# abs-mcp

mcp-name: io.ausdata/abs-mcp

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**Ask Claude about the Australian economy and get real, current numbers** — not "I don't have access to that data." This MCP server gives Claude (and other MCP clients like Cursor) live access to the [ABS Data API](https://data.api.abs.gov.au/), with curated mappings for the 10 most-asked Australian economic indicators.

> **Hosted access?** For cross-source queries, webhooks, an always-on REST API, and a uniform response envelope across all 9 sources, see **[ausdata.io](https://ausdata.io)** — free tier available (500 calls/mo, no card).

![abs-mcp answering "What's the unemployment rate in NSW?" in Claude Desktop](docs/demo.png)

Behind the scenes it wraps SDMX 2.1, but you never see SDMX codes — just plain-English filters like `region: "nsw"` and `measure: "unemployment_rate"`. Five tools, ten curated dataflows (Labour Force, CPI, Wage Price Index, Job Vacancies, Average Weekly Earnings, GDP / National Accounts, quarterly + annual Estimated Resident Population, Building Approvals, Lending Indicators), and 1,200+ other ABS dataflows accessible via raw codes.

Companion to [rba-mcp](https://github.com/Bigred97/rba-mcp) (Reserve Bank of Australia — cash rate, FX, lending rates), [ato-mcp](https://github.com/Bigred97/ato-mcp) (Australian Taxation Office — postcode-level personal tax, company tax by industry, corporate tax transparency, ACNC charity register), and [au-weather-mcp](https://github.com/Bigred97/au-weather-mcp) (Australian weather — 21 curated locations + postcode/place-name lookup, current observations, 16-day forecasts, 80yr historical archive). Install all four for the full AU macro / regulator / tax / climate stack.

## What you can ask

Once installed, your LLM can answer questions like:

| Question | Real response (verified) |
|---|---|
| What's the unemployment rate in NSW? | **4.27%** (Mar 2026) |
| AU annual CPI inflation? | **4.60%** (Mar 2026) |
| AU annual wage growth? | **3.40%** (Q4 2025) |
| Average weekly earnings in Australia? | **$1,562** (Sep–Oct 2025) |
| AU GDP quarterly growth? | **0.80%** (Q4 2025) |
| AU GDP per capita? | **$24,900/qtr** (Q4 2025) |
| Job vacancies in NSW? | **101,200** (Q1 2026) |
| Dwelling approvals in NSW? | **4,400/month** (Mar 2026) |
| New NSW housing loan commitments? | **$19.7B** (Q4 2025) |
| Quarterly population of Australia? | **27.7M** (Q3 2025) |

Every answer comes with the period, units, and a link back to the ABS source page. Comparisons and time-series queries work just as well — see [Worked examples](#worked-examples) below.

## Install

```bash
# After publish:
uvx --upgrade abs-mcp

# Local dev install:
uv pip install -e .
```

### Claude Desktop

Add to `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--upgrade", "abs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

> **Why `--upgrade`?** `uvx abs-mcp` (without the flag) uses whatever wheel is cached and never adopts new PyPI releases on its own — Claude Desktop's MCP child process keeps running the same wheel until you fully quit the app and refresh the cache by hand. `--upgrade` makes uvx check PyPI on each launch and pull a newer release if one exists. To verify which version is currently serving you, look at the `server_version` field on any `DataResponse` (added in 0.2.10).

For a local checkout (before PyPI publish):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abs": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/absolute/path/to/abs-mcp", "abs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

Restart Claude Desktop. The `abs` server appears in the tools panel with five tools.

### Cursor

Add to `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (or workspace `.cursor/mcp.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--upgrade", "abs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

## Tools

| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| `search_datasets(query, limit=10)` | Fuzzy-search ABS dataflow names. Returns the top matches. |
| `describe_dataset(dataset_id)` | Plain-English description of a dataflow's dimensions and values. |
| `get_data(dataset_id, filters, start_period, end_period, format)` | Query a dataflow with filters. Returns clean records (default), grouped series, or CSV. |
| `latest(dataset_id, filters)` | Just the most recent observation(s) — wraps `get_data` with `lastNObservations=1`. |
| `top_n(dataset_id, measure, n=10, filters=None, direction="top")` | Rank rows of a curated dataflow by a measure (e.g. `unemployment_rate`) at the most-recent period and return the top (or bottom) N. |
| `list_curated()` | The ten dataflow IDs that have hand-curated plain-English support. |

