> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.askalchemist.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Fast, citable financial research — from primary sources to your agent in milliseconds.

Alchemist is a research database that continuously ingests primary financial documents — FOMC minutes, USDA WASDE reports, earnings calls, 10-Ks, economic data releases — extracts structured insights from each one, and makes them searchable via a semantic API.

Every result includes the verbatim source excerpt it was extracted from, the originating document, and the publication date. Your agent cites the primary source, not a summary of a summary.

## Core concepts

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Insights" icon="lightbulb">
    A single extracted finding from a document: a claim, a data point, or a directional statement. Each insight carries the exact quote it was derived from.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Documents" icon="file-text">
    The primary source — FOMC minutes, WASDE, 10-K, CPI release, etc. Each document has many insights. You can retrieve a document and all its insights in one call.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Sources" icon="building">
    The publishing organization — Federal Reserve, USDA, BLS, a company, a sell-side desk. Use source filters to scope searches to a specific institution.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Semantic search" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Insights are indexed with HyDE embeddings. Queries work best as focused questions or 3–8-word keyword phrases, not keyword soup or conversational sentences.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Two ways to connect

| Method       | Best for                                                                                                            |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **MCP**      | AI agents and coding assistants (Claude, Cursor, Cline, Hermes). Zero boilerplate — the agent calls tools directly. |
| **REST API** | Production integrations, data pipelines, custom agents, non-MCP clients.                                            |

## What gets searched

Alchemist covers macro policy documents (Fed, ECB, BLS, BEA), agricultural reports (USDA), energy data (EIA), corporate filings (SEC EDGAR), and curated news from specialized sources. Use `GET /api/documents/filters` to see what's in the database at any moment.