> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://fred-mcp-server.amorelli.tech/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# fred_browse

> Navigate FRED's complete catalog through categories, releases, and sources

# fred\_browse

Browse and navigate through FRED's hierarchical catalog structure to discover available economic data series.

## Overview

The `fred_browse` tool provides systematic navigation through FRED's extensive catalog of over 800,000 economic time series. Use it to:

* Explore economic categories and subcategories
* Browse data releases from various sources
* List all series within a specific category or release
* Discover data sources and their available series

## Parameters

<ParamField path="browse_type" type="string" required>
  Type of browsing operation to perform.

  **Options:**

  * `categories`: Browse category tree
  * `releases`: List data releases
  * `sources`: List data sources
  * `category_series`: Get all series in a category
  * `release_series`: Get all series in a release
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="category_id" type="number">
  Category ID for browsing subcategories or series.

  **Required when:**

  * `browse_type` is `category_series`

  **Optional when:**

  * `browse_type` is `categories` (omit to get root categories)

  **Common IDs:**

  * `32991`: Money, Banking & Finance
  * `10`: Population, Employment & Labor Markets
  * `1`: Production & Business Activity
  * `32992`: Prices
  * `3008`: U.S. Regional Data
  * `32264`: International Data
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="release_id" type="number">
  Release ID for browsing series within a release.

  **Required when:**

  * `browse_type` is `release_series`

  **Popular Release IDs:**

  * `53`: GDP
  * `50`: Employment Situation
  * `10`: Consumer Price Index
  * `15`: Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
  * `18`: Federal Reserve Economic Data
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="limit" type="number" default="50">
  Maximum number of results to return (1-1000).
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="offset" type="number" default="0">
  Number of results to skip for pagination.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="order_by" type="string">
  Field to order results by.

  **Options vary by browse\_type:**

  * Categories: `name`, `series_count`
  * Series: `series_id`, `title`, `popularity`, `last_updated`
  * Releases: `name`, `release_id`, `press_release`
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="sort_order" type="string" default="asc">
  Sort order for results.

  **Options:**

  * `asc`: Ascending order
  * `desc`: Descending order
</ParamField>

## Examples

### Browse Root Categories

<CodeGroup>
  ```json Request theme={null}
  {
    "tool": "fred_browse",
    "params": {
      "browse_type": "categories"
    }
  }
  ```

  ```json Response theme={null}
  {
    "categories": [
      {
        "id": 32991,
        "name": "Money, Banking, & Finance",
        "parent_id": 0,
        "series_count": 48000
      },
      {
        "id": 10,
        "name": "Population, Employment, & Labor Markets",
        "parent_id": 0,
        "series_count": 84000
      },
      {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Production & Business Activity",
        "parent_id": 0,
        "series_count": 52000
      }
    ],
    "metadata": {
      "count": 8,
      "total": 8
    }
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Browse Subcategories

<CodeGroup>
  ```json Request theme={null}
  {
    "tool": "fred_browse",
    "params": {
      "browse_type": "categories",
      "category_id": 32991
    }
  }
  ```

  ```json Response theme={null}
  {
    "categories": [
      {
        "id": 22,
        "name": "Interest Rates",
        "parent_id": 32991,
        "series_count": 12000
      },
      {
        "id": 24,
        "name": "Exchange Rates",
        "parent_id": 32991,
        "series_count": 3500
      },
      {
        "id": 46,
        "name": "Banking",
        "parent_id": 32991,
        "series_count": 8000
      }
    ]
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Get Series in a Category

<CodeGroup>
  ```json Request theme={null}
  {
    "tool": "fred_browse",
    "params": {
      "browse_type": "category_series",
      "category_id": 22,
      "limit": 5,
      "order_by": "popularity",
      "sort_order": "desc"
    }
  }
  ```

  ```json Response theme={null}
  {
    "series": [
      {
        "id": "DGS10",
        "title": "Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity",
        "observation_start": "1962-01-02",
        "observation_end": "2024-12-31",
        "frequency": "Daily",
        "units": "Percent",
        "seasonal_adjustment": "Not Seasonally Adjusted",
        "popularity": 95
      },
      {
        "id": "DFF",
        "title": "Federal Funds Effective Rate",
        "observation_start": "1954-07-01",
        "observation_end": "2024-12-31",
        "frequency": "Daily",
        "units": "Percent",
        "seasonal_adjustment": "Not Seasonally Adjusted",
        "popularity": 93
      }
    ],
    "metadata": {
      "count": 5,
      "offset": 0,
      "limit": 5,
      "total": 12000
    }
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Browse Data Releases

<CodeGroup>
  ```json Request theme={null}
  {
    "tool": "fred_browse",
    "params": {
      "browse_type": "releases",
      "limit": 10,
      "order_by": "name"
    }
  }
  ```

  ```json Response theme={null}
  {
    "releases": [
      {
        "id": 10,
        "name": "Consumer Price Index",
        "press_release": true,
        "link": "https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm",
        "source": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics"
      },
      {
        "id": 50,
        "name": "Employment Situation",
        "press_release": true,
        "link": "https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm",
        "source": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics"
      },
      {
        "id": 53,
        "name": "Gross Domestic Product",
        "press_release": true,
        "link": "https://www.bea.gov/news/current-releases",
        "source": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis"
      }
    ],
    "metadata": {
      "count": 10,
      "total": 300
    }
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

