FRED Economic Data Connector

Type: fred_connector • Category: flow • Tags: economics, federal reserve, data, api, financial, time-series

Description

Connect to Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API for economic time series data

Parameters

Name	Type	Description	Required	Default
api_key	string	FRED API key (optional, increases rate limits)	no
operation	string	Operation to perform	no	"series_observations"
series_id	autocomplete	Series ID (required for observations/info operations). Examples: GDP (Gross Domestic Product), UNRATE (Unemployment Rate), CPIAUCSL (Consumer Price Index), FEDFUNDS (Federal Funds Rate), DEXUSEU (US/Euro Exchange Rate)	no
limit	number	Maximum number of results	no	100
start_date	date	Start date	no
end_date	date	End date	no
frequency	string	Data frequency (optional): d=daily, w=weekly, m=monthly, q=quarterly, sa=semiannual, a=annual. Note: Not all frequencies are available for all series.	no
units	string	(optional) Units transformation: lin=levels, chg=change, pch=percent change, etc.	no

Help

Access economic data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED database.

Available Operations:

• series_observations: Get actual data points for a specific economic series
• series_info: Get detailed information about a specific series
• releases: List available data releases/publications

Popular Economic Series Examples:

• GDP: Gross Domestic Product (quarterly, billions of dollars)
• GDPC1: Real Gross Domestic Product (quarterly, billions of chained 2012 dollars)
• UNRATE: Unemployment Rate (monthly, percent)
• FEDFUNDS: Federal Funds Rate (monthly, percent)
• CPIAUCSL: Consumer Price Index (monthly, index 1982-1984=100)
• DEXUSEU: US/Euro Exchange Rate (daily, US dollars per euro)
• DGS10: 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Rate (daily, percent)
• MORTGAGE30US: 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage Average (weekly, percent)
• INDPRO: Industrial Production Index (monthly, index 2017=100)
• HOUST: Housing Starts (monthly, thousands of units)

How to Use:

1. Get Series Data (series_observations):

• Select a series ID using the autocomplete dropdown
• Optionally set date range (start_date/end_date)
• Optionally change frequency or units
• Example: Get unemployment rate for last 2 years

2. Get Series Information (series_info):

• Select a series ID using the autocomplete dropdown
• Returns metadata: title, frequency, units, date range, etc.
• Useful to understand what data series contains

3. Browse Data Releases (releases):

• Lists all economic data publications
• Useful to discover new data series

Parameters:

• series_id: Choose from autocomplete (searches FRED database)
• start_date/end_date: Filter data by date range (YYYY-MM-DD)
• frequency: Change data frequency (d=daily, w=weekly, m=monthly, q=quarterly, sa=semiannual, a=annual)
• units: Transform data units (lin=levels, chg=change, pch=percent change, etc.)
• limit: Maximum results (default 100, max 1000)

API Key & Rate Limiting:

• Environment Variable: Set FRED_API_KEY environment variable for automatic API key usage
• Parameter Override: You can also provide api_key parameter to override environment setting
• User Rate Limit: Maximum 5 calls per minute per user (context.userId)
• API Rate Limits:
  • Without API key: ~33 calls/minute (2,000/hour)
  • With API key: ~2,000 calls/minute (120,000/hour)
• Automatic Limiting: Connector automatically tracks and enforces rate limits per user and API key
• Distributed Enforcement: When Redis is configured (REDIS_URI), rate limits are enforced centrally across instances

Tips:

• Use autocomplete to easily find series by typing keywords
• Most series update regularly (daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly)
• Some series are discontinued - check observation_end date
• API key increases rate limits from 2,000 to 500,000 calls/day

API Key: Optional but recommended for higher rate limits. Get your free API key at https://fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/apikeys