Provider Tools

Tools for discovering 30+ external data providers (FRED, BLS, World Bank, OECD, IMF, BIS, ECB, Eurostat, and central banks across Latin America, Europe, and Asia), browsing their catalogs, and fetching series.

Five read-only tools for working with the external data providers Alphacast integrates with. Browse the live catalog at alphacast.io/explore/apis.

list_providers

List every available provider, or search the top 5 by keyword.

query · string

Optional keyword. Omit to list every provider. With a keyword, returns the top 5 matches scored across slug, name, and description.

Example prompt

“Which providers cover Latin American economic data?”

Underlying endpoints: GET /providers (no query) or GET /providers/match?q=... (with query).

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get_provider

Get full metadata for one provider, including its tunable parameters and curated popular series.

slug · string · required

Provider slug. Examples: fred, bls, worldbank, bcra, inegi, banxico, oecd, imf, bis, bcb-opendata.

Response includes parameters (tunable knobs like FRED’s units or frequency), popular_series, key requirements, and the browse_root_label for hierarchical navigation.

Example prompt

“Tell me about the FRED provider — does it require a key?”

Underlying endpoint: GET /providers/{slug}.

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browse_provider

Walk a provider’s hierarchical catalog by path. Only available for providers with the hierarchical capability.

slug · string · required

Provider slug.

path · string

Slash-separated path inside the provider’s tree. Omit to start at the root.

depth · number · default: "1"

How many levels of children to return in one call. Maximum is 3.

series · boolean

When true, return paginated series at the current path instead of subfolders.

limit · number

Page size when series=true.

offset · number

Pagination offset when series=true.

Example prompt

“Browse the World Bank Economy & Growth category two levels deep.”

Underlying endpoint: GET /providers/{slug}/browse.

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search_provider

Search series within a single provider by keyword. Only for providers with the search capability.

slug · string · required

Provider slug.

query · string · required

Search query.

limit · number

Maximum number of results.

Example prompt

“Search FRED for unemployment rate series and return the top 10.”

Underlying endpoint: GET /providers/{slug}/search.

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get_series

Fetch the full historical data of one provider series.

slug · string · required

Provider slug.

series_id · string · required

The provider’s series identifier. Format varies: UNRATE for FRED, CUUR0000SA0 for BLS, NY.GDP.PCAP.CD for World Bank.

params · object

Provider-specific parameters (FRED units, BLS startyear, etc.). See get_provider for valid keys.

Example prompt

“Fetch the full FRED CPIAUCSL series as year-over-year percent change.”

Underlying endpoint: POST /providers/{slug}/series/{series_id}/data.

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Managing provider API keys

Third-party API keys (FRED, BLS, INEGI, Banxico, BEA, EIA, BCCH, and others) are managed through the Alphacast settings page. Once saved, every call to get_series for that provider uses the key automatically.