Fintel Data Skill

Fintel (fintel.io) is an institutional-grade market intelligence platform. Its strongest datasets are the ones most other providers lack: short interest, borrow rates, short volume, fails-to-deliver, 13F institutional ownership, and insider transactions.

Fintel exposes two surfaces backed by the same data contract:

Both require a Fintel API key. This skill is read-only — only call GET endpoints. The API also exposes write endpoints (create/delete stock lists, alert subscriptions, teams); do not call them.

Step 1: Resolve FINTEL_API_KEY

The skill resolves FINTEL_API_KEY in this order:

1. FINTEL_API_KEY environment variable
2. FINTEL_API_KEY in .env in the current directory
3. FINTEL_API_KEY in .env at the git repo root (so a worktree inherits the key from the main checkout)

!`if [ -n "$FINTEL_API_KEY" ]; then echo "KEY_FROM_ENV_VAR"; elif [ -f .env ] && grep -qE "^FINTEL_API_KEY=" .env; then echo "KEY_FROM_LOCAL_DOTENV:$(pwd)/.env"; else GIT_COMMON=$(git rev-parse --path-format=absolute --git-common-dir 2>/dev/null); if [ -n "$GIT_COMMON" ]; then ROOT=$(dirname "$GIT_COMMON"); if [ -f "$ROOT/.env" ] && grep -qE "^FINTEL_API_KEY=" "$ROOT/.env"; then echo "KEY_FROM_ROOT_DOTENV:$ROOT/.env"; else echo "KEY_NOT_SET"; fi; else echo "KEY_NOT_SET"; fi; fi`

Then act on the result:

• KEY_FROM_ENV_VAR — use $FINTEL_API_KEY directly in curl calls.
• KEY_FROM_LOCAL_DOTENV:<path> / KEY_FROM_ROOT_DOTENV:<path> — load once before calling:

  export FINTEL_API_KEY=$(grep -E "^FINTEL_API_KEY=" <path> | head -1 | cut -d= -f2- | sed 's/^["'\'']//;s/["'\'']$//')

• KEY_NOT_SET — ask the user for their key. Keys come with a Fintel API plan (fintel.io, docs at api.fintel.io/docs). They can either export FINTEL_API_KEY="..." or add FINTEL_API_KEY=... to .env at the repo root (preferred for worktrees).

Step 2: Resolve the Security

Most endpoints are addressed by {country}/{symbol} — an ISO country code plus ticker, e.g. us/AAPL. Default to us when the user gives only a ticker.

If the ticker is ambiguous or the user gives a company name, CUSIP, ISIN, or FIGI, resolve it first:

# name / ticker / CUSIP / ISIN / FIGI search
curl -s -H "X-API-KEY: $FINTEL_API_KEY" "https://api.fintel.io/v1/securities?query=apple&country=us"
# exact identifier lookup (type: cusip, isin, ticker, id)
curl -s -H "X-API-KEY: $FINTEL_API_KEY" "https://api.fintel.io/v1/identifiers/isin/US0378331005"

Step 3: Match the Request to an Endpoint

Full parameter details, country/exchange discovery endpoints, and more curl examples: read references/api-reference.md.

Step 4: Call the API

curl -s -H "X-API-KEY: $FINTEL_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.fintel.io/v1/securities/us/AAPL/short-volume" | python3 -m json.tool

• Success responses are JSON; some carry a meta object (warnings, freshness, status). Surface meta.warnings to the user when present.
• Errors return {"error": {"code": "...", "message": "..."}} — e.g. unauthorized (bad/missing key), 403 (dataset not enabled for the account, common for short-interest), 503 not_available (ranking service down — retry later, don't treat as empty data).
• Usage is metered per account — batch thoughtfully; don't poll.

Step 5: MCP Alternative (Optional)

For MCP-native setups, the same tools are discoverable from the official server (tool names like fintel.get_short_interest, fintel.get_security_owners — REST parity, same entitlements):

claude mcp add --transport http fintel https://mcp.fintel.io/mcp --header "X-API-KEY: your_key_here"

Prefer REST via curl when shell access is available — it needs no setup beyond the key. Use MCP when the user explicitly asks for it or shell access is restricted (note: neither works on Claude.ai's sandbox).

Step 6: Respond to the User

• Format numbers cleanly: prices to 2 decimals, percentages to 1-2 decimals, share counts with commas or abbreviations (2.3M, 1.1B).
• For short data: contextualize — short interest as % of float, days to cover, borrow fee trend direction. High borrow fee + falling shares available is the classic squeeze setup; present the data, not a prediction.
• For ownership/insiders: use tables (holder, shares, change, date). Distinguish buys from sells and option exercises in Form 4 data.
• Note the data source: "Fintel" with dataset provenance (SEC 13F, Form 3/4/5, NYSE/NASDAQ short reports) when relevant.
• Never turn the data into a trading recommendation, price target, or squeeze call — present facts and let the user draw conclusions.

Reference Files

• references/api-reference.md — full REST endpoint reference: all GET endpoints with parameters, defaults, limits, error semantics, MCP tool name mapping, and curl examples.