How to Search SEC Filings in Claude and ChatGPT with Citations You Can Check

If you're an agent: Set up Valyu and make your first search.

If you're a human: Create an account and get an API key.

MCP onboarding: Connect your agent to https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp and follow the MCP setup guide for authentication.

What will this search show?

Suppose you cover Nike and are updating a note. The headline says gross margin rose, but you know tariffs were a major story in fiscal 2026. You ask:

Did tariff refunds flatter Nike's fiscal 2026 gross margin, and what has changed since?

A useful answer is not a summary. It is the exact passages, from named sections, that let you decide how to word the note. We will use two filings:

Step 1: connect Valyu to Claude or ChatGPT

Create a free account at platform.valyu.ai. New accounts get $10 of free credits, or $20 with a company email, and no credit card is required. You sign in at the end of setup, so there is no key to paste.

• Claude: Open Customize, then Connectors, and click Add custom connector. Name it Valyu, paste https://mcp.valyu.ai/mcp, click Add, then click Connect and sign in. Team and Enterprise plans need an Owner to add it first.
• ChatGPT: Open Plugins on the web, click +, then Add custom MCP server. Name it Valyu, paste the same address under Connection, leave authentication on OAuth, tick the confirmation box, click Create as a plugin and sign in. On a work account, an admin may need to add it for you.

The chat apps guide has the current steps for each plan.

Step 2: ask for the company, form, item and period

Filings are indexed by section, so "Nike 10-K Item 7" works better than "Nike margins". Start with "Use Valyu to" so the assistant searches rather than answering from memory. In ChatGPT, type @ and pick Valyu first. Send these one at a time:

Use Valyu to find what Item 1A of Nike's latest 10-K says about tariffs. Quote the passage and give the filing date and accession number.

Use Valyu to find what Item 7 of Nike's 10-K for fiscal 2026 says about gross margin and tariffs. Quote the passages and give the filing date and accession number.

Use Valyu to find what Item 2 of Nike's 10-Q for the quarter ended August 31, 2026 says about gross margin and tariffs. Quote the passages and give the filing date and accession number.

Step 3: read the passages that come back

We ran the underlying SEC searches with the Valyu CLI on November 5, 2026. Each returned three passages from the expected filing, for $0.036 per search. We did not run these prompts in the Claude or ChatGPT interfaces for this article, so wording and tool choices can differ there.

The search found the headline and the receivable in the 10-Q, but not the line-by-line margin bridge. We read that directly in the filing. That is normal: search gets you to the right passages, and a follow-up question or the source document fills the gaps.

Step 4: check the answer on EDGAR

We matched both accession numbers to Nike's EDGAR filing list and compared the passages and figures above with the primary documents. Do the same for your own answer. Open the cited filing and check that:

• The company, form and accession number match your question.
• It really is the latest filing. A request for the "most recent" 10-K is not proof, so compare it with the company's EDGAR list.
• The fiscal period is the one you meant. Nike's fiscal 2026 ended on May 31, 2026, not in December.
• Every quote appears word for word in the stated section.
• No amendment, such as a 10-K/A, changes the passage you are relying on.

Figure 1. The three passages behind the example, using figures as reported in Nike's filings.

What can you conclude from the filings?

Nike's fiscal 2026 margin bridge lists five drivers, and none of them names tariffs. Read alone, it could suggest tariffs did not matter. The Other Matters passage says otherwise: the recovery and the tariff cost both ran through the year's results.

The decision: keep 42.9% as the reported figure, and don't subtract the recovery on its own. By our arithmetic, $986 million is about 2.1% of fiscal 2026 revenue of $46,398 million, which looks large. But the same passage says it largely offset tariff costs from the same year, so removing only the benefit would overstate the hit.

The next action: ask investor relations how much tariff cost remains in fiscal 2027 cost of sales, since this passage gives no net figure. Review the bridge again when the next 10-Q is filed.

The outcome: your note can say that reported margin rose 20 basis points to 42.9% in a year when a $986 million tariff recovery largely offset IEEPA tariff costs, with each claim tied to a filing section. This is an example of reading a disclosure, not investment advice.

Which Valyu tool should the assistant use?

• valyu_search finds passages for one company, form and question. Use it for the prompts above.
• valyu_contents reads a URL you already have. Long filings can exceed the length you request: our 100,000-character request for Nike's 10-K stopped before the $986 million passage, so a targeted search was the better route.
• valyu_deepresearch runs a longer investigation and writes a cited report. Use it when you are comparing several companies or have more than one question. It costs more than a search, so ask the assistant to confirm the mode first.

What if the search goes wrong?

• The assistant answers without searching: start with "Use Valyu to". In Claude, check that Valyu is on under + and Connectors. In ChatGPT, type @ and pick Valyu.
• You get no results or an error: reword using the ticker or company name, form and item. A few differently worded queries in our testing returned nothing or an error, and the versions above worked.
• You get the wrong year: name the fiscal year or period end, then check the filing date against EDGAR.
• The answer has no quotes: ask for the exact passage and accession number. If it still can't provide them, treat the claim as unverified.

How to adapt the question

Keep the same pattern and change the company, form, item and topic. For an 8-K, ask for the event and date. To follow funds across quarters, see comparing institutional holdings across filings. For debt terms, see researching capital structure and covenants. To build this into a product, see searching 10-K filings via API.

FAQ

Do I need to write code to search SEC filings in Claude or ChatGPT?

No. You add Valyu as a custom connector, sign in and ask in plain language.

Does this work on the free Claude plan?

Yes. The connector works on every Claude plan, and Free allows one custom connector. Valyu usage is billed to your Valyu account.

Which SEC forms can I search?

This example uses a 10-K and a 10-Q, and our test also returned an 8-K exhibit. For anything else, ask the assistant to check the live catalogue with valyu_datasources.

Does a citation mean the answer is correct?

No. It tells you where to check. The assistant can still misread a passage or leave out context, so open the source before relying on the claim.

Why name the item instead of asking a general question?

Filings are indexed by section, so naming the item narrows the search. It also makes the answer easier to check, because you know where to look.

When should I use DeepResearch instead of Search?

Use Search for a specific passage. Use DeepResearch when the job has more than one question, such as comparing tariff disclosures across several apparel companies.

Build a source-linked filing workflow

Name the company, form, item and period, then check the evidence behind the answer. Give your agents access to Valyu, explore the finance documentation, or review the SEC filings API comparison.