FRED API: Search economic series
Searches FRED economic series by topic, ordered by popularity, and returns each series' coverage dates, units, frequency and last update. FRED does not publish a popularity score on these pages, so it is null.
Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by FRED.
Inputs
Values from the run on Oct 23, 2026, shown under Output.
- Query, required
query Economic topic to search, for example home prices in Texas.
home prices in Texas
- Max Results optional
max_results Most popular matching series to return (up to 100).
5
Whole number from 1 to 100. Default
20.
Input as JSON
{ "query": "home prices in Texas", "max_results": 5}Output
{ "series": [ { "title": "All-Transactions House Price Index for Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX (MSA)", "units": "Index 1995:Q1=100", "frequency": "Quarterly", "last_date": "2026-04-01", "first_date": "1977-04-01", "fred_page_link": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ATNHPIUS12420Q" , "fred_series_id": "ATNHPIUS12420Q", "popularity_score": null, "last_updated_date": "2026-08-25", "seasonally_adjusted": false }, { "title": "S&P Cotality Case-Shiller TX-Dallas Home Price Index", "units": "Index Jan 2000=100", "frequency": "Monthly", "last_date": "2026-07-01", "first_date": "2000-01-01", "fred_page_link": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DAXRNSA" , "fred_series_id": "DAXRNSA", "popularity_score": null, "last_updated_date": "2026-10-01", "seasonally_adjusted": false }, { "title": "All-Transactions House Price Index for Texas", "units": "Index 1980:Q1=100", "frequency": "Quarterly", "last_date": "2026-04-01", "first_date": "1975-01-01", "fred_page_link": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TXSTHPI" , "fred_series_id": "TXSTHPI", "popularity_score": null, "last_updated_date": "2026-08-25", "seasonally_adjusted": false } ]}Code
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"method":"fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators","input":{"query":"home prices in Texas","max_results":5}}' # Save as fous.py, then run: python3 fous.pyimport json, os, timefrom urllib.error import HTTPErrorfrom urllib.request import Request, urlopenAPI = "https://api.fous.com/v1/runs" KEY = os.environ["FOUS_API_KEY"]HEADERS = { "Authorization": f"Bearer {KEY}", "Content-Type": "application/json" ,}def call(url, body=None): data = json.dumps(body).encode() if body else None request = Request(url, data, HEADERS) try: with urlopen(request, timeout=120) as r: return r.status, json.load(r) except HTTPError as error: message = json.load(error)["error"]["message"] raise RuntimeError(message) from errorstatus, run = call(API, { "method": "fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators" , "input": { "query": "home prices in Texas", "max_results": 5 }})# 202: still going after 30 s. Ask again until it ends.while status == 202: time.sleep(2) status, run = call(f"{API}/{run['id']}")print(json.dumps(run["data"], indent=2))// Save as fous.mjs, then run: node fous.mjsconst api = "https://api.fous.com/v1/runs" ;const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.FOUS_API_KEY}`, "Content-Type": "application/json" ,};let response = await fetch(api, { method: "POST", headers, body: JSON.stringify({ "method": "fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators" , "input": { "query": "home prices in Texas", "max_results": 5 } }), signal: AbortSignal.timeout(120_000),});let run = await response.json();// 202: still going after 30 s. Ask again until it ends.while (response.status === 202) { await new Promise((done) => setTimeout(done, 2_000)); response = await fetch(`${api}/${run.id}`, { headers }); run = await response.json();}if (!response.ok) throw new Error(run.error.message);console.log(run.data);# Connect your agent to Fous once, over MCP (Streamable HTTP):# https://api.fous.com/mcp# Set FOUS_API_KEY first: create a key at https://app.fous.com/keys.# Claude Codeclaude mcp add \ --scope user \ --transport http fous https://api.fous.com/mcp \ --header "Authorization: Bearer ${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY to your Fous API key}"# Codexcodex mcp add fous \ --url https://api.fous.com/mcp \ --bearer-token-env-var FOUS_API_KEY# Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Cline and morenpx -y add-mcp https://api.fous.com/mcp -g -n fous \ --header "Authorization: Bearer ${FOUS_API_KEY:?Set FOUS_API_KEY to your Fous API key}"# Then ask your agent:# "Use Fous to run fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators# with {"query":"home prices in Texas","max_results":5}"Over HTTP, the answer’s data holds the output. A run still going after 30 seconds answers 202 with its id: ask GET /v1/runs/{id} until it ends.
