Advanced Queries

Master complex search patterns, filtering techniques, and efficient data retrieval strategies using the FRED MCP Server.

Advanced Search

Multi-term Search

Combine multiple keywords:

{
  "query": "unemployment rate seasonally adjusted",
  "limit": 20,
  "sort_by": "popularity"
}

Search strategies:

More specific terms = fewer, more relevant results
Include seasonal adjustment status
Add frequency (monthly, quarterly)
Specify geographic scope (national, state)

Wildcard Patterns

Use partial series IDs:

{
  "query": "UNRATE*",
  "search_type": "series_id"
}

Returns:

UNRATE (National)
UNRATENSA (Not seasonally adjusted)
UNRATEUSA (Alternate series)

Source-Specific Searches

Find series from specific agencies:

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Federal Reserve Board
Census Bureau

{
  "query": "employment",
  "tags": ["bls"],
  "limit": 50
}

{
  "query": "gdp",
  "tags": ["bea"],
  "limit": 50
}

{
  "query": "interest rate",
  "tags": ["frb"],
  "limit": 50
}

{
  "query": "housing",
  "tags": ["census"],
  "limit": 50
}

Tag-Based Filtering

Multiple Tag Combinations

{
  "query": "inflation",
  "tags": ["monthly", "sa", "usa"],
  "tag_mode": "all"  // Must match all tags
}

Common tag combinations:

National Monthly SA

["monthly", "sa", "usa"]

Quarterly National Accounts

["quarterly", "bea", "nipa"]

Daily Financial Data

["daily", "finance", "rates"]

State-Level Data

["state", "monthly", "sa"]

Tag Discovery

Find related tags:

{
  "query": "employment",
  "include_observation_values": false,
  "sort_by": "popularity"
}

Then examine tags in results to refine search.

Category-Based Browsing

Navigate Hierarchy

Start at Root

{
  "category_id": 0
}

Returns top-level categories

Drill Down

{
  "category_id": 10  // Employment & Labor
}

Returns subcategories

Get Series

{
  "category_id": 11,  // Current Employment Statistics
  "limit": 100
}

Returns series in category

Popular Categories

Category ID	Name	Series Count
32991	Money, Banking & Finance	~10,000
10	Population, Employment & Labor	~15,000
1	Production & Business Activity	~40,000
32455	Prices	~25,000
32263	International Data	~60,000
3008	U.S. Regional Data	~30,000

Geographic Queries

State-Level Data

Find data for specific states:

{
  "query": "unemployment rate",
  "tags": ["state", "monthly", "sa"],
  "limit": 50
}

State code patterns:

Format: {INDICATOR}{STATE}
Example: CAUR (California Unemployment Rate)

California Data

// Unemployment
{ "series_id": "CAUR" }

// GDP
{ "series_id": "CANGSP" }

// Home Price Index
{ "series_id": "CASTHPI" }

Texas Data

// Unemployment
{ "series_id": "TXUR" }

// GDP
{ "series_id": "TXNGSP" }

// Home Price Index
{ "series_id": "TXSTHPI" }

New York Data

// Unemployment
{ "series_id": "NYUR" }

// GDP
{ "series_id": "NYNGSP" }

// Home Price Index
{ "series_id": "NYSTHPI" }

Metro Area Data

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs):

{
  "query": "unemployment rate",
  "tags": ["msa", "monthly"],
  "limit": 100
}

Example MSAs:

LAUMT064910: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
LAUMT364190: New York-Newark-Jersey City
LAUMT121410: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin

International Data

{
  "query": "gdp",
  "tags": ["oecd"],
  "limit": 50
}

// Or specific countries
{
  "query": "gdp japan",
  "limit": 20
}

Frequency-Specific Searches

Daily Data

{
  "tags": ["daily"],
  "query": "interest rate",
  "limit": 20
}

Common daily series:

Treasury yields (DGS2, DGS10, DGS30)
Fed funds rate (DFF)
Exchange rates (DEXUSEU, DEXJPUS)
Stock indices (SP500, DJIA)

High-Frequency Financial

{
  "tags": ["daily", "finance"],
  "sort_by": "popularity",
  "limit": 50
}

Low-Frequency Data

Annual or less frequent:

{
  "tags": ["annual"],
  "query": "population",
  "limit": 30
}

Date Range Optimization

Recent Data Only

{
  "series_id": "GDP",
  "observation_start": "2020-Q1",
  "observation_end": "2024-Q3"
}

Limiting date ranges reduces API payload size and improves performance

Historical Analysis

Long-term series:

{
  "series_id": "CPIAUCSL",
  "observation_start": "1947-01-01",  // Series inception
  "observation_end": "2024-10-01"
}

Rolling Windows

Get last N periods:

{
  "series_id": "UNRATE",
  "observation_start": "2023-01-01",  // Last ~20 months
  "sort_order": "desc",
  "limit": 20
}

Complex Filtering

Popularity Threshold

Focus on commonly-used series:

{
  "query": "gdp",
  "sort_by": "popularity",
  "limit": 100
}

Filter results where popularity > 50:

results.filter(series => series.popularity > 50)

Frequency Filtering

Find only monthly series:

{
  "query": "inflation",
  "tags": ["monthly"]
}

Seasonal Adjustment

Prefer seasonally adjusted:

{
  "query": "retail sales",
  "tags": ["sa"]  // Seasonally adjusted only
}

Batch Retrieval

Multiple Series

Retrieve related series efficiently:

const series_ids = [
  "UNRATE",    // Unemployment
  "CPIAUCSL",  // CPI
  "GDP",       // GDP
  "DFF",       // Fed Funds
  "SP500"      // Stock Market
];

// Request each
series_ids.forEach(id => {
  fred_get_series({
    series_id: id,
    observation_start: "2020-01-01"
  });
});

Category Sweep

Get all series in a category:

{
  "category_id": 11,  // Current Employment Statistics
  "limit": 1000,      // Max per request
  "offset": 0
}

// If more than 1000, paginate:
// offset: 1000, 2000, 3000, etc.

