Glossary
As-of queries
An as-of query returns rows where a visibility clock is at or before a specified timestamp. Set the timestamp with as_of. The comparison is inclusive and uses UTC. Choose the clock with visible_by.
Updated 2026-08-26. Corpus figures come from a running server.
Choosing the clock
visible_by accepts published_at, available_at, or committed_at. If empty or omitted, it defaults to published_at, which is the v1 index-replay default. The row fields event_at and acceptance_at are not accepted as clocks. Passing either field returns invalid_clock.
| Clock | What it records | What an as-of cut on it answers |
|---|---|---|
published_at | The filer, publisher or index clock. | What the index carried by T. On SEC rows the daily index gives a date and no time, so the value sits at 23:59:59Z on that date. |
available_at | First evidenced public availability, with availability_basis saying whether the evidence is a receipt or a schedule. | What was demonstrably public by T. The field is null on all 563,594 SEC rows in this corpus, and a cut on it returns 409 for those days. |
committed_at | When the row was written to our store. | What we held by T. A backfill run in 2026 carries a 2026 value here regardless of when the filing was made. |
The response envelope repeats as_of and visible_by. This records the exact query parameters with the stored result.
Rows with a null clock
If a row has a null value for the selected clock, the query excludes that row. If the null value is systematic rather than incidental, the day is listed in coverage.missing. The API returns HTTP 409 with count set to JSON null. For example, querying the 2023-03-10 SEC data with visible_by=available_at returns HTTP 409 and lists availability.sec.edgar/2023-03-10 instead of returning a partial list of rows.
became_knowable
became_knowable(T0, T1) returns the rows that became visible between T0 and T1 on the same clock. Query this set using GET /v1/news/diff with as_of_start and as_of_end. This differs from filtering rows where event_at falls between the two timestamps, and it differs from returning all rows visible at T1.
In the Python client
In the Python client, query_as_of(..., known_at=...) maps to GET /v1/news with as_of. Using as_of= directly raises a TypeError. The as_of parameter is required for paid historical reads.