spb/tools-spboucher-ai

1{2  "slug": "fred",3  "name": "FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)",4  "aliases": ["FRED", "ALFRED", "FRED API"],5  "vendor": { "name": "Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis", "slug": "st-louis-fed", "website": "https://www.stlouisfed.org" },6  "homepage_url": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/",7  "docs_url": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/",8  "license_url": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/terms_of_use.html",9  "product_type": "data-service",10  "product_status": "active",11  "summary": "Free economic database from the St. Louis Fed aggregating hundreds of thousands of US and international time series, with graphs, vintages (ALFRED), an Excel add-in and a keyed JSON/XML API",12  "description": "FRED is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's free online database of economic time series, operating since 1991. It aggregates series from US statistical agencies, the Federal Reserve system, international organizations and private sources into one catalog browsable by category, release, source and tag, with interactive graphs, embeddable charts, saved data lists and mobile apps. Its companion ALFRED stores real-time vintages so researchers can retrieve the data as they were known on a given date, which matters for forecasting evaluation and policy analysis. An Excel add-in, an MCP connector for AI assistants and GeoFRED regional maps round out the interfaces.\n\nThe FRED API requires a free API key and returns XML or JSON from endpoint families for categories, releases, series (metadata, observations, search, tags, updates, vintage dates), sources, tags and maps; a bulk-oriented version retrieves all series in a release at once. Community clients exist for Python (fredapi, pandas-datareader), R (fredr) and most other languages, and EViews, Stata and other packages link to it directly.\n\nThe API terms of use require applications to display a notice that the product uses the FRED API but is not endorsed by the St. Louis Fed, prohibit replicating FRED's user experience and using the Bank's trademarks, and remind developers that third-party series may be copyrighted by their owners, whose permission is needed beyond personal use. The service is a mirror rather than a producer: revisions and release timing follow the source agencies, some series are restricted or carry copyright notes, and the site was not reachable from some networks during checks even though it loaded through a rendering fetcher.",13  "capabilities": ["Catalog of economic series by category, release, source and tag", "Interactive and embeddable graphs", "ALFRED real-time vintage data", "JSON/XML API with free key", "Excel add-in and mobile apps", "GeoFRED maps API for regional data", "MCP connector for AI assistants", "Saved data lists and e-mail notifications"],14  "workflows": ["Pulling macro series into a Python or R notebook via the API", "Real-time forecasting evaluation with ALFRED vintages", "Embedding a live FRED chart in a course site", "Feeding EViews or Stata directly from FRED"],15  "advantages": ["Free with a documented API", "Vintage data for real-time analysis", "Breadth of sources in one place", "Widely supported by client libraries and software"],16  "limitations": ["Third-party series may carry copyright restrictions", "Apps must display the FRED API notice and avoid Fed trademarks", "Data timing follows source agencies", "Accessibility varied by network during checks"],17  "prerequisites": ["Free FRED account and API key for programmatic access"],18  "audiences": ["Macroeconomists and forecasters", "Students and instructors", "Developers of economic dashboards"],19  "alternatives": ["nasdaq-data-link", "world-bank-data", "statistics-canada", "imf-data", "eurostat"],20  "comparison_notes": "World Bank, IMF and Eurostat APIs are the primary international sources FRED partly mirrors; Statistics Canada is the Canadian counterpart; Nasdaq Data Link is a commercial marketplace that also carries macro series. FRED's distinguishing features are the unified catalog, vintages and the free API.",21  "categories": [{ "slug": "market-data-apis", "primary": true }, { "slug": "open-public-data" }],22  "tags": ["macro-data", "api", "time-series", "open-data", "free"],23  "use_cases": ["access-market-data", "write-papers"],24  "operating_systems": ["web", "ios", "android"],25  "execution_modes": ["cloud"],26  "interfaces": ["web", "api", "mobile", "mcp-server"],27  "deployment_models": ["saas"],28  "integrations": ["Excel add-in", "Python (fredapi, pandas-datareader)", "R (fredr)", "EViews", "Stata", "MCP clients"],29  "data_formats": ["JSON", "XML", "CSV", "Excel"],30  "languages": [],31  "source_model": "proprietary",32  "pricing_model": ["free"],33  "self_hostable": false,34  "sources": [35    { "url": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/", "type": "official_site", "title": "Federal Reserve Economic Data | FRED | St. Louis Fed", "supports": ["name", "summary", "capabilities", "interfaces"], "checked_at": "2026-11-02" },36    { "url": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/", "type": "official_docs", "title": "St. Louis Fed Web Services: FRED API", "supports": ["capabilities", "data_formats", "docs_url"], "checked_at": "2026-11-02" },37    { "url": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/terms_of_use.html", "type": "policy_page", "title": "FRED API Terms of Use", "supports": ["limitations", "description"], "checked_at": "2026-11-02", "note": "Attribution notice, no replication of FRED experience, third-party copyright" }38  ],39  "confidence": "high",40  "uncertainty_note": "fred.stlouisfed.org did not answer command-line requests from this network but loaded through a rendering fetcher; link checks may show transient failures. Integration list includes well-known community clients not individually re-verified.",41  "discovery_method": "editorial-research",42  "depth": "deep",43  "editorial_status": "reviewed",44  "visibility": "public",45  "featured": false,46  "author": "batch-E"47}48