Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server

What is Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server about?

Offers a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes the entire FRED catalog (800,000+ series) through three powerful tools: fred_browse, fred_search, and fred_get_series. Users can explore categories, locate series by keywords or tags, and pull observations with custom aggregation, frequency, and transformation options.

How to use Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server?

1. Install the package (preferably via npx):

   npx -y fred-mcp-server
   

2. Provide an API key from the FRED website by setting the environment variable FRED_API_KEY.
3. Configure the MCP server in the client (e.g., Claude Desktop) to point to the installed package.
4. Invoke the tools with the required parameters in your MCP‑compatible client.

Key features of Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server

• Three dedicated tools covering catalog browsing, keyword/tag search, and series retrieval.
• Rich parameter support: pagination, ordering, filtering by frequency, units, seasonal adjustment, and more.
• Data transformations such as percent change, logarithmic scale, and compounded annual rates.
• Flexible date range and aggregation (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual).
• Open‑source AGPL‑3.0 license with commercial licensing options.

Use cases of Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server

• Building economic dashboards that pull real‑time indicators like GDP, unemployment, or inflation.
• Conducting macro‑economic research that requires bulk retrieval of historical series.
• Feeding financial models or AI agents with up‑to‑date macro data.
• Automating report generation for analysts who need to filter series by tags or frequency.
• Integrating FRED data into chat‑based assistants or decision‑support tools.

FAQ from the Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server

Q: Do I need a FRED API key? A: Yes. Obtain one from the FRED website and set FRED_API_KEY in the environment.

Q: Which package manager should I use? A: The documentation recommends pnpm for manual installation, but the server can be started directly with npx for quick setup.

Q: How many results can I request at once? A: Each tool supports a limit parameter (default 25‑50) and offset for pagination.

Q: Can I change the data frequency? A: Yes. Use the frequency parameter (d, w, m, q, a).

Q: Is the server compatible with Claude Desktop? A: Absolutely. The README includes a sample claude_desktop_config.json configuration.

Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP Server

[!IMPORTANT] Disclaimer: This open-source project is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Federal Reserve or the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. "FRED" is a registered trademark of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, used here for descriptive purposes only.

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server providing universal access to all 800,000+ Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED®) time series through three powerful tools.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/66c7f3ad-7b0e-4930-b1c5-a675a7eb1e09

[!TIP] If you use this project in your research or work, please cite it using the CITATION.cff file, or the APA format below:

Amorelli, S. (2025). Federal Reserve Economic Data MCP (Model Context Protocol) Server [Computer software]. GitHub. https://github.com/stefanoamorelli/fred-mcp-server

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install Federal Reserve Economic Data Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @stefanoamorelli/fred-mcp-server --client claude

Manual Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/stefanoamorelli/fred-mcp-server.git
   cd fred-mcp-server
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pnpm install
   

3. Build the project:

   pnpm build
   

Configuration

This server requires a FRED® API key. You can obtain one from the FRED® website.

Install the server, for example, on Claude Desktop, modify the claude_desktop_config.json file and add the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "FRED MCP Server": {
      "command": "/usr/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "<PATH_TO_YOUR_CLONED_REPO>/fred-mcp-server/build/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "FRED_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

This MCP server provides three comprehensive tools to access all 800,000+ FRED® economic data series:

fred_browse

Description: Browse FRED's complete catalog through categories, releases, or sources.

Parameters:

• browse_type (required): Type of browsing - "categories", "releases", "sources", "category_series", "release_series"
• category_id (optional): Category ID for browsing subcategories or series within a category
• release_id (optional): Release ID for browsing series within a release
• limit (optional): Maximum number of results (default: 50)
• offset (optional): Number of results to skip for pagination
• order_by (optional): Field to order results by
• sort_order (optional): "asc" or "desc"

fred_search

Description: Search for FRED economic data series by keywords, tags, or filters.

Parameters:

• search_text (optional): Text to search for in series titles and descriptions
• search_type (optional): "full_text" or "series_id"
• tag_names (optional): Comma-separated list of tag names to filter by
• exclude_tag_names (optional): Comma-separated list of tag names to exclude
• limit (optional): Maximum number of results (default: 25)
• offset (optional): Number of results to skip for pagination
• order_by (optional): Field to order by (e.g., "popularity", "last_updated")
• sort_order (optional): "asc" or "desc"
• filter_variable (optional): Filter by "frequency", "units", or "seasonal_adjustment"
• filter_value (optional): Value to filter the variable by

fred_get_series

Description: Retrieve data for any FRED series by its ID with support for transformations and date ranges.

Parameters:

• series_id (required): The FRED series ID (e.g., "GDP", "UNRATE", "CPIAUCSL")
• observation_start (optional): Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format
• observation_end (optional): End date in YYYY-MM-DD format
• limit (optional): Maximum number of observations
• offset (optional): Number of observations to skip
• sort_order (optional): "asc" or "desc"
• units (optional): Data transformation:
  • "lin" (levels/no transformation)
  • "chg" (change from previous period)
  • "ch1" (change from year ago)
  • "pch" (percent change)
  • "pc1" (percent change from year ago)
  • "pca" (compounded annual rate of change)
  • "cch" (continuously compounded rate of change)
  • "log" (natural log)
• frequency (optional): Frequency aggregation ("d", "w", "m", "q", "a")
• aggregation_method (optional): "avg" (average), "sum", or "eop" (end of period)

Example Usage

With these three tools, you can:

• Browse all economic categories and discover available data
• Search for specific indicators by keywords or tags
• Retrieve any of the 800,000+ series with custom transformations
• Access real-time economic data including GDP, unemployment, inflation, interest rates, and more

Testing

See TESTING.md for more details.

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run specific tests
pnpm test:registry

License ⚖️

This open-source project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0). This means:

• You can use, modify, and distribute this software
• If you modify and distribute it, you must release your changes under AGPL-3.0
• If you run a modified version on a server, you must provide the source code to users
• See the LICENSE file for full details

For commercial licensing options or other licensing inquiries, please contact stefano@amorelli.tech.

© 2025 Stefano Amorelli