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Countercyclical Data Source

The Countercyclical connector enables you to ingest investment research data — including Investments, Valuations, and Memos — from your Countercyclical workspace into Nexla. This connector is particularly useful for teams that want to analyze or distribute their investment research data alongside data from other platforms. Follow the instructions below to create a new data flow that ingests data from a Countercyclical source in Nexla.
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Countercyclical

Create a New Data Flow

  1. To create a new data flow, navigate to the Integrate section, and click the New Data Flow button. Then, select the desired flow type from the list, and click the Create button.

  2. Select the Countercyclical connector tile from the list of available connectors. Then, select the credential that will be used to connect to the Countercyclical instance, and click Next; or, create a new Countercyclical credential for use in this flow.

  3. In Nexla, Countercyclical data sources can be created using pre-built endpoint templates, which expedite source setup for the core Countercyclical data streams. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Countercyclical endpoint, making source configuration easy and efficient.
    • To configure this source using a template, follow the instructions in Configure Using a Template.

    Countercyclical sources can also be configured manually, allowing you to ingest data from Countercyclical endpoints not included in the pre-built templates or apply further customizations to exactly suit your needs.
    • To configure this source manually, follow the instructions in Configure Manually.

Configure Using a Template

Nexla provides pre-built templates that can be used to rapidly configure data sources to ingest data from the core Countercyclical data streams. Each template is designed specifically for the corresponding Countercyclical endpoint, making data source setup easy and efficient.

Endpoint Settings

  • Select the endpoint from which this source will fetch data from the Endpoint pulldown menu. Available endpoint templates are listed in the expandable boxes below. Click on an endpoint to see more information about it and how to configure your data source for this endpoint.

Investments

This endpoint retrieves the investment records in your Countercyclical workspace. Each investment represents an asset that you or your team is tracking or appraising. Use this endpoint to ingest your full investment list — including asset names, identifiers, status, and associated metadata — for analysis, reporting, or downstream distribution.

  • This endpoint automatically retrieves all investments accessible within the authenticated workspace. No additional configuration is required beyond selecting this endpoint template.
  • The endpoint uses pagination to handle large datasets efficiently, automatically fetching additional pages of results as needed.
  • Each investment record includes fields such as the asset name, ticker symbol, asset class, current status, and timestamps for creation and last update.

The Investments stream returns the core investment tracking data from your Countercyclical workspace. To retrieve associated valuation models or research memos for specific investments, use the Valuations or Memos endpoint templates.

Valuations

This endpoint retrieves the valuation models associated with investments in your Countercyclical workspace. Valuations contain the financial modeling data produced by your team's analysis, including prebuilt and custom templates. Use this endpoint when you need to ingest valuation outputs — such as intrinsic value estimates, discount rate assumptions, and financial projections — for reporting or further analysis.

  • This endpoint automatically retrieves all valuations accessible within the authenticated workspace. No additional parameter configuration is required beyond selecting this endpoint template.
  • Each valuation record includes fields such as the associated investment, valuation methodology, key financial assumptions, calculated outputs, and version information.
  • Countercyclical supports multiple valuation templates per investment. All versions are returned by this endpoint, allowing you to track valuation history over time.

Valuations are linked to specific investments in Countercyclical. You can join Valuation records to Investment records using the investment identifier present in each valuation record.

Memos

This endpoint retrieves the investment memos stored in your Countercyclical workspace. Memos capture structured investment theses, due diligence notes, and ongoing insights — providing a living record of your team's research thinking with rich context, version history, and collaborative annotations. Use this endpoint to ingest memo content for archival, compliance, or downstream knowledge management purposes.

  • This endpoint automatically retrieves all memos accessible within the authenticated workspace. No additional parameter configuration is required beyond selecting this endpoint template.
  • Each memo record includes fields such as the associated investment, memo title, author, content body, version history, and timestamps for creation and last update.
  • Countercyclical maintains a full version history for each memo. All versions are returned by this endpoint, enabling you to track how your team's research thesis has evolved over time.

Memos are linked to specific investments in Countercyclical. You can join Memo records to Investment records using the investment identifier present in each memo record. For additional information about Countercyclical's memo structure, refer to the Countercyclical documentation.

Endpoint Testing

Once the selected endpoint template has been configured, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current settings. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

  • To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

  • If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Configure Manually

Countercyclical data sources can be manually configured to ingest data from any valid Countercyclical API endpoint. Manual configuration provides maximum flexibility for accessing endpoints not covered by pre-built templates or when you need custom API configurations.

With manual configuration, you can also create more complex Countercyclical sources, such as sources that use chained API calls to fetch data from multiple endpoints or sources that require custom request parameters.

API Method

  1. To manually configure this source, select the Advanced tab at the top of the configuration screen.

  2. Select the API method that will be used for calls to the Countercyclical API from the Method pulldown menu. The most common method for Countercyclical data retrieval is:

    • GET: For retrieving data from the API

API Endpoint URL

  1. Enter the URL of the Countercyclical API endpoint from which this source will fetch data in the Set API URL field. This should be the complete URL including the protocol (https://) and any required path parameters.

    The Countercyclical API base URL follows the pattern https://api.countercyclical.io/v1/. Common endpoint paths include:

    • https://api.countercyclical.io/v1/investments — retrieves investment records
    • https://api.countercyclical.io/v1/valuations — retrieves valuation models
    • https://api.countercyclical.io/v1/memos — retrieves investment memos

    For a complete list of available API endpoints and their parameters, refer to the Countercyclical developer documentation. API access requires an Enterprise plan.

