> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://tendrill.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Tendrill Works

> The simple flow from connecting your accounts to receiving personalized insights

## The Tendrill experience in 3 steps

Tendrill is designed to be effortlessly simple. Here's how it works from start to finish:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect your brokerage accounts">
    Link your investment accounts securely through Plaid. Tendrill builds a real-time model of your holdings across all your brokerages - stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and more.

    <Tip>You can connect multiple accounts from different brokerages. Tendrill aggregates everything into a single, unified view of your portfolio.</Tip>
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tendrill monitors everything">
    Once connected, Tendrill continuously watches your portfolio for important events:

    * **Earnings announcements** from companies you own
    * **Significant price movements** in your holdings
    * **Breaking news** that affects your positions
    * **Macro signals** like Fed decisions and economic data

    Everything is filtered for relevance to YOUR portfolio - no generic market noise.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Receive insights via text">
    When something important happens, Tendrill sends you a clear, actionable text message. You can also text Tendrill anytime with questions about your portfolio.

    All communication happens through SMS or iMessage - no app to download, no dashboard to check.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Visual overview

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Your Accounts" icon="building-columns">
    Fidelity, Schwab, Robinhood, E\*TRADE, and 10,000+ more
  </Card>

  <Card title="Tendrill" icon="brain">
    Monitors 24/7, analyzes news, tracks prices, watches events
  </Card>

  <Card title="Your Phone" icon="mobile">
    SMS/iMessage alerts like "NVDA is up 5% after earnings. Your gain: +\$2,400"
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What happens behind the scenes

### 1. Secure connection via Plaid

When you connect your brokerage, Tendrill uses Plaid - the same secure infrastructure used by Venmo, Coinbase, and thousands of financial apps. Here's what happens:

* You authenticate directly with your brokerage (Tendrill never sees your password)
* Plaid establishes a read-only connection to your account
* Only your holdings and positions are shared - we can't move money or make trades

<Info>
  **Read-only access only.** Tendrill can see your holdings but cannot execute trades, transfer funds, or modify your account in any way.
</Info>

### 2. Portfolio model creation

Once connected, Tendrill builds a comprehensive model of your portfolio:

| Data Point      | What We Track                     | Why It Matters              |
| --------------- | --------------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| **Holdings**    | Symbols, quantities, cost basis   | Understand your positions   |
| **Allocation**  | Sector weights, diversification   | Identify concentration risk |
| **Performance** | Gains/losses, daily changes       | Track how you're doing      |
| **Events**      | Earnings dates, ex-dividend dates | Know what's coming          |

### 3. Continuous monitoring

Tendrill's AI continuously scans for events relevant to your portfolio:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Market data" icon="chart-line">
    Real-time and delayed price feeds to track significant movements
  </Card>

  <Card title="News feeds" icon="newspaper">
    Thousands of sources analyzed for relevant company and sector news
  </Card>

  <Card title="Earnings calendar" icon="calendar">
    Upcoming and recent earnings reports for your holdings
  </Card>

  <Card title="SEC filings" icon="file-contract">
    Important filings like 10-Ks, 8-Ks, and insider transactions
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### 4. Intelligent filtering

Not every piece of news deserves your attention. Tendrill uses AI to:

* **Assess relevance** - Does this affect companies you own?
* **Calculate impact** - How much does this move the needle on your portfolio?
* **Determine urgency** - Is this something you need to know now?
* **Generate insights** - What does this mean for you specifically?

### 5. Personalized delivery

When something passes the relevance threshold, Tendrill crafts a personalized message:

> **Tendrill** - Today 2:15 PM
>
> Heads up: The Fed just held rates steady at 5.25-5.50%, as expected.
>
> **Your portfolio impact:**
>
> * Tech holdings (+1.2%): +\$890
> * REITs (+0.8%): +\$340
> * Total: +\$1,230 since announcement
>
> Rate-sensitive stocks typically benefit from rate pause signals. Your REIT exposure may see continued strength.

## Data freshness

| Data Type          | Update Frequency                    |
| ------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| Portfolio holdings | Synced daily (or on-demand refresh) |
| Stock prices       | Real-time during market hours       |
| News & events      | Continuous monitoring               |
| Earnings data      | Updated as reports are released     |

<Note>
  Brokerage data refreshes may take up to 24 hours depending on your institution. You can manually trigger a refresh anytime by texting "refresh my portfolio" to Tendrill.
</Note>

## The conversation loop

Tendrill isn't just one-way alerts. You can text back anytime:

> **You:** How's my portfolio doing today?
>
> **Tendrill:** Your portfolio is up \$1,847 (+0.8%) today.
>
> Top movers:
>
> * AAPL +\$620 (+1.4%)
> * MSFT +\$380 (+0.9%)
> * NVDA +\$290 (+0.6%)
>
> Your tech allocation (62%) is driving most of today's gains. Want a breakdown by sector?
>
> **You:** Yes please
>
> **Tendrill:** Here's your sector performance today:
>
> * Technology: +\$1,290 (+1.1%)
> * Healthcare: +\$340 (+0.6%)
> * Financials: +\$180 (+0.4%)
> * Energy: -\$63 (-0.2%)
>
> Your tech overweight is working well in this environment. Would you like to see how this compares to the S\&P 500?

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quick Start Guide" icon="rocket" href="/getting-started/quickstart">
    Get set up in under 5 minutes
  </Card>

  <Card title="Supported Brokerages" icon="building-columns" href="/getting-started/supported-brokerages">
    Check if your brokerage is supported
  </Card>
</CardGroup>