canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/stlouisfed.org/stlouisfed

# Stlouisfed FRED API

Federal Reserve Economic Data API. Provides access to economic data series, categories, releases, sources, and tags from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The API exposes 31 endpoints.

## For AI agents

Programmatically get a category, get child categories for a parent category. Covers 31 operations.

## Scope

Does not handle payments, communications, or crm - use for finance and accounting only.

## Capabilities

- Get a category
- Manage finance data programmatically
- Integrate FRED API into automated workflows
- Query and filter FRED API records by parameters
- Monitor FRED API operational status and events

## Use cases

### Finance and Accounting Operations

Use the FRED API to perform finance operations programmatically. The API provides 31 endpoints covering core functionality including get a category, get child categories for a parent category, get related categories for a category.

Example prompt: Call GET `/fred/category` to get a category

### Automated Categories Management

Automate categories operations by combining multiple FRED API endpoints. Agents can get child categories for a parent category and then get related categories for a category in a single workflow.

Example prompt: Call GET `/fred/category/children` to get child categories for a parent category, then verify the result

### AI Agent Integration via Jentic

AI agents discover and call FRED API endpoints through Jentic without managing credentials directly. An agent searches for the required operation by intent, receives the matching endpoint schema, and executes the call with Jentic-managed authentication. This eliminates the need to read API documentation or handle none tokens manually.

Example prompt: Search Jentic for 'get a category', load the operation schema, and execute with Jentic-managed credentials

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/fred/category` | Get a category |
| GET | `/fred/category/children` | Get child categories for a parent category |
| GET | `/fred/category/related` | Get related categories for a category |
| GET | `/fred/category/series` | Get the series in a category |
| GET | `/fred/category/tags` | Get the tags for a category |
| GET | `/fred/category/related_tags` | Get related tags for a category |
| GET | `/fred/releases` | Get all releases of economic data |
| GET | `/fred/releases/dates` | Get release dates for all releases |

## Key resources

- **Categories** — Operations related to Categories
- **Releases** — Operations related to Releases
- **Series** — Operations related to Series
- **Sources** — Operations related to Sources
- **Tags** — Operations related to Tags

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring the FRED API by hand means appending its API key as a query parameter on every call to api.stlouisfed.org and stitching category, release, and series requests together yourself. Through Jentic you install once, import the FRED API from the API Directory, store the API key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** FRED identifies categories, releases, and series through query parameters rather than a resource id in the URL path, so scope by operation: limit the agent to the operations it needs, such as reading a category or listing a release's dates. This is a read-only economic-data API, and only the operations you add are available to the agent.
- **Credential handling:** Your FRED API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'get a data category' or 'list economic release dates', and Jentic returns the matching FRED API operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Plaid** — Alternative finance API
- **Xero** — Alternative finance API

## FAQ

### What authentication does the FRED API use?

The FRED API uses no authentication. Through Jentic, these credentials are stored encrypted in your Jentic One instance and injected at execution time, so raw secrets never enter the agent context.

### Can I get a category with the FRED API?

Yes. Use the GET `/fred/category` endpoint. The API returns structured JSON responses that agents can parse and act on directly.

### What are the rate limits for the FRED API?

Rate limits are not specified in the OpenAPI spec. Check the vendor documentation for current limits. Through Jentic, rate limiting is handled automatically with retry logic built into the execution layer.

### How do I get a category through Jentic?

Install the Jentic SDK with pip install jentic, authenticate through Jentic One, the self-hosted execution layer, then search for 'get a category'. Jentic returns the matching FRED API operation with its input schema. Load the schema and execute the call - credentials are injected automatically.

### How many endpoints does the FRED API have?

The FRED API exposes 31 endpoints covering categories, releases, series operations.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the FRED API?

Yes. Because you run Jentic One yourself, your own rules decide which FRED operations and credentials the agent may use, and only the operations you add are callable. Since FRED identifies categories, releases, and series through query parameters rather than a path resource id, you scope by operation: grant just the calls the agent needs, such as reading a category with GET `/fred/category` or listing a release's dates with GET `/fred/releases/dates.` Everything here is read-only economic data, so the agent can retrieve series, sources, and tags without any ability to write or change data.