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

# Introduction

> Introduction to Polaris, a market data platform for discovering, downloading, and querying frontier market datasets.

Polaris is a market data platform for frontier venues across crypto derivatives, RWAs, and compute markets. It gives you one place to discover supported venues, inspect exact market identifiers, download historical files, and query recent market activity without rebuilding venue-specific ingestion from scratch.

## What Polaris is

Use Polaris when you need to:

* Discover which venues, markets, and time ranges are available right now.
* Download historical snapshot files for bulk research and ingestion.
* Query recent trades, events, and OHLCV bars over REST.
* Inspect raw venue-native payloads when replayability matters.
* Reuse the same access model across the CLI, REST API, and SDKs.

## Why teams use Polaris

Most market data work breaks down at the venue layer. Every venue has its own identifiers, timestamp conventions, payload shapes, and quirks around history. Polaris gives you one place to:

* Browse coverage before you build.
* Start with public access, then add authentication only when you need more.
* Choose the right surface for the job: CLI, snapshots, REST, raw payloads, or SDKs.
* Move between venues without rewriting your entire parsing pipeline.

## Choose your path

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Install the Polaris CLI, open the TUI, and download your first dataset.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Market Coverage" icon="git-branch" href="/markets/market-coverage">
    Browse supported venues, preview and open access tiers, and example market IDs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Authentication" icon="key-round" href="/guides/authentication">
    Learn when public access is enough and when bearer auth actually matters.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Catalog" icon="database" href="/reference/catalog">
    Discover supported venues, exact market IDs, and available time bounds.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Snapshots" icon="download" href="/reference/snapshots">
    List and download canonical historical files for standardized datasets.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Python SDK" icon="code" href="/sdks/python">
    Use `polaris_data` to discover markets, fetch datasets, and replay data locally.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Recommended first path

1. Start with [Quickstart](/quickstart) if you want the fastest route to first data.
2. Open [Market Coverage](/markets/market-coverage) to browse supported venues and their access tiers.
3. Use [Catalog](/reference/catalog) to confirm exact `source` and `market` pairs.
4. Branch into [Snapshots](/reference/snapshots), the [API Overview](/reference/api-reference), or the [Python SDK](/sdks/python) once you know the workflow you need.

## Typical workflows

* Use the CLI when you want the fastest path to browsing and downloading data.
* Use snapshots when you need bulk historical files for research, backfills, or ingestion.
* Use REST when you want recent trades, events, or OHLCV bars on demand.
* Use raw payloads when you need venue-native fields for replay or validation.
* Use the Python SDK when you want a notebook or local analysis workflow.

## Support and resources

* Use [Market Coverage](/markets/market-coverage) for a live high-level view of currently listed venues.
* Use [Example Notebooks](/guides/jupyter-notebook-quickstart) if you want a notebook-first Python workflow.
* Use [Authentication](/guides/authentication) when you need explicit historical ranges or access beyond the public window.