# Fathom Macroeconomic Data API (FRED-powered)

> Fathom Macroeconomic Data API (FRED-powered) is a paid API for AI agents from fredfathom.vercel.app, paid per call via x402, $0.06/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-11).

Retrieves historical and current economic time series observations (GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, etc.) from the FRED database by series ID, with optional date range, frequency, and unit transformation filters.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://fredfathom.vercel.app/api/observations?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.06/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-11
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-fred-powered-d3391dbe
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_YpZ_WK0vaAJSldTcxnDfx

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-fred-powered-d3391dbe -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Pull the last 20 quarterly observations of US GDP 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, historical or current macroeconomic time series data backed by the authoritative FRED database (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis), especially for US economic indicators like GDP, CPI, unemployment, or interest rates. It is the right choice when you need specific FRED series by ID, flexible date filtering, and unit transformations. Prefer this over generic web search when you need clean, structured numeric data suitable for analysis or charting.

## Known failure modes

- Invalid or unknown FRED series ID returns an error or empty observations array
- Date range outside the series coverage window returns zero observations
- Invalid units transformation string causes a bad request error
- Invalid frequency code results in an error response
- Network or upstream FRED API unavailability causes a service error
- Malformed date strings (non-YYYY-MM-DD format) may cause parsing errors

## 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 FRED series ID, the data source label, the count of returned observations, and an array of observation objects each containing a date and value. Supports up to 816,000+ FRED economic series with optional frequency aggregation and unit transformations (e.g. percent change, log).

## 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-fred-powered-d3391dbe/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from fredfathom.vercel.app](https://www.zero.xyz/host/fredfathom.vercel.app/llms.txt)