## Curated dataflows

For these curated dataflows, `filters` accepts plain-English values (e.g. `"region": "nsw"` instead of `"REGION": "1"`):

- **LF** — Labour Force, monthly: employment, unemployment, participation by state/sex
- **CPI** — Consumer Price Index, quarterly inflation (cat 6401.0 — the headline rate)
- **CPI_MONTHLY** — Monthly CPI Indicator (cat 6484.0), full sub-category and per-city breakdown
- **WPI** — Wage Price Index, quarterly wage growth by industry/sector/state
- **PPI_FD** — Producer Price Index Final Demand, quarterly producer inflation
- **JV** — Job Vacancies, quarterly labour demand by industry/sector/state
- **AWE** — Average Weekly Earnings, half-yearly by industry/sector/state
- **ANA_AGG** — National Accounts: GDP, GDP per capita, terms of trade, real income (Australia, quarterly)
- **ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_ASGS2021** — Estimated Resident Population, annual by state and sub-state geography
- **ERP_Q** — Quarterly Estimated Resident Population, by state/sex/age
- **BUILDING_APPROVALS** — Building Approvals (cat 8731.0), monthly by state/capital region, building type (houses / townhouses / apartments / total dwellings / non-residential) and measure (number / value). The property-economist "Building Index" series.
- **BA_GCCSA** — Building Approvals, monthly by state/capital region and building type (raw GCCSA dimension surface; `BUILDING_APPROVALS` is the cleaner alias)
- **BA_LGA2024** — Building Approvals at the **council (Local Government Area) level**, monthly, ~570 councils — far more granular than BA_GCCSA's 8-capital geography. Pass `region=` an LGA code (e.g. `"10050"` Albury, `"22750"` Greater Geelong, `"31000"` Brisbane) for council-by-council approvals; defaults to Brisbane. Council-level only — for state / national totals use `BUILDING_APPROVALS`. Resolves to ABS's current `BA_LGA2025` SDMX dataflow so the series stays live.
- **BUILDING_ACTIVITY** — Building Activity (cat 8752.0), quarterly dwelling units **completed** / commenced / under construction plus value of work, by state and building type. The trailing-reality counterpart to `BUILDING_APPROVALS` — pair the two for approvals-vs-completions, and add `NOM` for the supply-vs-migration story.
- **NOM** — Net Overseas Migration (cat 3412.0), financial-year arrivals/departures/**net** by state and age. The dominant rents-vs-migration series; publishes the headline net figure to the latest FY.
- **ABS_NOM_VISA_CY** — NOM by visa subclass (calendar year, student / skilled / working holiday / permanent streams)
- **LEND_HOUSING** — Lending Indicators, quarterly new housing loan commitments by purpose, lender, and state
- **HSI_M** — Monthly Household Spending Indicator (ABS-blessed retail-trade replacement), COICOP category × discretionary × state
- **RT** — Retail Trade (43-year historical series, ceased Jul 2025)
- **C21_G01_POA / C21_G02_POA / C21_G02_SA2** — Census 2021 selected characteristics and medians by postcode / SA2

Any other ABS dataflow still works — pass raw SDMX dimension IDs and codes.

## Worked examples

> **Cross-source compatibility.** All location filters accept canonical state
> codes (`"NSW"`), full names (`"New South Wales"`), case-insensitive
> variants (`"nsw"`), ISO 3166-2 (`"AU-NSW"`), and 4-digit postcodes
> (`"2000"` → NSW). Powered by [`aus-identity`](https://pypi.org/project/aus-identity/) —
> the same input format works across abs-mcp, ato-mcp, apra-mcp, aihw-mcp,
> and asic-mcp.

**"What's the current unemployment rate in NSW?"**

Claude calls:
```
latest(dataset_id="LF", filters={"region": "nsw", "measure": "unemployment_rate"})
```

Returns:
```json
{
  "dataset_id": "LF",
  "dataset_name": "Labour Force",
  "query": {"region": "nsw", "measure": "unemployment_rate"},
  "period": {"start": "2026-03", "end": "2026-03"},
  "unit": "Percent",
  "records": [
    {
      "period": "2026-03",
      "value": 4.27,
      "dimensions": {"measure": "Unemployment rate", "region": "New South Wales", "sex": "Persons"},
      "unit": "Percent"
    }
  ],
  "source": "Australian Bureau of Statistics",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-05-11T03:14:22Z",
  "abs_url": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia"
}
```

**"Show me NSW housing approvals over the last two years"**

```
get_data(dataset_id="BA_GCCSA", filters={"region": "nsw", "measure": "dwelling_units"}, start_period="2024")
```

**"Compare monthly CPI inflation in Sydney vs Melbourne"**

```
get_data(dataset_id="CPI_MONTHLY", filters={"region": ["sydney", "melbourne"], "measure": "change_year"}, start_period="2023")
```

(`CPI` itself publishes only the national weighted average at quarterly cadence; the monthly indicator carries per-city series.)

