◆ 5-MINUTE WALKTHROUGH · JUST INSTALLED

You're in. Now let's get your desk wired up.

The dashboard is already running at http://localhost:8001. Five steps from zero to your first audit. Optional tracks for data upgrades, AI thesis, and broker connection at the end.

1 · Tickers 2 · First audit 3 · Data tier 4 · AI thesis 5 · Broker Stuck?
1

Tell the framework what you own.

Open portfolio.txt in the install folder. One ticker per line. Comments with # are fine — use them to jot your thesis so future-you knows why past-you bought.

portfolio.txt~/.swingdeck/
NVDA # Semi — AI supercycle anchor
AVGO # Custom silicon — hyperscaler moat
VRT # Power infra play — data-center thermal
USFR # T-bill armor — 4%+ yield, zero risk
SGOV # Second armor sleeve
✓ TIP — EDIT AND SAVE The dashboard watches this file. Every time you save it, the audit re-runs automatically within ~30s. No restart needed.
⚠ TIER LIMITS Free tier: 5 tickers · Pro: 25 · Premium: unlimited. Listing more than your tier allows silently truncates and logs a warning.
2

Watch your first audit land.

The dashboard is auto-refreshing every few minutes. Open http://localhost:8001 in any browser. Within 30 seconds of saving portfolio.txt, each ticker shows up as a card with:

EXAMPLE · NVDA cardlocalhost:8001
NVDA   $209.41 (+1.03%)   74/C
Structure: HH/HL   MACD: bull   RSI: 69   ATR: 5.08
⚠ TIGHTEN   — review stop / reduce size
Bias: DE-RISK 50% · EXIT-REVIEW

Every card is the output of 11 technical pillars + 13 risk pillars running against that ticker. Don't memorize the acronyms — hover any label and the tooltip explains it. Or jump to the full glossary.

⬡ WHAT THE COLORS MEAN Green = score ≥ 80 / status healthy · Amber = 50–79 / review · Red = < 50 / exit territory. Most days the goal is a sea of green — discipline is doing nothing when nothing needs doing.
3

Pick your data tier.

Swing Deck uses a cascade of data providers. If a tier fails, it falls through to the next one automatically. You can run 100% free on Tier 3 (yfinance), add free API keys for Tiers 1–2, or subscribe to a paid feed for serious real-time.

Pick whichever combination fits your budget and how often you trade:

Provider Cost Pros Cons
yfinance
T3 · Fallback
Free
 ✓ Zero setup · works out of the box
✓ No API key
✓ Historical data back to 1970s 		✗ Yahoo rate-limits aggressively
✗ 15-min delayed quotes
✗ Breaks periodically when Yahoo changes HTML
Stooq
T4 · Integrity
Free
 ✓ Zero setup · no key needed
✓ Cross-checks against yfinance (price-drift monitor) 		✗ Slow from US IPs (Warsaw edge)
✗ Daily bars only (no intraday)
✗ No indices / no futures
Finnhub
T2 · Primary
Free · 60/min
 ✓ Real-time US quotes
✓ Free tier covers most hobby use
✓ Company news + basic fundamentals 		✗ 60 req/min cap (fine for <30 tickers)
✗ No options data on free tier
✗ Requires email signup for API key
Alpha Vantage
T2 · Secondary
Free · 25/day
 ✓ Fundamentals + earnings data
✓ Technical indicators pre-computed
✓ Good historical depth 		✗ Only 25 requests/day on free (very low)
✗ Data not truly real-time
✗ Paid tier ($50+/mo) for anything useful
MarketAux
News/sentiment
Free · 100/day
 ✓ Financial news with sentiment scoring
✓ Ticker-specific filtering
✓ Good coverage of earnings catalysts 		✗ 100 req/day cap
✗ Sometimes lags breaking news by ~30 min
✗ Sentiment scoring is basic
Tradier
T1 · Best
Free dev account
 ✓ Full options chains + Greeks (free)
✓ Sub-second quote latency
✓ No volume cap
✓ Works without opening a Tradier brokerage 		✗ Dev account requires a name + email
✗ Paid tier for level-2 / imbalance data
✗ Not all non-US symbols
Polygon
Premium only
$29/mo+
 ✓ Institutional-grade real-time
✓ Tick-by-tick data
✓ Pre/post-market coverage 		✗ $29/mo starter; $200+/mo for full coverage
✗ Overkill for < 50 tickers
✗ Auto-enabled on Swing Deck Pro/Premium
✓ RECOMMENDED FOR MOST USERS Start with Finnhub + Tradier free. Both take 5 minutes to sign up for, both unlock real-time quotes + options, both have usable free tiers. That combination covers 95% of hobby/retail use. Upgrade to Pro's built-in Polygon feed only when you're actively trading 20+ tickers.

