", "max_age_days": 8,  "age_days": 0 },
    "dfat":         { "status": "stale", "last_date": null,       "max_age_days": 8,  "age_days": null },
    "asic_company": { "status": "ok", "last_date": "2026-06-19", "max_age_days": 10, "age_days": 0 },
    "asic_far":     { "status": "ok", "last_date": "2026-06-01", "max_age_days": 10, "age_days": 18 }
  }
}

Note: DFAT is excluded from the HTTP 503 trigger — a known infrastructure issue (DFAT source blocks cloud provider IPs) means DFAT will show as stale until a static egress IP is in place. All other sources contribute to the 503 decision. Monitor via stale_sources to detect actionable freshness failures.

Common Use Cases

1. Check if a company is SEC-registered

Who uses this: Counterparty due diligence, compliance officers verifying a counterparty before onboarding.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/sec/company/0000320193/facts" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

What to look for: data.facts.us-gaap contains structured financial facts. Check data_lineage.retrieved_at for data freshness. Gotcha: CIK must be the 10-digit SEC CIK — leading zeros are applied automatically.

2. Get all 10-K annual filings

Who uses this: Compliance reviewers building financial history timelines.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/sec/filings?cik=0000320193&form_type=10-K" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Gotcha: The default form_type is 10-K. Specify 10-Q for quarterly or 8-K for material events.

3. Get material 8-K event filings

Who uses this: Risk teams monitoring for material events, M&A signal trackers.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/sec/filings?cik=0000320193&form_type=8-K" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Gotcha: This endpoint returns filing metadata only, not the full 8-K document text. Use accessionNumber to retrieve the full document from SEC EDGAR directly.

4. Pull US GDP data

Who uses this: Macro researchers, risk modellers incorporating GDP growth into credit models.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/fred/series/GDP/data" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Gotcha: GDP is a quarterly series. FRED rounds start dates to nearest quarter boundary automatically.

5. Pull Federal Funds Rate history

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/fred/series/FEDFUNDS/data" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

Gotcha: FEDFUNDS is a monthly average. For daily fed funds rate data use the DFF series ID.

6. Pull unemployment rate with date range

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/fred/series/UNRATE/data?observation_start=2020-01-01&observation_end=2024-12-31" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

What to look for: The COVID spike — UNRATE should jump to ~14.7% in April 2020.

7. Check your rate limit status

curl -I "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/fred/series/GDP" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY"

What to look for: X-RateLimit-Remaining in response headers. Decrements by 1 on every authenticated call. The -I flag (HEAD request) avoids fetching the body.

8. Verify data freshness for audit purposes

Every response includes a data_lineage block with retrieved_at, source_url, and request_id. The request_id matches the corresponding immutable audit log entry.

Gotcha: On a cache hit, data_lineage.retrieved_at reflects when the cached data was originally fetched — intentional for provenance accuracy.

9. Check upstream availability

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/health/ready"

Gotcha: This endpoint always returns HTTP 200 even when degraded. Use the degraded field in the response body to detect partial outages.

10. Test cache behaviour

Make the same call twice in quick succession. The second call should return meta.cached: true and meta.upstream_latency_ms: null.

Gotcha: Cache TTL is 1 hour for SEC EDGAR and FRED. Both calls count against your X-RateLimit-Remaining. Rate limiting and caching are independent.

Data Sources

Source	Licence	Refresh
SEC EDGAR	US Government Public Domain	Cached 1 hour; upstream updates within minutes of filing
Federal Reserve FRED	US Government Public Domain	Cached 1 hour; upstream updates per FRED release schedule

About this API

What this API does

The Tech Compass US Compliance Data API provides authenticated, audit-logged access to SEC EDGAR company facts and filing histories, and Federal Reserve FRED economic time series data. It wraps publicly available US government data sources with versioned schemas, rate limiting, immutable audit logging, and a consistent data_lineage block per response — purpose-built for regulated enterprise compliance workflows.

Who uses this API

US compliance officers verifying SEC registration and filing history of counterparties
Risk teams incorporating macroeconomic indicators into credit and portfolio models
Fintech engineers building automated compliance data pipelines
M&A due diligence teams reviewing SEC filing history of target companies
RegTech platforms embedding SEC data into compliance-as-a-service products
Quantitative researchers requiring auditable, versioned FRED time series data

Key use cases

Counterparty SEC registration check — verify a company's SEC registration and retrieve all XBRL financial facts
10-K / 10-Q / 8-K filing retrieval — pull annual, quarterly, or material event filings for a given CIK
Material event monitoring — retrieve 8-K filings to detect M&A activity, restatements, or management changes
Macroeconomic data ingestion — pull GDP, unemployment, inflation, and Federal Funds Rate time series into models
Audit trail generation — every call creates an immutable log with request_id and data_lineage for regulatory reporting
Graceful degradation testing — verify that upstream unavailability returns cached data with correct metadata flags

Applicable compliance frameworks

SEC Regulation S-K and Regulation S-X — financial reporting requirements
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) — financial disclosure and audit trail obligations
FINRA Rule 4512 — customer account information requirements
APRA CPS 234 — third-party information security risk (for AU-regulated entities)
Basel III — counterparty credit risk and financial data requirements

Data sources

SEC EDGAR — data.sec.gov — US Government Public Domain
Federal Reserve FRED — fred.stlouisfed.org — US Government Public Domain

Frequently asked questions

How current is the SEC EDGAR data?: SEC EDGAR data is cached for 1 hour. Upstream (data.sec.gov) updates within minutes of a filing being accepted by the SEC. If you require near-real-time data, the cache miss will fetch live from EDGAR — the meta.cached field tells you which.
How current is the FRED economic data?: FRED data is cached for 1 hour. Underlying series update on FRED's own release schedule (monthly for GDP/CPI, daily for DFF). Check data_lineage.retrieved_at for the fetch time.
Is every API call audited?: Yes. An immutable audit log entry is written before every response is returned. The meta.request_id in the response matches the audit log entry for regulatory reporting.
What happens when SEC EDGAR or FRED is unavailable?: Stale cached data is returned with HTTP 200, meta.upstream_available: false, and meta.cached_at showing when the data was last successfully fetched. If no cache exists, HTTP 503 is returned. The service is always available even when upstreams are not.
What SLA is available?: Professional and Enterprise tier subscribers receive SLA documentation on request. Contact [email protected].

Related APIs

US Enforcement & Disciplinary API — FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC enforcement actions
OFAC Sanctions Screening API — screen against the US Treasury SDN list
AU Entity Intelligence API — ASIC and ABR entity verification for Australian KYC
AU Financial Advisers API — ASIC Financial Advisers Register