### Browse Data Sources

<CodeGroup>
  ```json Request theme={null}
  {
    "tool": "fred_browse",
    "params": {
      "browse_type": "sources",
      "limit": 5
    }
  }
  ```

  ```json Response theme={null}
  {
    "sources": [
      {
        "id": 1,
        "name": "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)",
        "link": "https://www.federalreserve.gov/",
        "series_count": 45000
      },
      {
        "id": 2,
        "name": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics",
        "link": "https://www.bls.gov/",
        "series_count": 75000
      },
      {
        "id": 3,
        "name": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis",
        "link": "https://www.bea.gov/",
        "series_count": 35000
      }
    ],
    "metadata": {
      "count": 5,
      "total": 89
    }
  }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Navigation Strategies

### Hierarchical Exploration

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start with Root Categories">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "browse_type": "categories"
    }
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Drill Down to Subcategories">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "browse_type": "categories",
      "category_id": 32991
    }
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="List Series in Category">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "browse_type": "category_series",
      "category_id": 22,
      "order_by": "popularity"
    }
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Retrieve Specific Series">
    Use `fred_get_series` with the discovered series ID
  </Step>
</Steps>

### Release-Based Discovery

<Steps>
  <Step title="List All Releases">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "browse_type": "releases",
      "order_by": "name"
    }
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Get Series in Release">
    ```json theme={null}
    {
      "browse_type": "release_series",
      "release_id": 10
    }
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step title="Filter and Retrieve">
    Use series IDs with `fred_get_series`
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Common Use Cases

### Finding Interest Rate Data

```json theme={null}
// Step 1: Navigate to Money & Banking
{
  "browse_type": "categories",
  "category_id": 32991
}

// Step 2: Find Interest Rates category (ID: 22)
{
  "browse_type": "category_series",
  "category_id": 22,
  "order_by": "popularity",
  "limit": 20
}
```

### Exploring Regional Data

```json theme={null}
// Step 1: Go to U.S. Regional Data
{
  "browse_type": "categories",
  "category_id": 3008
}

// Step 2: Browse states
{
  "browse_type": "categories",
  "category_id": 27281  // States category
}

// Step 3: Get California data
{
  "browse_type": "category_series",
  "category_id": 27286  // California
}
```

### Finding Latest Economic Releases

```json theme={null}
// Get recent releases
{
  "browse_type": "releases",
  "order_by": "release_id",
  "sort_order": "desc",
  "limit": 10
}
```

## Category Reference

### Top-Level Categories

| ID    | Name                                   | Description                                       | Series Count |
| ----- | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | ------------ |
| 32991 | Money, Banking & Finance               | Financial markets, interest rates, exchange rates | \~48,000     |
| 10    | Population, Employment & Labor Markets | Jobs, unemployment, demographics                  | \~84,000     |
| 1     | Production & Business Activity         | GDP, industrial production, business indicators   | \~52,000     |
| 32992 | Prices                                 | Inflation, CPI, PPI, commodity prices             | \~32,000     |
| 3008  | U.S. Regional Data                     | State and metro area statistics                   | \~350,000    |
| 32264 | International Data                     | Global economic indicators                        | \~150,000    |
| 32263 | Academic Data                          | Research datasets from universities               | \~15,000     |

### Popular Subcategories

| Parent | ID | Name                   | Key Series                |
| ------ | -- | ---------------------- | ------------------------- |
| 32991  | 22 | Interest Rates         | DFF, DGS10, DGS2, TB3MS   |
| 32991  | 24 | Exchange Rates         | DEXUSEU, DEXJPUS, DEXCHUS |
| 10     | 12 | Unemployment Rate      | UNRATE, U6RATE, CIVPART   |
| 1      | 18 | GDP                    | GDP, GDPC1, GDPPOT        |
| 32992  | 9  | Consumer Price Indexes | CPIAUCSL, CPILFESL        |

## Error Handling

### Common Errors

| Error                  | Cause                      | Solution                                                                     |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `Invalid browse_type`  | Unknown browse\_type value | Use one of: categories, releases, sources, category\_series, release\_series |
| `category_id required` | Missing required parameter | Provide category\_id when browse\_type is category\_series                   |
| `release_id required`  | Missing required parameter | Provide release\_id when browse\_type is release\_series                     |
| `Invalid category_id`  | Category doesn't exist     | Verify category\_id or browse to find correct ID                             |

### Best Practices

<Info>
  **Tips for Efficient Browsing:**

  * Start broad and narrow down systematically
  * Use popularity ordering to find commonly-used series
  * Plan navigation path to minimize API calls
  * Combine with `fred_search` for targeted discovery
</Info>

## Related Tools

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="fred_search" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/api-reference/fred-search">
    Search for specific series by keywords
  </Card>

  <Card title="fred_get_series" icon="chart-line" href="/api-reference/fred-get-series">
    Retrieve data for discovered series
  </Card>
</CardGroup>