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

# Inputs

> Record your own values over time against a symbol.

An Input is a value you record yourself over time, such as a level, a reading or a note. Allocait stores what you record and states facts about it. It supplies no values of its own and gives no advice on what to record.

You define an Input once, then record values against it. A [playbook](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/playbooks.md) shows those values per date, and a [monitor](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/monitors.md) can read a level from one.

## Settings

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| Data type | `NUMBER`, `DECIMAL`, `PERCENTAGE`, `TEXT` or `CHOICE`. A [monitor](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/monitors.md) level needs a number, decimal or percentage. |
| Scope | `PORTFOLIO` (one value per date) or `SYMBOL` (one value per symbol and date). The default is `PORTFOLIO`. |
| Options | For `CHOICE` only: the whole list of allowed values, in order. A recorded value must be one of them, in any letter case. |
| Description | What the Input is and where its values come from. |
| Carry forward | On: a playbook shows the latest value on or before its date, for a level that holds until you change it. Default off. |
| Optional | On: its blank cells stay out of a playbook's `needs_input` list. Default off. |
| Emphasis | Your own rule for which change from the previous entry matters: `none`, `lower`, `higher`, `not_higher` or `not_lower`. Number Inputs only. |

The data type and scope can't change once values are recorded. Deleting an Input deletes its recorded values. Allocait takes it out of the playbooks and charts that use it, and refuses while a monitor uses it.

Emphasis is a statement about your rule, not a judgment. Allocait reports whether the latest change meets the rule you set. It doesn't call a change good or bad, and it sends nothing because of it. The app and the REST API set emphasis. An agent can read it but has no tool argument to change it.

## Recorded values

A recorded value belongs to one Input, one symbol (for `SYMBOL` scope) and one date. Recording the same Input, symbol and date again replaces the old value. A value of `null` deletes it.

One call names each Input, symbol and date once. A repeat in the same call is refused with `INVALID_INPUT`, and no entry in that call is saved. Send numbers as plain numbers (`220`, not `$220` or `5%`).

A value can be a name you track that isn't a security. See [Labels](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/labels.md).

## For agents

> [!NOTE]
>
> * `list_inputs` returns your Inputs. Name one Input to also get its recorded values, newest first, with optional `symbol`, `since` and `until` filters.
> * `save_input` and `delete_input` create, change and delete Inputs.
> * `record_input_values` records or deletes dated values, up to 500 in one call. If one entry is bad, none is saved.
>
> The `record_input_values` description and the server instructions tell an agent with no person present to record nothing and to list the values it would record in its brief. Allocait does not block the write. See [Run a scheduled brief](https://docs.allocait.app/guides/scheduled-brief.md). The [Claude tools reference](https://docs.allocait.app/claude/tools/inputs.md) lists every argument.

## Next steps

> [card] [Playbooks](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/playbooks.md)
>
> Read your recorded values per date.

> [card] [Monitors](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/monitors.md)
>
> Check a symbol's close against a level you recorded.

> [card] [Labels](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/labels.md)
>
> Names you keep research under.

> [card] [ALLOCAIT.md](https://docs.allocait.app/concepts/setup-file.md)
>
> Share Input definitions without values.


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