summary: quick answers to the most common edgeful API questions: whether you need Claude, how much data you get, whether it costs extra, rate limits, and how to start.
do I need a Claude or ChatGPT subscription?
no. the edgeful API is plain HTTP. you can call it with curl, Python, or JavaScript, with no AI tool involved at all.
Claude Code (or OpenAI's Codex app) is just an optional no-code convenience: it can read the docs and run requests on your machine for you. the regular ChatGPT website can't do that, so if you prefer the ChatGPT route you'd need the Codex app. none of this is required to use the API.
and if you just want to ask questions in a chat, the MCP connector works in Claude, in ChatGPT (developer mode, paid plans), and in Grok with no key at all — see connecting edgeful to Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok with MCP.
how much historical data do I get?
it depends on your plan:
essential: 6 months of lookback, 3 select reports, 4 test tickers, summary data
pro: all available history (8+ years, no rolling cutoff), all reports, all tickers, per-day row-level detail, plus live data endpoints
all access: the same API access as pro — the difference is the algo suite, not the data
live data endpoints (what's in play + screener) are available on the pro and all access tiers. essential API access is historical report calculations only.
is there a waitlist?
no. API access is included with every plan and available right away. there's nothing to wait for.
is the API a separate add-on? does it cost extra?
no. API access is included on every plan at no extra cost — there's no separate "API tier" to buy. the $99/mo you might have seen is the pro plan price, not an API fee. what changes between plans is depth: which reports, tickers, and how much lookback the API exposes (essential 6mo / pro and all access 8+ years, no rolling cutoff), not whether you get the API at all.
what are the rate limits?
they're the same across all tiers: 120 requests per 60-second window (sustained), a short burst allowance of 30 requests per 10 seconds, and a ceiling of 1,500 requests per hour. the limits apply per key, and your account has one active key at a time, so in practice that's your account's limit.
go over and the API returns a 429. caching responses for the trading day is the simplest way to stay well under the limit. full detail in rate limits and tier differences.
how do I get started?
open the API dashboard, go to API Keys, and click generate API key. name it, then copy the value: it starts with ef_live_ and is shown only once, so store it somewhere safe. the base URL is api.edgeful.com, and you authenticate with a Bearer token in the Authorization header.
never written code before? the VS Code + Claude Code walkthrough gets you pulling data in about 10 minutes without writing a line.
which endpoints can I call?
the API is organized by report slug, not by metric name — there's no /probabilities or /stats endpoint. you request a report by its slug (like gap-fill-standard) against the base URL api.edgeful.com, and v1 is served at the root (no /v1 in the path). the full catalog of valid slugs lives in the docs. if a call returns a 404, check the slug first — see API errors and troubleshooting.