Date/Time Macros (API URL)

Optional

Optionally, the API URL can be customized using macros—all macros added to the API URL will be converted into values when Nexla executes the API call. Macros are dynamic placeholders that allow you to create flexible API endpoints that can adapt to different time periods or data requirements.

Date/time macros are useful when querying Countercyclical endpoints that support filtering by date ranges, such as retrieving only investments or memos created or updated within a specific time window.

  1. To add a macro, type { at the appropriate position in the API URL (within the Set API URL field), and select the desired macro from the dropdown list.

    • {now} – The current datetime
    • {now-1} – The datetime one time unit before the current datetime
    • {now+1} – The datetime one time unit after the current datetime
    • custom – Datetime macros can reference any number of time units before or after the current datetime—for example, enter (now-4) to indicate the datetime four time units before the current datetime
  2. Select the format that will be applied to datetime macros from the Date Format for Date/Time Macro pulldown menu. This format will be applied to the base datetime value of the macro—i.e., the value of {now} in {now-1}.

  3. Select the datetime unit that will be used to perform mathematical operations in the included macro(s) from the Time Unit for Operations pulldown menu—for example, for the macro {now-1}, when Day is selected, {now-1} will be converted to the datetime one day before the current datetime.

Lookup-Based Macros (API URL)

Optional

Column values from existing lookups can also be included as macros in the API URL. Lookup-based macros allow you to reference data from previously configured data sources or lookups, enabling dynamic API endpoints that can adapt based on existing data.

Lookup-based macros are useful when you need to create Countercyclical API endpoints that reference specific investment IDs or other parameter values retrieved from another Nexla data source.

  1. To include a lookup column value macro, select the relevant lookup from the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

  2. Type { at the appropriate position in the API URL, and select the lookup column-based macro from the dropdown list. Lookup-based macros are automatically populated into the macro list when a lookup is selected in the Add Lookups to Supported Macros pulldown menu.

Path to Data

Optional

If only a subset of the data that will be returned by the API endpoint is needed, you can designate the part(s) of the response that should be included in the Nexset(s) produced from this source by specifying the path to the relevant data within the response. This is particularly useful when Countercyclical API responses contain metadata, pagination information, or other data that you don't need for your analysis.

For example, when a request call is used to fetch a list of investments, the Countercyclical API will typically return an array of records along with metadata in the response. By entering the path to the relevant data, you can configure Nexla to treat each element of the returned array as a record.

Path to Data is essential when API responses have nested structures. Without specifying the correct path, Nexla might not be able to properly parse and organize your data into usable records.

  • To specify which data should be treated as relevant in responses from this source, enter the path to the relevant data in the Set Path to Data in Response field.

    • For responses in JSON format enter the JSON path that points to the object or array that should be treated as relevant data. JSON paths use dot notation (e.g., $.data.items[*] to access an array of items within a data object). For the Countercyclical API, the relevant data is typically found at $.data[*].

    • For responses in XML format, enter the XPath that points to the object/array containing relevant data.

    Path to Data Example:

    If the Countercyclical API response includes a top-level array named data that contains investment records, the path to the response data would be entered as $.data[*].

Autogenerate Path Suggestions

Nexla can also autogenerate data path suggestions based on the response from the API endpoint. These suggested paths can be used as-is or modified to exactly suit your needs.

  • To use this feature, click the Test button next to the Set API URL field to fetch a sample response from the API endpoint. Suggested data paths generated based on the content & format of the response will be displayed in the Suggestions box below the Set Path to Data in Response field.

  • Click on a suggestion to automatically populate the Set Path to Data in Response field with the corresponding path. The populated path can be modified directly within the field if further customization is needed.

    PathSuggestions.png

Metadata

If metadata is included in the response but is located outside of the defined path to relevant data, you can configure Nexla to include this data as common metadata in each record. This is useful when you want to preserve important contextual information that applies to all records but isn't part of the main data array.

For example, when fetching a list of investments from Countercyclical, the API response may include pagination metadata — such as total record counts or page tokens — alongside the primary investment data. By specifying a metadata path, you can preserve this contextual information with each record in the generated Nexset(s).

Metadata paths are particularly useful for preserving API response context like pagination state, request timestamps, or summary statistics that apply to all records in the response.

  • To specify the location of metadata that should be included with each record, enter the path to the relevant metadata in the Path to Metadata in Response field.

    • For responses in JSON format, enter the JSON path to the object or array that contains the metadata, and for responses in XML format, enter the XPath.

Request Headers

Optional
  • If Nexla should include any additional request headers in API calls to this source, enter the headers & corresponding values as comma-separated pairs in the Request Headers field (e.g., header1:value1,header2:value2). Additional headers may be required for API versioning or other custom request requirements specific to your Countercyclical configuration.

    You do not need to include the Authorization header in this field — it is automatically included by Nexla based on your Countercyclical credential configuration.

Endpoint Testing

After configuring all settings for the selected endpoint, Nexla can retrieve a sample of the data that will be fetched according to the current configuration. This allows users to verify that the source is configured correctly before saving.

  • To test the current endpoint configuration, click the Test button to the right of the endpoint selection menu. Sample data will be fetched & displayed in the Endpoint Test Result panel on the right.

  • If the sample data is not as expected, review the selected endpoint and associated settings, and make any necessary adjustments. Then, click the Test button again, and check the sample data to ensure that the correct information is displayed.

Save & Activate the Source

  1. Once all of the relevant steps in the above sections have been completed, click the Create button in the upper right corner of the screen to save and create the new Countercyclical data source. Nexla will now begin ingesting data from the configured endpoint and will organize any data that it finds into one or more Nexsets.