How to add your keys

Open the dashboard → Settings (⚙) → ⚙ Setup tab → paste keys into the matching fields → click Save & Test. Green ✓ next to each key means it's working.

Key links:

4

(Optional) Turn on AI thesis.

AI thesis generates a plain-English narrative for each position: why this ticker scored what it scored, what to watch for, and what would change the picture. It's BYOK — bring your own key — which means the cost is whatever you'd pay your AI provider directly. We never charge a premium on top.

EXAMPLE · AI thesis panel for NVDABYOK
GENERATED · 2026-04-24 10:47 · Claude 3.5 Sonnet · 847 tokens

The 74/C score reflects a structural uptrend (HH/HL, weekly aligned) partly offset by thin volume on the recent thrust (1.2× vs 1.5× threshold) and RSI extended to 69. The TIGHTEN flag is correctly triggered by the 16-session hold exceeding the 10-day swing window — not by deterioration. Position is defensible but late. Scale-out on TP1 honors both signals...

Supported providers

Provider Cost Best for
Anthropic Claude
~$0.003/thesis
 Sharpest framework-style reasoning. Our recommended default.
OpenAI GPT-4o
~$0.004/thesis
 Strong general synthesis. Best if you already have an OpenAI key.
Ollama (local)
Free
 Fully offline · runs on your hardware · llama-3.1 70b recommended.

How to set it up

  1. Get an API key: console.anthropic.com (Claude) or platform.openai.com/api-keys (GPT).
  2. Dashboard → Settings (⚙) → ⚙ Setup → AI Thesis section.
  3. Pick provider, paste key, click Save & Test.
  4. A "Generate thesis" button now appears on each ticker card. First click per ticker is the only cost — subsequent opens read from cache.
⬡ WHAT IT COSTS IN PRACTICE A typical 10-ticker portfolio refreshed weekly costs ~$0.12/month on Claude. Even power-users with 25 tickers refreshing daily land under $2/month. The AI reads your framework-generated audit output, not raw market data — so every thesis is grounded in Swing Deck's 11-point scoring.
⚠ PRIVACY NOTE Your AI provider sees: the ticker, audit scores, and the narrative prompt. It does not see your positions, avg cost basis, or account size unless you explicitly include them in your custom thesis prompt. Claude and OpenAI both offer "no training on your data" API terms by default.
5

(Optional) Connect a broker.

With no broker connected, Swing Deck is a powerful read-only analysis tool. Connecting a broker unlocks Raise-Stop automation — the dashboard previews and places stop-loss updates directly on your account, guarded by a defense-in-depth safety stack.

BrokerStatusWhat it does
E*TRADE
 ✓ Live OAuth 1.0a · full positions read · raise-stop writes · options chains
Tradier
 ✓ Live Bearer token · positions read · raise-stop writes · best options data
Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, Vanguard
 CSV import No API · drag-drop position CSV once a day to sync
✓ DRY-RUN FIRST — ALWAYS Swing Deck ships with BROKER_MODE=dryrun by default. Every "place" call is short-circuited server-side — only the preview hits E*TRADE. Run dryrun for a few sessions, review the audit log, then flip to live only when the readiness checklist is all green.

Full broker setup walkthrough: docs/broker-setup.html

?

Stuck? Here's where to look.

SymptomFix
Dashboard won't load Check http://localhost:8001. If the page says "can't connect," the control server isn't running. Re-launch Swing Deck.
All scores blank / "—" Audit hasn't completed its first cycle. Wait 30s. If still blank, check audit_dashboard.log for errors. Usually a data-provider rate limit.
"Audit data is XXXs old" error The audit cycle is taking longer than usual. Check if Stooq/yfinance are being rate-limited. Will self-heal within 2-3 cycles.
Broker chip stays red Token expired or account ID mismatched. Dashboard → Settings → Brokers → re-authorize or update the account ID.
macOS "can't be opened" Right-click the app → Open → Open. Unsigned during beta. After first launch, normal double-click works.
Windows SmartScreen blocks installer Click "More info" → "Run anyway". Unsigned during beta. SmartScreen builds reputation after a few hundred downloads.
Any acronym confuses me Hover the term in the dashboard for an inline tooltip, or open the full glossary.

Deeper reference:

Can't find the answer? Email support@swing-deck.com — usually a same-day reply. Include your audit_dashboard.log if you're hitting an error.

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