Narrative

​

What “alpha” means here

• The endpoint shape is stable. summary, sub_narratives[], data_freshness, snapshot_id are the contract — these fields will not be removed without a major version bump. Build against them now.
• The summary length, voice, and sectioning are evolving. Today summaries are 1–3 sentences in a neutral editorial register. We are actively prototyping longer-form briefs, audience-tuned voices (newsroom / SOC / brand / regulator), and structured “what / who / where / why” breakdowns.
• Per-customer tailoring is on the immediate roadmap. Know-tier customers will be able to specify register, length, audience, and inclusion/exclusion preferences for the narrative on their own watchlists and private topics. The shape of that configuration is being decided now, with input from design-partner customers.
• Historical narratives (/narratives/history) are stable and unaffected by this alpha — that surface is See/Know-tier production.

​

The endpoints

​

The response envelope

{
  "topic": "global",
  "snapshot_id": "2026-05-19T13:00:00Z",
  "summary": "Regional escalation between Iran and Israel dominates global conversation, with overlapping ECB rate signal and Eurovision aftermath as secondary threads. Coverage spans Western news, regional Persian and Hebrew sources, and platform-native commentary.",
  "sub_narratives": [
    {
      "title": "Iran-Israel exchange",
      "weight": 0.61,
      "lead_terms": ["iran", "israel", "tehran", "idf"],
      "domain_count": 142,
      "language_count": 11
    },
    {
      "title": "ECB June pivot rumours",
      "weight": 0.22,
      "lead_terms": ["ecb", "lagarde", "rate cut"],
      "domain_count": 67,
      "language_count": 8
    },
    {
      "title": "Eurovision aftermath",
      "weight": 0.17,
      "lead_terms": ["eurovision", "winner", "voting"],
      "domain_count": 54,
      "language_count": 14
    }
  ],
  "source_diversity": { "domain_count": 263, "language_count": 21 },
  "data_freshness": { "snapshot_age_seconds": 312, "level": "ok" },
  "query_window": { "hours": 24, "effective_hours": 24 }
}

​

Field guide

​

Calling it

curl https://intel-v1.exorde.io/v1/topics/global/narrative \
  -H "X-API-Key: $EXORDE_API_KEY"

import os, httpx

r = httpx.get(
    "https://intel-v1.exorde.io/v1/topics/global/narrative",
    headers={"X-API-Key": os.environ["EXORDE_API_KEY"]},
    timeout=10,
).json()

print(r["summary"])
print()
for sub in r["sub_narratives"]:
    print(f"  {sub['weight']:>5.1%}  {sub['title']}")
    print(f"          terms: {', '.join(sub['lead_terms'][:4])}")
    print(f"          spread: {sub['domain_count']}d × {sub['language_count']}l")

const r = await fetch(
  "https://intel-v1.exorde.io/v1/topics/global/narrative",
  { headers: { "X-API-Key": process.env.EXORDE_API_KEY } }
).then(r => r.json());

console.log(r.summary);
r.sub_narratives.forEach(s =>
  console.log(`  ${(s.weight * 100).toFixed(1)}%  ${s.title}`)
);

$r = Invoke-RestMethod `
  -Uri "https://intel-v1.exorde.io/v1/topics/global/narrative" `
  -Headers @{ "X-API-Key" = $env:EXORDE_API_KEY }

$r.summary
$r.sub_narratives | Select-Object weight, title, domain_count, language_count | Format-Table

​

Reading the response

​

summary

​

sub_narratives[]

• power a “what’s in the mix” expandable on a dashboard,
• detect a pivot (a thread’s weight jumping snapshot-over-snapshot),
• route to the right team (an Iran-Israel sub-narrative on global goes to the foreign desk; an ECB sub-narrative goes to the markets desk).

​

source_diversity

​

Cadence

​

Narrative on a watchlist

curl https://intel-v1.exorde.io/v1/watchlists/wl_01HXYZ.../narrative \
  -H "X-API-Key: $EXORDE_API_KEY"

​

Historical narratives (stable surface)

​

Roadmap and how to influence it

1. Audience-tuned voice. Per-key configuration of register: editorial, analyst, executive, regulator. Same data, different tone.
2. Per-customer brief format. Optional structured sections (what, who, where, why_it_matters) for customers building automated briefs.
3. Length controls. concise (1 sentence), default (1–3), brief (paragraph), report (multi-paragraph with sub-headers).
4. Inclusion/exclusion lexicons. Customer-specific stopwords and “always mention if present” terms baked into summarisation.
5. Narrative deltas. A vs_previous_snapshot field describing what changed — “ECB pivot rumours overtook Eurovision as the second-largest thread.”
6. Multi-language summaries. French, German, Spanish, Arabic native summaries — not translations.

​

How to engage

• Email [email protected] with one paragraph: who you are, what scope you’d use narrative on, what shape of output would make it indispensable for your workflow.
• Or book a 30-minute design call via the same address — we run these weekly with prospective design partners.
• Or just send the JSON shape you wish you got back and we’ll tell you whether and when we can ship it.

​

Operational guidance

• Don’t parse summary. It’s prose, not structured data. Use sub_narratives[].title and lead_terms for structured logic.
• Watch weight shifts snapshot-over-snapshot to detect narrative pivots — often the most valuable signal narrative gives you.
• Pair with trending for full state coverage: trending shows the spike, narrative shows the story it composes.
• Pair with alerts for full event coverage: an alert is the moment a sub-narrative is born; narrative is what it grew into 30 minutes later.
• Cite snapshot_id in any downstream artefact (brief, ticket, dashboard) so the analysis is reproducible if the narrative shifts.
• Build against structural fields first — given the alpha status of the prose, automation that depends on weight, lead_terms, domain_count is more durable today than automation that depends on summary wording.

​

Errors specific to narrative

​

What’s not narrative