# API and MCP overview

Read company reports and financial data from your software or AI assistant.

Source: <https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/introduction>

Finbar provides two ways to access its data outside the web and Excel apps:
a REST API for scripts and applications, and an MCP server for AI assistants.
Both use your Finbar account's data access and request allowances.

## Choose an interface

|                   | REST API                                                    | MCP                                                                       |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Used by           | Your application or script                                  | An AI assistant, such as ChatGPT or Claude                                |
| How requests work | Your code sends HTTP requests and receives JSON             | The assistant calls named Finbar tools and uses the results in its answer |
| How you connect   | Create a client ID and secret, then request an access token | Add the server URL to your assistant and sign in to Finbar                |
| Address           | `https://api.finbar.com/v1`                                 | `https://mcp.finbar.com/mcp`                                              |
| Start here        | [API quickstart](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/api.md)    | [Connect an assistant](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/mcp.md)            |

MCP stands for **Model Context Protocol**. It is the interface an assistant
uses to discover available tools, send them arguments, and read their results.
For example, an assistant can call Finbar's `search_entity` tool to resolve
“Apple” to a company before looking up its reports.

## Available data

| Data               | What it contains                                                                                  | REST API           | MCP               |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------- |
| Companies          | Names, identifiers, tickers and company information                                               | Yes                | Yes               |
| Company wiki       | Saved overview, products, geography, segments and history, with inline citations where available  | Yes                | Yes               |
| Documents          | Company reports and the paragraphs and tables within them                                         | Yes                | Yes               |
| Financial datasets | Historical financial metrics from published Finbar models, with source references where available | Yes                | Yes               |
| Market data        | Available price history and market information                                                    | No public endpoint | `get_market_data` |
| Account usage      | Request usage by day                                                                              | `/usage`           | No usage tool     |

A **document** is source material, such as an annual report. A **dataset**
organizes financial values into series that you can query across reporting
periods. Use documents to read disclosures in context; use datasets to retrieve
structured financial history. Dataset source references connect the two.

These guides cover data reads. Dataset reads expose published historical data;
they do not edit models, return forecasts, or download workbooks.

## Account access

Your account must have API/MCP access. Available data and request allowances
depend on your plan and account permissions. Contact your Finbar representative
if you cannot connect or create a credential.

## Find your way through the docs

- **Data concepts** explains [metrics, series and scopes](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/datasets.md), [reporting periods](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/periods.md), and [values and sources](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/values.md). These concepts apply to both interfaces.
- **MCP** covers [connection setup](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/mcp.md) and [tools and research workflows](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/mcp-tools.md).
- **REST API** starts with a [first request](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/api.md), then covers authentication, companies, documents, and dataset discovery and queries.
- [Usage and limits](https://docs.finbar.com/api-mcp/usage.md) explains the allowances shared by both interfaces.