About Sec Adv
Sec Adv provides researchers and compliance teams with searches of the SEC IAPD / Form ADV public directory. It finds investment-adviser firms and individuals, and returns firm registration details and links to disclosure reports.
Key features
- 01Search adviser and broker-dealer firms by name
- 02View firm registration and disclosure details
- 03Get Form ADV brochure and report links
- 04Search adviser representatives and brokers by name
Use cases
- 01Find a registered investment-adviser firm
- 02Check a firm's registration scope and disclosure flag
- 03Open a firm's Form ADV report
- 04Find an individual representative and employing firm
MCP support
As an MCP server, Sec Adv exposes firm and individual search tools, plus adviser-firm profile lookup. It can connect through the Pipeworx remote server or run locally as a stdio MCP server.
Configuration
Remote servers need no local install. Pick your client, then copy the config or install in one click.
https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcpclaude mcp add --transport http pipeworx-io-sec-adv https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-sec-adv":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp"}}}Open in Cursor{"servers":{"pipeworx-io-sec-adv":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp"}}}Open in VS Code{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-sec-adv":{"type":"http","url":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp"}}}{"mcpServers":{"pipeworx-io-sec-adv":{"serverUrl":"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp"}}}Run commands in a terminal; paste JSON into the client’s MCP config and restart. Servers that need sign-in will prompt on first connect.
Tools
Details
From the project READMEmcp-sec-adv
SEC ADV / IAPD MCP — SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (Form ADV) lookup
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1683+ live data sources.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
adv_search_firm | Search SEC-registered investment adviser (RIA) and broker-dealer firms by name via the IAPD / Form ADV public directory. Returns matching firms with CRD number, SEC number, registration scope, disclosure flag, branch count, and office address. Use adv_firm_profile with a returned CRD for full detail. |
adv_firm_profile | Get the SEC Form ADV / IAPD profile for an investment-adviser firm by its CRD number (the firm_source_id / CRD returned by adv_search_firm). Returns basic firm info, registration status, SEC number, notice-filing jurisdictions, disclosure flag, Form ADV Part 2 brochure list, and direct links to the full Form ADV report PDF. Note: reported AUM, client counts, and detailed disciplinary/disclosure narratives live inside the Form ADV filing itself — use the returned brochure/report PDF links for those. |
adv_search_individual | Search individual investment-adviser representatives / brokers by name via the IAPD public directory. Returns matching individuals with their CRD number, name, registration scope, disclosure flag, and current employing firm(s) with city/state. |
Quick Start
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
{
"mcpServers": {
"sec-adv": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp"
}
}
}
What this endpoint actually serves
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/sec-adv/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pipeworx": {
"url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp"
}
}
}
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1683+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No MCP client? Call it over HTTP
curl -X POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/adv_search_firm \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{"query":"BlackRock"}'
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/adv_search_firm. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
Standalone (no gateway account)
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
{
"mcpServers": {
"sec-adv": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-sec-adv"]
}
}
}
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-sec-adv
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Using with ask_pipeworx
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
ask_pipeworx({ question: "your question about Sec Adv data" })
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
More
License
MIT
Comments
New to MCP?
From what the protocol is to installing your first server, these answers cover most first questions.
An open protocol that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data in a uniform way. Clients talk to the model; MCP servers provide tools, resources and prompt templates. They exchange standard messages, so one server can be reused by many clients.