{
  "markdown": "# FRED — Federal Reserve Economic Data\n\nThe St. Louis Fed's data warehouse: 800,000+ economic time series spanning interest rates, inflation, employment, GDP, money supply, exchange rates, and metro-level indicators. The most authoritative, continuously updated source for US macro and monetary data — used by economists, policymakers, and journalists.\n\nPart of [Pipeworx](https://pipeworx.io) — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1476+ live data sources.\n\n## Why this matters for AI agents\n\nMost \"what is the current X\" macro questions resolve to a FRED series. An agent that knows the series ID can answer with the actual current value, not a training-data snapshot. Common ones:\n\n- 30-year mortgage rate → `MORTGAGE30US`\n- Federal funds rate → `DFF`\n- CPI (all items) → `CPIAUCSL`\n- Unemployment rate → `UNRATE`\n- 10-year treasury yield → `DGS10`\n- Housing starts → `HOUST`\n- Case-Shiller home price index → `CSUSHPISA`\n\nIf your agent is answering a question about US macroeconomic state, the right pattern is `fred_search` (find the right series) → `fred_series_info` (confirm units and frequency) → `fred_get_series` (get the values).\n\n## Auth\n\nFRED requires an API key. It's free at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html — takes 30 seconds, no payment, no rate-limit terror.\n\nPass via `_apiKey` per call:\n\n```js\nfred_get_series({\n  series_id: \"MORTGAGE30US\",\n  _apiKey: \"your-fred-api-key\"\n})\n```\n\nOr subscribe to the [Housing Vertical](/docs/concepts/verticals) which manages the key for you.\n\n## Update cadence\n\n| Series class | Update frequency |\n|---|---|\n| Daily series (rates, exchange rates) | Daily, ~1 business day lag |\n| Weekly (mortgage rates) | Weekly, Thursday |\n| Monthly (CPI, unemployment, retail sales) | Monthly, ~2-3 weeks after month end |\n| Quarterly (GDP) | Quarterly, ~1 month after quarter end |\n\nPipeworx caches FRED responses with TTLs matching these cadences — see [caching and freshness](/docs/concepts/caching-and-freshness).\n\n## Citable URI\n\nEmbed in your output for stable citations:\n\n```\npipeworx://fred/series/{series_id}\npipeworx://fred/series/{series_id}/observations\n```\n\nOther agents (and `resources/read`) can resolve these to the current value of the series.\n\n## Common pitfalls\n\n- **Vintages**: FRED preserves historical \"vintages\" (data as it was reported at time T). Default tool calls get the latest revised series. Pass `realtime_start` and `realtime_end` for as-of queries.\n- **Frequency aggregation**: `frequency` parameter coerces to a different cadence (e.g., daily → monthly average). Default is the series' native frequency.\n- **Units transformation**: `units` parameter computes derived series at request time (`pch` for percent change, `pca` for compound annual rate, etc.). Don't compute these client-side; let FRED do it.\n- **Series renamed**: occasionally the Fed deprecates a series and creates a successor. Old IDs return errors. `fred_search` is the recovery path.\n\n## Quick Start\n\nAdd to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"fred\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/fred/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\n### What this endpoint actually serves\n\n`tools/list` at `https://gateway.pipeworx.io/fred/mcp` returns the tools in the table\nabove **plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools** — `ask_pipeworx`,\n`discover_tools`, `search_within`, `remember`/`recall` and the rest of the\ngateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a\nsingle-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the\npack's own. The connection's `initialize` response states its exact scope, and\nis the authoritative answer for a given day.\n\nThis is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a\nscoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via\n`ask_pipeworx`, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a\nsecond MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without\nthem; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,\nconnect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.\n\nOr connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed\ndirectly, instead of just this one's:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"mcpServers\": {\n    \"pipeworx\": {\n      \"url\": \"https://gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\nBoth URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1476+ data sources. The\nonly difference is which pack's tools are listed **directly**; `ask_pipeworx`\nreaches all of them from either one.\n\n## Using with ask_pipeworx\n\nInstead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English —\nthis works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:\n\n```\nask_pipeworx({ question: \"your question about Fred data\" })\n```\n\nThe gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.\n\n## More\n\n- [Docs and guides](https://pipeworx.io/docs)\n- [pipeworx.io](https://pipeworx.io)\n\n## License\n\nMIT\n",
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