External data overview

Indicators normally work with market data that the platform provides. External data sources let an indicator also use data you bring yourself: your own candle series, trading signals, ML model outputs, risk factors or any other time-stamped values. You publish the data yourself — as a CSV file at a public HTTPS URL, or as a live feed server — and declare it in the indicator code with a source descriptor:

from indie.data import sources

sources.Csv('https://example.com/data.csv')            # a file: frozen history
sources.DataFeed('wss://feeds.example.com/signal')     # a live feed: records as they happen

TakeProfit servers fetch and validate the data and deliver its rows to your indicator. The Indie code itself never performs any network or file I/O — it only declares the dependency and reads ready-made values, the same way it reads market data. A CSV is a snapshot: fetched once, frozen, right for backtests and reproducible runs. A feed is live: records keep arriving while the indicator runs, and the recent past is filled in on a best-effort basis. See Live data from a feed.

Three ways to use external data

What you write depends on what is in the file:

If the file contains OHLCV candles, write a @sec_context callback and attach it with Context.calc_on(source=...), the same way you attach an additional instrument. See External candles from CSV.
If the rows have their own shape and each row needs processing, describe the row with a @dataclass and write a @data_context callback for Context.calc_on(source=...). See Typed external data.
If you only need the latest row value on each chart bar, skip the callback and read the rows directly with request_series[T](source=...).

A live feed uses the same typed model: declare it with sources.DataFeed and process the records with @data_context or request_series. Feeds have no candle mode and no time frame. See Live data from a feed.

Quick example

This indicator plots the daily close prices from an external candle CSV on any chart:

External candle close

# indie:lang_version = 5
from indie import indicator, sec_context, MainContext, TimeFrame
from indie.data import sources

@sec_context
def ExternalCandles(self):
    return self.close[0]

@indicator('External candle close')
class Main(MainContext):
    def __init__(self):
        self._ext_close = self.calc_on(
            ExternalCandles,
            time_frame=TimeFrame.from_str('1D'),
            source=sources.Csv('https://example.com/candles.csv'))

    def calc(self):
        return self._ext_close[0]

A CSV file is a snapshot

The file is fetched once, when the indicator instance is created. After that the data is frozen: the indicator works with the file’s history and receives no live updates, even if the file changes on your server. To pick up a new version, re-add the indicator to the chart. A cached copy may be served for up to about 10 minutes after the previous fetch.

The platform does not archive your file. If it changes, the next run of the indicator or backtest can see different data. Keep a stable copy of the file if you need reproducible backtests.

Rules common to all external sources

External sources count toward the same limit as additional instruments requested with Context.calc_on(). Identical requests are counted once. For a CSV, a request that differs in URL, time_column, time frame or lookahead counts as a separate instrument; for a feed, one that differs in URL or stale_after does.
The time frame belongs to the call site, not to the file: you pass time_frame= to Context.calc_on() or request_series(). For candle CSVs it is required, for typed data it is optional, and tick time frames are not supported. Feeds take no time frame at all.
The source must be publicly reachable over a secure scheme with a valid certificate; authentication headers cannot be sent. See CSV format and limits for file requirements and the error reference, and Feed protocol and limits for feed server requirements.

Indicators that use external data sources cannot be published to the TakeProfit marketplace.

The platform’s own TPO profiles are read through a source descriptor too, but they are internal data: none of the rules on this page apply to sources.Tpo, and an indicator that uses only TPO can be published like any other.

​Three ways to use external data

​Quick example

​A CSV file is a snapshot

​Rules common to all external sources

Three ways to use external data

Quick example

A CSV file is a snapshot

Rules common to all external sources