## Period formats

ABS uses different period formats per dataflow. Pass `start_period` / `end_period` in the matching format:

| Dataflows | Frequency | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| LF, BA_GCCSA, BUILDING_APPROVALS | Monthly | `YYYY-MM` | `"2026-03"` |
| BUILDING_ACTIVITY | Quarterly | `YYYY-Qn` | `"2025-Q4"` |
| CPI, WPI, PPI_FD, JV, ANA_AGG, LEND_HOUSING, ERP_Q | Quarterly | `YYYY-Q*` | `"2025-Q4"` |
| CPI_MONTHLY, HSI_M | Monthly | `YYYY-MM` | `"2025-12"` |
| AWE | Half-yearly | `YYYY-S*` | `"2025-S2"` |
| NOM (financial year), ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_ASGS2021 | Annual | `YYYY` | `"2025"` |

## Verifying your install

The running MCP server reports its version on every `DataResponse`:

```json
{ ..., "server_version": "0.2.11", ... }
```

If you see a value below the [latest on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/abs-mcp/), your `uvx` cache is stale. Either switch to `["--upgrade", "abs-mcp"]` in your config (recommended), or refresh manually:

```bash
uvx --refresh abs-mcp --help
# Then fully quit and relaunch Claude Desktop (Cmd+Q — window-close is not enough).
```

Claude Desktop's MCP child processes are long-lived; refreshing the wheel cache does **not** restart an already-running server. Cold app launch is required.

## Development

```bash
git clone https://github.com/Bigred97/abs-mcp.git
cd abs-mcp
uv sync --extra dev
uv pip install -e .

# Unit tests (no network)
uv run pytest

# Live integration tests (hits real ABS API)
uv run pytest -m live
```

The SQLite cache lives at `~/.abs-mcp/cache.db`. Catalogue refreshes every 24h, codelists every 7 days, data responses every hour, latest 15 minutes. Delete the file to force a refresh.

## How it works

When you ask Claude an ABS question, it picks the right tool, fills in the curated filters, and calls the live ABS API. You see the reasoning + tool call inline:

![Claude reasoning + tool call panel](docs/tool-call.png)

Claude does the picking; this server does the SDMX translation, unit attribution, and clean response shaping. You don't have to know what `M13.3.1599.20.1.M` means — and neither does Claude.

## How it differs from existing ABS MCP servers

The one existing community option (`seansoreilly/abs`) exposes a single `query_dataset` tool that passes raw SDMX through. This package offers semantic tools and curated mappings for the highest-value dataflows so an LLM can answer real questions without you needing to know what `M13.3.1599.20.1.M` means.

## Sister MCPs (Australian Public Data portfolio)

> **Want all 9 sources behind one REST API?** The hosted gateway at **[ausdata.io](https://ausdata.io)** adds cross-source joins, full history, webhooks, and HMAC-signed responses on top of these MCPs — free tier (500 calls/mo, no card).

- **abs-mcp** — this one. Australian Bureau of Statistics (CPI, unemployment, ERP, building approvals)
- [rba-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/rba-mcp/) — Reserve Bank of Australia (cash rate, lending stats, exchange rates)
- [ato-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/ato-mcp/) — Australian Taxation Office (tax stats, ACNC charities)
- [apra-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/apra-mcp/) — Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (banking, insurance, super)
- [aihw-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/aihw-mcp/) — Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
- [asic-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/asic-mcp/) — Australian Securities and Investments Commission (company registers)
- [aemo-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/aemo-mcp/) — Australian Energy Market Operator (NEM dispatch, spot prices, generation)
- [au-weather-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/au-weather-mcp/) — Open-Meteo (Bureau of Meteorology aggregator)
- [wgea-mcp](https://pypi.org/project/wgea-mcp/) — Workplace Gender Equality Agency
- [aus-identity](https://pypi.org/project/aus-identity/) — Postcode / state / ABN normalisation helper used by all sisters

## Changelog

See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for release history.

## License

MIT — Harry Vass, 2026.