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Microburbs Australian Property Data

by au.com.microburbs
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Economics · CPI history

economics_cpi
Read-onlyIdempotent

Consumer Price Index: the index number with its period and annual % change, one row per quarter or month. Covers all groups, the underlying measures (trimmed mean, weighted median), the 11 expenditure groups, and the housing components property people ask about — rents, new dwellings, property rates, maintenance, utilities, electricity and insurance — for the eight capitals and Australia.

Coverage follows the published CPI: quarterly is national for every item (all groups from 1948) plus all groups for each capital; monthly has every item for Australia and each capital (most from 2024; rents from 2022; new dwellings and property rates from 2017). A combination the publisher does not publish returns available: false.

Price: 2¢ per call.

Tool call template

This tool declares no required parameters. Add optional parameters from the input schema as needed.

{
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "arguments": {},
    "name": "economics_cpi"
  }
}

Input Schema

NameRequiredDescriptionDefault
toNoEnd of range (inclusive), same formats as `from`.
fromNoStart of range (inclusive): 2020-Q1, 2020-01, 2020-01-15 or 2020.
itemNoOne of: all-groups, trimmed-mean, weighted-median, excluding-housing, excluding-volatile-items, tradables, non-tradables, food, alcohol-tobacco, clothing-footwear, housing, furnishings-household, health, transport, communication, recreation-culture, education, insurance-financial, rents, new-dwellings, property-rates, dwelling-maintenance, utilities, electricity, insurance.all-groups
regionNoOne of: australia, sydney, melbourne, brisbane, adelaide, perth, hobart, darwin, canberra.australia
frequencyNoquarterly (from 1948) or monthly (from 2024).quarterly
seasonally_adjustedNoSeasonally adjusted where the publisher issues it (mostly national). Trimmed mean and weighted median are only published seasonally adjusted.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

  1. Changed1 schema field changed
    • changedInput schema / properties / seasonally_adjusted / description
      Previous value: -"Seasonally adjusted where the ABS publishes it (mostly national). Trimmed mean and weighted median are only published seasonally adjusted."New value: +"Seasonally adjusted where the publisher issues it (mostly national). Trimmed mean and weighted median are only published seasonally adjusted."
  2. Added

TDQS

A3.7/5.0
Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Well beyond the annotations, the description discloses per-call cost (2¢), the exact coverage matrix with start dates per series, and the failure behavior (`available: false`) for unpublished combinations. Annotations already cover the read-only/idempotent safety profile; the remaining gap is that nothing is said about result volume or row limits across a range spanning back to 1948.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded with what the tool returns, then coverage, then cost — a sensible ordering with no filler sentences. The second paragraph is dense (three clauses of date ranges) but each clause carries actionable availability information.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness4/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

With no output schema, the description does the necessary work by describing the row shape (index number, period, annual % change) and the `available: false` case. What remains unspecified is response size or truncation behavior for very long ranges, which matters for a series starting in 1948.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so the schema already documents every parameter including date formats and enumerations. The description reinforces the domain meaning of `item` (trimmed mean, weighted median, 11 expenditure groups, housing components) and of `frequency`/`region` start dates, adding modest value over the schema's own enumerated lists.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose4/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

The description states a specific resource (Consumer Price Index series) and precisely what each row contains: index number, period, and annual % change. It distinguishes itself from economics_cpi_latest by implying a range-based history, but it never names its siblings (economics_cpi_latest, economics_cpi_adjust, economics_series_history), so the differentiation must be inferred.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines3/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

The coverage paragraph effectively tells the agent which region/item/frequency combinations are publishable and that unavailable combinations return `available: false`, which is useful pre-call context. However, there is no explicit when-to-use guidance and no routing to economics_cpi_latest for the current reading or economics_cpi_adjust for deflating values, leaving sibling selection to inference.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

All Microburbs Australian Property Data toolsInspect
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