# FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) MCP Server

Access economic data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - one of the most comprehensive economic databases with 800,000+ time series.

## Data Available

- **Interest Rates** - Federal funds rate, Treasury yields, mortgage rates
- **GDP & Growth** - Real/nominal GDP, growth rates
- **Employment** - Unemployment rates, payrolls, labor force
- **Inflation** - CPI, PCE, inflation expectations
- **Housing** - Home prices, housing starts, mortgage rates
- **Financial Markets** - Stock indices, exchange rates, money supply
- **State/Regional** - State-level unemployment, income, GDP

## Setup

1. Get a free API key at: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
2. Add to your MCP config:

```json
{
  "fred": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["/path/to/fred/dist/index.js"],
    "env": {
      "FRED_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
    }
  }
}
```

## Tools

### `get_series`
Get time series data for a FRED series ID.

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| seriesId | Yes | FRED series ID (e.g., "GDP", "UNRATE") |
| startDate | No | Start date YYYY-MM-DD |
| endDate | No | End date YYYY-MM-DD |
| limit | No | Max observations (default 100) |
| sort | No | "asc" or "desc" (default: desc - most recent first) |

**Example:** Get recent GDP data
```
seriesId: "GDP"
limit: 20
```

### `search_series`
Search for FRED series by keywords.

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| query | Yes | Search keywords (e.g., "unemployment california") |
| limit | No | Max results (default 20) |

**Example:** Find retail sales series
```
query: "retail sales"
limit: 10
```

### `get_series_info`
Get metadata about a series (title, units, frequency, notes).

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| seriesId | Yes | FRED series ID |

### `list_popular`
List commonly used FRED series IDs with descriptions.

**Returns:** Popular series for GDP, unemployment, interest rates, inflation, etc.

### `get_category_series`
Get all series in a FRED category.

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| categoryId | Yes | Category ID (e.g., 32991 for GDP) |
| limit | No | Max results (default 50) |

### `get_releases`
Get recent data releases (useful for finding fresh data).

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| limit | No | Max results (default 20) |

### `get_state_data`
Shortcut for common state-level economic data.

| Parameter | Required | Description |
|-----------|----------|-------------|
| stateAbbr | Yes | State abbreviation (e.g., "CA", "TX") |
| metric | Yes | "unemployment", "income", "population", "gdp" |

**Example:** Get California unemployment
```
stateAbbr: "CA"
metric: "unemployment"
```

## Popular Series IDs

| Series ID | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| GDP | Gross Domestic Product |
| GDPC1 | Real GDP |
| UNRATE | Unemployment Rate |
| CPIAUCSL | Consumer Price Index |
| FEDFUNDS | Federal Funds Rate |
| DGS10 | 10-Year Treasury Rate |
| MORTGAGE30US | 30-Year Mortgage Rate |
| SP500 | S&P 500 Index |
| DEXUSEU | USD/EUR Exchange Rate |
| HOUST | Housing Starts |
| RSXFS | Retail Sales |
| PAYEMS | Total Nonfarm Payrolls |

## Rate Limits

- 120 requests per minute

## Documentation

- API Documentation: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- Series Search: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/