portfolio-manager

What you need first

Required: Alpaca Account and MCP Server

This skill requires:

1. Alpaca Brokerage Account (paper or live)

• Sign up: https://alpaca.markets/
• Paper trading account (free, simulated money) recommended for testing

1. Alpaca MCP Server configured in Claude

• Provides access to portfolio positions via MCP tools
• Setup guide: references/alpaca-mcp-setup.md

1. API Credentials (API Key ID and Secret Key)

• Generate in Alpaca dashboard
• Set environment variables:

     export ALPACA_API_KEY="your_api_key_id"
     export ALPACA_SECRET_KEY="your_secret_key"
     export ALPACA_PAPER="true"  # or "false" for live trading

Optional: Manual Data Entry

If Alpaca MCP Server is unavailable, you can provide portfolio data manually via CSV:

symbol,quantity,cost_basis,current_price
AAPL,100,150.00,175.50
MSFT,50,280.00,310.25

Mistakes to avoid

"Alpaca MCP Server not connected"

Solutions:

1. Verify MCP server is running (claude mcp status if available)
2. Check environment variables are set: echo $ALPACA_API_KEY
3. Restart Claude to reinitialize MCP servers
4. Verify API keys in Alpaca dashboard
5. See references/alpaca-mcp-setup.md for detailed setup

"Invalid API credentials"

Solutions:

1. Verify API Key ID and Secret Key (no typos, spaces)
2. Check ALPACA_PAPER setting matches your keys (paper vs live)
3. Regenerate API keys in Alpaca dashboard
4. Ensure account status is active

"No positions found"

Solutions:

1. Verify positions exist in Alpaca dashboard
2. Confirm you're checking correct account (paper vs live)
3. Check account number matches
4. Try refreshing: ask Claude to fetch positions again

Report seems inaccurate

Solutions:

1. Verify Alpaca data is current (check Alpaca dashboard)
2. Check if market data is delayed (free tier is 15-min delayed)
3. Manually verify a few key positions
4. Report discrepancies to improve analysis