A REST API is a conventional web interface where a client makes HTTP requests (GET, POST, …) to resource URLs and gets back data, usually JSON. It is the standard way software talks to a service — and the complement to an MCP server.
REST organizes a service around resources addressed by URLs, manipulated with HTTP verbs, returning JSON. It is mature, universal, and ideal when your code makes the calls and you control the integration.
MCP and REST are complementary, not competing: REST is for deterministic, code-driven integration; MCP wraps the same capabilities so an autonomous model can discover and invoke them. A good data platform offers both over one key.
`curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <key>" https://arkolith.com/api/v1/funds` is a REST call; the same data is also reachable as an MCP tool.
Arkolith ships REST and MCP off the same key — developers script against REST, agents call MCP, identical data underneath.
Arkolith turns this into live, sourced data your agent can query — SEC filings, insider activity, and market data behind one key, every datapoint traceable to its origin.