Search Optimization

Precision vs Recall

High Precision
High Recall
Balanced

{
  "query": "UNRATE",  // Exact ID
  "search_type": "series_id"
}

Returns: 1 exact match

{
  "query": "unemployment"  // Broad term
}

Returns: ~500 related series

{
  "query": "unemployment rate monthly",
  "tags": ["sa", "usa"],
  "limit": 20
}

Returns: 20 most relevant

Sort Strategies

By Popularity

{ "sort_by": "popularity" }

Best for: Finding commonly-used series

By Name

{
  "sort_by": "title",
  "sort_order": "asc"
}

Best for: Alphabetical browsing

By Date

{
  "sort_by": "last_updated",
  "sort_order": "desc"
}

Best for: Finding recently updated data

By Series ID

{
  "sort_by": "series_id",
  "sort_order": "asc"
}

Best for: Finding related series by ID pattern

Real-World Query Patterns

Economic Dashboard

Build a monitoring dashboard:

const dashboard_queries = [
  // Labor Market
  {
    series_ids: ["UNRATE", "PAYEMS", "CIVPART"],
    start: "2020-01-01",
    transform: "lin"
  },

  // Inflation
  {
    series_ids: ["CPIAUCSL", "CPILFESL", "PCEPI"],
    start: "2020-01-01",
    transform: "pc1"
  },

  // Growth
  {
    series_ids: ["GDP", "GDPC1", "INDPRO"],
    start: "2020-Q1",
    transform: "pca"
  },

  // Markets
  {
    series_ids: ["DFF", "DGS10", "SP500"],
    start: "2020-01-01",
    transform: "lin"
  }
];

Comparative Analysis

Compare across geographies:

const states = ["CA", "TX", "NY", "FL"];
const indicator = "UR";  // Unemployment Rate

states.forEach(state => {
  fred_get_series({
    series_id: `${state}${indicator}`,
    observation_start: "2020-01-01"
  });
});

Historical Research

Long-term trend analysis:

{
  "series_id": "CPIAUCSL",
  "observation_start": "1947-01-01",  // Full history
  "units": "pc1",  // Annual inflation
  "frequency": "a",  // Annual frequency
  "aggregation_method": "eop"  // End of period
}

Nowcasting

Get most recent values:

{
  "series_id": "UNRATE",
  "sort_order": "desc",
  "limit": 1  // Just the latest
}

Performance Tips

Use Specific IDs

When known, use exact series IDs instead of search

Limit Date Ranges

Request only needed time periods

Apply Filters Early

Use tags to narrow before searching

Plan Data Needs

Identify what data you need upfront to avoid redundant calls

Batch Related Queries

Group similar requests together

Troubleshooting

Common issues:

No results: Query too specific, try broader terms
Too many results: Add tags or more specific terms
Slow queries: Reduce date range or result limit
Unexpected series: Check tags and sort order

// Too broad (10,000 results)
{ "query": "rate" }

// Better (500 results)
{ "query": "interest rate" }

// Best (20 results)
{
  "query": "interest rate",
  "tags": ["daily", "treasury"],
  "limit": 20
}

Next Steps

API Reference

Complete tool documentation

Economic Analysis

Applied analysis patterns

Common Series

Popular series reference

Troubleshooting

Solve common issues

​Advanced Queries

​Advanced Search

​Multi-term Search

​Wildcard Patterns

​Source-Specific Searches

​Tag-Based Filtering

​Multiple Tag Combinations

National Monthly SA

Quarterly National Accounts

Daily Financial Data

State-Level Data

​Tag Discovery

​Category-Based Browsing

​Navigate Hierarchy

​Popular Categories

​Geographic Queries

​State-Level Data

​Metro Area Data

​International Data

​Frequency-Specific Searches

​Daily Data

​High-Frequency Financial

​Low-Frequency Data

​Date Range Optimization

​Recent Data Only

​Historical Analysis

​Rolling Windows

​Complex Filtering

​Popularity Threshold

​Frequency Filtering

​Seasonal Adjustment

​Batch Retrieval

​Multiple Series

​Category Sweep

​Search Optimization

​Precision vs Recall

​Sort Strategies

​Real-World Query Patterns

​Economic Dashboard

​Comparative Analysis

​Historical Research

​Nowcasting

​Performance Tips

​Troubleshooting

​Query Refinement

​Next Steps

API Reference

Economic Analysis

Common Series

Troubleshooting

Advanced Queries

Advanced Search

Multi-term Search

Wildcard Patterns

Source-Specific Searches

Tag-Based Filtering

Multiple Tag Combinations

Tag Discovery

Category-Based Browsing

Navigate Hierarchy

Popular Categories

Geographic Queries

State-Level Data

Metro Area Data

International Data

Frequency-Specific Searches

Daily Data

High-Frequency Financial

Low-Frequency Data

Date Range Optimization

Recent Data Only

Historical Analysis

Rolling Windows

Complex Filtering

Popularity Threshold

Frequency Filtering

Seasonal Adjustment

Batch Retrieval

Multiple Series

Category Sweep

Search Optimization

Precision vs Recall

Sort Strategies

Real-World Query Patterns

Economic Dashboard

Comparative Analysis

Historical Research

Nowcasting

Performance Tips

Troubleshooting

Query Refinement

Next Steps