Schema
Input schema
{ "type": "object", "required": [ "query" ], "properties": { "query": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1, "description": "Economic topic to search, for example home prices in Texas." }, "max_results": { "type": "integer", "default": 20, "maximum": 100, "minimum": 1, "description": "Most popular matching series to return (up to 100)." } }}Output schema
{ "type": "object", "required": [ "series" ], "properties": { "series": { "type": "array", "items": { "type": "object", "required": [ "title", "frequency", "units", "seasonally_adjusted", "first_date", "last_date", "last_updated_date", "fred_page_link", "fred_series_id", "popularity_score" ], "properties": { "title": { "type": "string", "description": "Series title." }, "units": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "Units in words." }, "frequency": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "description": "How often the series is reported." }, "last_date": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "format": "date", "description": "Last date covered." }, "first_date": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "format": "date", "description": "First date covered." }, "fred_page_link": { "type": "string", "description": "FRED page for this series." }, "fred_series_id": { "type": "string", "description": "FRED series identifier." }, "popularity_score": { "type": [ "integer", "null" ], "maximum": 100, "minimum": 0, "description": "Null: FRED's public pages do not expose a popularity score." }, "last_updated_date": { "type": [ "string", "null" ], "format": "date", "description": "Date the series was last updated." }, "seasonally_adjusted": { "type": [ "boolean", "null" ], "description": "Whether the series is seasonally adjusted." } } }, "description": "Matching FRED series, most popular first." } }}- Price
- 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free.
- Method
fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators- Returns
- title, frequency, units, seasonal adjustment, date range, last updated date, FRED link, series ID
Use it from your agent
Give your agent this line. It reads SKILL.md, gets a Fous API key and connects the Fous MCP server. Its run then takes the method fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators with the inputs above.
Ask your agent
- Find the most popular FRED series on unemployment rate by state, showing frequency and last updated date
- I need economic time series on mortgage rates with their date ranges and units
- Look up top series for consumer price index inflation, sorted by popularity, up to 15 results
- Which economic data series track housing starts and building permits? Show series IDs and seasonal adjustment
- Search stlouisfed.org for series about industrial production, returning the 10 most popular with coverage dates
See more
All FRED methodsGets a public FRED economic series by plain name or series ID, with its observations, latest value and source details.
fred.stlouisfed.org/get_economic_indicatorReturns Freddie Mac's U.S. 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgage rates for the latest survey or a chosen date, with weekly and year-ago changes, and optionally a weekly history for a date range.
freddiemac.com/get_mortgage_ratesSearches Britannica for encyclopedia articles and returns their titles, short descriptions, article links and images when shown. Excludes other search formats such as videos, questions and stories.
britannica.com/search_articlesFinds public Kaggle datasets on a topic, with size, file formats, usability, popularity and license. Lists at most 100 results in Kaggle's order; files are not downloaded.
kaggle.com/search_datasetsSearches USDA FoodData Central foods and branded products by food or brand name, ranked by relevance. Calories and serving sizes are null when not supplied.
fdc.nal.usda.gov/search_foodsFinds public Hugging Face datasets by name or topic, ordered by downloads, likes, trending score or last update.
huggingface.co/search_datasetsFinds Polymarket prediction markets about a topic, ranked by total trading volume, with outcome chances and market details.
polymarket.com/search_marketsGets the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate and labor-force counts for the United States or a state, with up to 24 months of history.
bls.gov/get_unemployment_rate