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Frequently Asked Questions

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General Questions

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) is a database of over 800,000 economic time series maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It provides free access to economic data from U.S. and international sources.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI assistants to connect to external data sources and tools. The FRED MCP Server implements this protocol to provide AI assistants with access to FRED’s economic data.
Yes! FRED data is completely free for research, education, and personal use. You just need to register for a free API key. Commercial use may require permission.
No! When using the MCP server with AI assistants like Claude, you can request economic data using natural language. The AI assistant handles the technical details.

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API and Access

  1. Visit FRED API Registration
  2. Create a free account
  3. Request an API key (instant approval)
  4. Add key to your configuration
See the Authentication guide for details.
  • 120 requests per minute (general)
  • 40 requests per minute (series observations)
  • Daily limits vary by account
The MCP server handles rate limiting automatically with retries.
The FRED MCP Server is open source (AGPL-3.0). For commercial use of FRED data, review FRED’s terms or contact the FRED team.

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Data Questions

FRED data is updated as soon as source agencies release it. Update frequencies vary:
  • Daily: Interest rates, stock prices
  • Weekly: Jobless claims
  • Monthly: Employment, inflation
  • Quarterly: GDP
It varies by series. Some series date back to the 1800s, while others are more recent. Check each series’ observation_start field.
Seasonally adjusted (SA) data has regular seasonal patterns removed, making it easier to identify underlying trends. Use SA data for comparing across different months or analyzing trends.
Different measures serve different purposes:
  • CPI: Consumer prices, used for cost-of-living adjustments
  • PCE: Personal consumption expenditure, Fed’s preferred measure
  • PPI: Producer prices, early indicator of consumer inflation
  • Core: Excludes volatile food and energy prices

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Technical Questions

Any MCP-compatible AI assistant, including:
  • Claude Desktop
  • Other MCP-enabled clients
See the Installation guide for setup instructions.
The MCP server is designed for AI assistants, but you can access FRED data directly through:
  • FRED website
  • FRED API
  • FRED add-ins for Excel, R, Python
npm update -g fred-mcp-server
Then restart your MCP client.
Logs depend on your MCP client. For Claude Desktop:
  • macOS: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\

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Common Issues

Common causes:
  • API key not set in environment
  • Typo in API key
  • API key revoked
  • Server not restarted after config change
See Troubleshooting for solutions.
Try:
  • Broader search terms
  • Checking series ID spelling
  • Using fred_browse instead
  • Removing restrictive tags
Possible reasons:
  • Weekends/holidays (daily data)
  • Series discontinued
  • Data not yet released
  • Gaps in source data

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Best Practices

Popular starting points:
  • UNRATE: Unemployment rate
  • CPIAUCSL: Inflation (CPI)
  • GDP: Economic output
  • DFF: Fed funds rate
  • SP500: Stock market
See Common Series for more.
Include:
  • Series source (e.g., “U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics”)
  • “retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis”
  • Series URL
  • Access date
  • SA (Seasonally Adjusted): For trend analysis and comparisons across months
  • NSA (Not Seasonally Adjusted): For understanding actual seasonal patterns
Most analysis uses SA data.

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Still Need Help?

Troubleshooting

Solve common problems

GitHub Issues

Report bugs or request features

FRED Support

Contact FRED team

Documentation

Browse full documentation