Form4API — SEC Insider Trading

form4api-mcp

Production-grade SEC Form 4 insider trading data for any MCP-compatible AI assistant — amendment-aware, 10b5-1 clean, with Form 144 + institutional 13F-HR overlay, plus congressional STOCK Act trades and insider/Congress convergence — 39 tools + 6 ready-made research prompts

An MCP server that exposes the hosted Form4API REST API to Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Codex CLI, and any other MCP-compatible client. Configured once, your LLM can answer questions about insider trading, institutional positioning, and intent-to-sell filings directly during research sessions.

Four data-quality claims no scraping-based alternative can make:

• 🛡 Amendment-aware — Form 4/A amendments are reconciled automatically. No double-counting when an insider corrects a filing.
• 🎯 10b5-1 clean — every transaction flagged as pre-scheduled (10b5-1 plan) or discretionary. Cluster signals exclude planned trades by construction.
• 📜 Form 144 intent-to-sell — 125K+ Form 144 filings indexed. Catch insider sales ~2 days before they hit Form 4.
• 🏛 Institutional × insider join — every transaction carries the current 13F-HR ownership context (top-3 holders, AUM trend) in the same response: no second call, no client-side join. Among the self-serve SEC data APIs we've surveyed, none return both sides in one query — sec-api.io and Kaleidoscope both ship 13F and insider data as separate endpoints.

Quick install

1. Get a free API key

Go to www.form4api.com → Sign in → Dashboard. Free plan includes 500 requests/day, no credit card required.

2. Add to your MCP client

Claude Desktop — edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{

"mcpServers": { "form4api": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "form4api-mcp"], "env": { "FORM4API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY" } } } }

Restart the client. The tools appear automatically.

Claude Code (CLI):

claude mcp add form4api -- npx -y form4api-mcp

…then set FORM4API_KEY in your shell or in ~/.claude/mcp.json.

Cursor — edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json (user-level) or .cursor/mcp.json (workspace-level):

{

"mcpServers": { "form4api": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "form4api-mcp"], "env": { "FORM4API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY" } } } }

Restart Cursor. The tools appear automatically.

Windsurf — edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{

"mcpServers": { "form4api": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "form4api-mcp"], "env": { "FORM4API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY" } } } }

Restart Windsurf. The tools appear automatically.

VS Code — edit .vscode/mcp.json (workspace-level). Note: VS Code uses the servers key (not mcpServers):

{

"servers": { "form4api": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "form4api-mcp"], "env": { "FORM4API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY" } } } }

Restart VS Code. The tools appear automatically.

Codex CLI — config is TOML at ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.form4api]

command = "npx" args = ["-y", "form4api-mcp"] env = { FORM4API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY" }

Verify it works

Ask your LLM to run the verify_setup tool — it confirms your API key is valid and the MCP server is reachable, or returns the exact fix steps.

Example: *"Run the verify_setup tool to confirm the MCP is configured correctly."*

Try before you commit a key

get_public_stats is a keyless tool — it works with no FORM4API_KEY set. Try it first to preview live data coverage before signing up:

FORM4API_KEY="" npx form4api-mcp

Once you like what you see, sign up for a free key at www.form4api.com → set FORM4API_KEY → all tools unlock.

3. Or run directly

FORM4API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY npx form4api-mcp

Available tools (39)

Search

Form 4 insider trading

Signals + sentiment

Form 144 + institutional

Congress + convergence

Utility

Prompts (6)

Beyond the 39 tools, this MCP ships 6 prompts — ready-made research recipes that a client can list (prompts/list) and load (prompts/get) so you don't have to hand-assemble the right tool sequence yourself. Each one tells the LLM exactly which SEC Form 4 / Form 144 / 13F-HR tools to call, in what order, and how to read plan-gated results.

| cluster_buy_scan | days (default 7) | Market