# Fathom Macroeconomic Data API

> Fathom Macroeconomic Data API is a paid API for AI agents from fathom-opal.vercel.app, paid per call via x402, $0.06/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-14).

Retrieves historical and current economic time series observations from FRED (816,000+ series) including GDP, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://fathom-opal.vercel.app/api/observations
- Price: $0.06/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-14
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-8e68d6d9
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_DcY7dV5q1W25zKvIkhNms

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-8e68d6d9 -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Pull the last 20 quarterly US GDP observations from FRED (series GDPC1) sorted from oldest to newest, expressed as percent change from a year ago.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need structured, queryable access to any of FRED's 816,000+ macroeconomic time series — especially when you need specific date ranges, frequency aggregations, or unit transformations (e.g. percent change, log). Prefer this over general web search for reliable, authoritative economic data from the Federal Reserve. Ideal for financial analysis, economic research, dashboard enrichment, or any agent workflow requiring quantitative macro data.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or nonexistent FRED series ID returns error or empty observations
- Date range with no available data returns empty observations array
- Invalid units or frequency parameter may cause API error
- Network or Vercel hosting downtime may cause 5xx errors
- Payment failure via x402 protocol blocks request
- Requesting very large date ranges may hit response size limits

## How this service works

Free macroeconomic data API powered by FRED. 816,000+ economic time series. GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, and more.

## Output

Returns a JSON object containing the source identifier, FRED series ID, total observation count, and an array of observation objects each with date and value fields representing the requested economic time series data, filtered and transformed per the specified parameters.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "required": [
  "seriesId"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "end": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "End date YYYY-MM-DD"
  },
  "sort": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Sort order: asc or desc (default: desc)"
  },
  "limit": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Max observations (default: 10)"
  },
  "start": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Start date YYYY-MM-DD"
  },
  "units": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Units transformation (lin, chg, ch1, pch, pca, cch, cca, log)"
  },
  "seriesId": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "FRED series ID (e.g. GDP, UNRATE, CPIAUCSL)"
  },
  "frequency": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Frequency (d, w, bw, m, q, sa, a)"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "required": [
  "source"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "count": {
   "type": "number"
  },
  "source": {
   "type": "string"
  },
  "series_id": {
   "type": "string"
  },
  "observations": {
   "type": "array",
   "items": {
    "type": "object"
   }
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-8e68d6d9/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from fathom-opal.vercel.app](https://www.zero.xyz/host/fathom-opal.vercel.app/llms.txt)