federal-reserve-mcp-server

<div align="center">
  <h1>@cyanheads/federal-reserve-mcp-server</h1>
  <p><b>Search and fetch ~800K Federal Reserve economic time-series from the FRED API via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.</b>
  <div>8 Tools</div>
  </p>
</div>

<div align="center">

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</div>

---

## Tools

Five FRED tools plus three DataCanvas tools for querying spilled observation results via SQL:

| Tool | Description |
|:-----|:------------|
| `fedreserve_search_series` | Full-text search across FRED series titles, units, frequency, and tags — returns matching series IDs with metadata |
| `fedreserve_get_series` | Fetch metadata for one or more series (title, units, frequency, seasonal adjustment, observation range) |
| `fedreserve_get_observations` | Fetch date+value observation data for one or more series with date-range filtering and unit transformations |
| `fedreserve_browse_categories` | Navigate the FRED category tree; drill into a category to see child categories and a series sample |
| `fedreserve_get_release` | Look up a FRED release by ID or name search — returns release metadata and its associated series list |
| `fedreserve_dataframe_describe` | List active DataCanvas dataframes registered by this server (canvas IDs, row counts, schemas) |
| `fedreserve_dataframe_query` | Run a SELECT query against a registered DataCanvas dataframe |
| `fedreserve_dataframe_drop` | Drop a DataCanvas dataframe by name (opt-in via `FRED_DATAFRAME_DROP_ENABLED=true`) |

### `fedreserve_search_series`

Search for FRED series by free-text query across titles, tags, and notes.

- Full-text and series-ID search modes
- Post-search filtering by frequency, units, or seasonal adjustment status
- Tag-name filtering (semicolon-delimited list)
- Pagination via `limit` and `offset`
- To find series for a specific release, use `fedreserve_get_release` instead

---

### `fedreserve_get_series`

Fetch metadata for one or more FRED series.

- Accepts up to 50 series IDs in a single call
- Returns title, units, frequency, seasonal adjustment, observation range, popularity, and notes
- Fires parallel upstream requests (no FRED batch endpoint exists); partial success reported per ID

---

### `fedreserve_get_observations`

Fetch observation data (date + value pairs) for one or more series.

- Accepts up to 10 series IDs; fires one upstream request per series in parallel
- Date-range filtering with ISO 8601 dates (`observation_start`, `observation_end`)
- FRED's native unit transformations: `lin`, `chg`, `ch1`, `pch`, `pc1`, `pca`, `cch`, `cca`, `log`
- Frequency downsampling with configurable aggregation method (`avg`, `sum`, `eop`)
- Multi-series or >500-row results spill to a DataCanvas table; response includes a `dataset.name` handle for SQL querying via `fedreserve_dataframe_query`
- Degrades gracefully when DataCanvas is unavailable — returns inline preview with row count

---

### `fedreserve_browse_categories`

Navigate the FRED category hierarchy.

- Omit `category_id` to start at the root (ID 0)
- Provide a `category_id` to see child categories and a series sample for leaf categories
- Covers all FRED domains: Money & Banking, National Accounts, Employment, Prices, Housing, Trade, and more

---

### `fedreserve_get_release`

Inspect a FRED data release and its associated series.

- Look up by `release_id` (integer) or `release_search` (case-insensitive substring match)
- Name search fetches all releases and filters client-side (FRED has no server-side release search)
- Returns release name, link, scheduled dates, and a paginated series list
- Use `series_limit` and `series_offset` to page through large releases

## Features

Built on [`@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core):

- Declarative tool definitions — single file per tool, framework handles registration and validation
- Unified error handling across all tools
- Pluggable auth (`none`, `jwt`, `oauth`)
- Swappable storage backends: `in-memory`, `filesystem`, `Supabase`, `Cloudflare KV/R2/D1`
- Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
- STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports

FRED-specific:

- Read-only access to the St. Louis Fed's FRED API (`api.stlouisfed.org/fred`)
- Parallel multi-series fetching via `Promise.allSettled` with partial success reporting
- DataCanvas spillover for multi-series or large observation results — spilled tables queryable via `fedreserve_dataframe_query`
- Retry with backoff and 429 rate-limit detection against FRED's 120 req/min limit
- FRED's native unit transformations delegated server-side for precision against the full series history

## Getting started

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file. Obtain a free FRED API key at [research.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html](https://research.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html).

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "federal-reserve-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/federal-reserve-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "FRED_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Or with npx (no Bun required):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "federal-reserve-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/federal-reserve-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "FRED_API_KEY": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

Or with Docker:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "federal-reserve-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
        "-e", "FRED_API_KEY=your-api-key",
        "ghcr.io/cyanheads/federal-reserve-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

```sh
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 FRED_API_KEY=... bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp
```

### Prerequisites

- [Bun v1.3.2](https://bun.sh/) or higher.
- A free FRED API key from [stlouisfed.org](https://fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/login/secure/). The key grants 120 requests/minute.

### Installation

1. **Clone the repository:**

```sh
git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/federal-reserve-mcp-server.git
```

2. **Navigate into the directory:**

```sh
cd federal-reserve-mcp-server
```

3. **Install dependencies:**

```sh
bun install
```

4. **Configure environment:**

```sh
cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and set FRED_API_KEY
```

## Configuration

All configuration is validated at startup via Zod schemas in `src/config/server-config.ts`.

| Variable | Description | Default |
|:---------|:------------|:--------|
| `FRED_API_KEY` | **Required.** API key from [stlouisfed.org](https://research.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html). | — |
| `FRED_BASE_URL` | Override the FRED API base URL. | `https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred` |
| `FRED_DATASET_TTL_SECONDS` | Sliding TTL for DataCanvas-registered observation tables (seconds). | `86400` |
| `FRED_DATAFRAME_DROP_ENABLED` | Set `true` to expose the `fedreserve_dataframe_drop` tool. | `false` |
| `CANVAS_PROVIDER_TYPE` | Set to `duckdb` to enable DataCanvas SQL querying for observation results. | — |
| `MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE` | Transport: `stdio` or `http`. | `stdio` |
| `MCP_HTTP_PORT` | Port for HTTP server. | `3010` |
| `MCP_AUTH_MODE` | Auth mode: `none`, `jwt`, or `oauth`. | `none` |
| `MCP_LOG_LEVEL` | Log level (RFC 5424). | `info` |
| `LOGS_DIR` | Directory for log files (Node.js only). | `<project-root>/logs` |
| `STORAGE_PROVIDER_TYPE` | Storage backend. | `in-memory` |
| `OTEL_ENABLED` | Enable [OpenTelemetry instrumentation](https://github.com/cyanheads/mcp-ts-core/tree/main/docs/telemetry). | `false` |

See [`.env.example`](./.env.example) for the full list of optional overrides.

## Running the server

### Local development

- **Build and run:**

  ```sh
  # One-time build
  bun