Instrument Registry

Resolve and maintain canonical financial instrument records. instrument-reg maps ISINs, provider symbols, names, and other identifiers to a consistent local registry for Beancount and other financial workflows.

Why Use It

• resolve an instrument from a flexible query like an ISIN, symbol, name, conid, or FX pair
• keep a local instrument registry with explicit, predictable write paths
• validate bundled and user-defined instrument data
• fetch provider-backed details without giving up local registry precedence

Concepts

• Canonical Name: The unique identifier used in Beancount ledgers (e.g., AAPL, CSPX).
• ISIN: International Securities Identification Number (e.g., US0378331005). Primary identifier for many instruments.
• FIGI: Financial Instrument Global Identifier.
• Query: User input to resolve or add, such as an ISIN, provider symbol, name, conid, or FX pair.
• Provider Symbol: Provider-specific market symbol (e.g., AAPL on Yahoo, CSPX.L on Yahoo).

Installation

Requires Python 3.14 or newer.

uv tool install instrument-registry

Install optional live-data providers when you want external resolution and verification:

uv tool install 'instrument-registry[providers]'

Configuration

The registry loads data from two sources:

1. Bundled Data: Built-in instruments (ETFs, Stocks).
2. User Data: Custom YAML files located at INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_PATH.

Set the environment variable to point to your custom registry:

export INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_PATH=~/path/to/my/registry

The registry recursively scans this directory for .yaml and .yml files.

Read precedence for CLI commands is:

• user-defined registry paths first
• bundled registry second

Write behavior for add is strict:

• instrument-reg add writes only when INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_PATH is set or --registry-path is passed
• --registry-path is a command option, so pass it after the subcommand, for example instrument-reg add --registry-path ~/registry ...
• if neither is set, the command fails instead of guessing a write location

Network lookup caching uses the platform cache directory by default. For sandboxed development or CI runs, you can override it with INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_CACHE_DIR:

export INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_CACHE_DIR=.cache/instrument-registry

Usage

Resolve a Query

Resolve a query from local registries first, then external providers if needed. Queries can be ISINs, provider symbols, names, IBKR conids, or common FX pairs.

instrument-reg resolve US0378331005
# Output: Resolved: Apple Inc. -> AAPL (yahoo)

Automatic Currency Resolution

The resolver can derive common FX provider symbols when they are not already in your registry:

• resolve EUR -> EURUSD=X
• resolve EUR/JPY -> EURJPY=X
• resolve USD/JPY -> JPY=X

This eliminates the need to manually define standard Forex pairs in your registry files.

With price verification (checks if price matches historical data):

instrument-reg resolve US0378331005 --date 2024-01-01 --price 185.00

Add an Instrument

Add a new instrument to your local registry.

add requires an explicit write target. Set INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_PATH or pass --registry-path.

# Auto-fetch metadata — instrument type and asset class are inferred from the provider
instrument-reg add --registry-path ~/registry US0378331005 --fetch

# Manually specify all details (instrument-type and asset-class are required without --fetch)
INSTRUMENT_REGISTRY_PATH=~/registry instrument-reg add \
  --name AAPL \
  --isin US0378331005 \
  --symbol AAPL \
  --instrument-type Stock \
  --asset-class Stock \
  --currency USD

Linting

Validate registry files and check for duplicates.

instrument-reg lint

Verify against live market data (checks if tickers are valid):

instrument-reg lint --verify

Fetch Metadata

Fetch details using local registries first, then provider lookup when needed.

instrument-reg fetch --isin US0378331005
instrument-reg fetch --symbol AAPL --price

fetch runs on treaty: piped output is a JSON envelope ({"ok", "data", "error", "warnings", "meta"}) with the result under data, and a terminal gets plain text. Failures have their own exit codes: 2 bad arguments, 5 no match, 79 a live-data provider is not installed. instrument-reg manifest and instrument-reg fetch --schema describe the command for agents.

Command Summary

• resolve: resolve a query from local registries first, then external providers
• add: add or update an instrument in an explicit user registry path
• fetch: inspect provider details using local registry precedence first
• lint: validate registry files and optionally verify live provider data

Programmatic Usage

You can use the registry in your Python scripts:

from pydantic_market_data.models import SecurityCriteria

from instrument_registry.registry import get_registry

# Initialize registry (loads bundled data + user data from env var)
reg = get_registry()

# 1. Resolve by ISIN
instrument = reg.find_by_isin("US0378331005")
if instrument:
    print(f"Name: {instrument.name}, Currency: {instrument.currency}")

# 2. Search by identifier fields
criteria = SecurityCriteria(symbol="AAPL")
candidates = reg.find_candidates(criteria)
for c in candidates:
    print(f"Found: {c.name} ({c.isin})")

# 3. Look up by provider symbol
# Note: Provider-symbol lookup requires the provider name
instrument = reg.find_by_ticker("yahoo", "AAPL")

Data Format (YAML)

instruments:
  - name: AAPL
    isin: US0378331005
    instrument_type: Stock
    asset_class: Stock
    currency: USD
    tickers:
      yahoo: AAPL
    validation_points:
      - date: "2024-01-01"
        price: 185.64

Contributing

• Bundled Data: Submit a PR to add common instruments to src/instrument_registry/data/instruments/.
• Providers: Implement new data sources in src/instrument_registry/finder.py by adding a class that implements the DataProvider protocol.