# Fathom Macroeconomic Data API — FRED Search

> Fathom Macroeconomic Data API — FRED Search is a paid API for AI agents from fredfathom.vercel.app, paid per call via x402, $0.06/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-10-12).

Search 816,000+ FRED economic time series by keyword to retrieve macroeconomic data on GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, and more.

## Facts

- Endpoint: POST https://fredfathom.vercel.app/api/search?utm_source=zero.xyz
- Price: $0.06/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-10-12
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-fred-search-13f1e0bf
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_2BHAmKjy7y_VkAlY4Bd6l

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-search-13f1e0bf -d '<json body>'
```

Example prompt: Search the FRED macroeconomic database for time series related to 'US inflation rate' and return up to 5 matching series.

## When to prefer this

Choose this endpoint when you need to discover or search FRED economic time series by keyword before retrieving specific data. It is ideal for agents that need to explore what macroeconomic indicators are available (e.g., GDP variants, CPI measures, regional unemployment) before committing to a specific series ID. Prefer this over direct FRED API access when you want a lightweight, pre-built search layer with micropayment support via x402.

## Known failure modes

- Missing required 'query' field returns validation error
- Empty or overly broad query may return irrelevant or too many series
- Misspelled economic terms may yield zero results
- 'limit' passed as non-string may cause type errors
- Downstream FRED API unavailability causes 503 or empty response
- Query too narrow may return zero matching series

## 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 with the matched economic time series array (each item containing series metadata such as ID, title, frequency, units, and description), total match count, the echoed query string, and the data source identifier (FRED).

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "required": [
  "query"
 ],
 "properties": {
  "limit": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Max results (default: 10)"
  },
  "query": {
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Search keywords (e.g. 'inflation rate', 'housing starts')"
  }
 }
}
```

## Response schema (JSON Schema)

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

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-fred-search-13f1e0bf/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)