fredapi

library0.5.2pypypi✓ verified 24d ago

fredapi is a Python API for Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) from the St. Louis Fed, and also provides methods for analyzing point-in-time data from ALFRED. It leverages pandas for data output, returning data as Series or DataFrames. The current version is 0.5.2, with a release cadence of a few updates per year, primarily addressing Python and dependency compatibility.

data

pip install fredapi

github ↗package ↗homepage ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · FREDAPI

fredapi

datapythonv0.5.2

Install

7.7s avg

Import

1010ms

Disk

164MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v0.5.2 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 1.050s · 164.7MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 7.7s · import 0.970s · 157MB

164MB installed

● package 164MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

Fred

✓ from fredapi import Fred

Initialize the Fred client with your API key, then fetch or search for economic data series. Data is returned as a pandas Series or DataFrame.

import os from fredapi import Fred # Get a FRED API key from https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html # Set it as an environment variable or pass directly. api_key = os.environ.get('FRED_API_KEY', 'YOUR_FRED_API_KEY') if not api_key or api_key == 'YOUR_FRED_API_KEY': print("Warning: FRED_API_KEY environment variable not set or placeholder used. Get a key from fred.stlouisfed.org.") # Using a dummy key to allow the example to run without immediate error, # but API calls will fail without a valid key. api_key = 'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456' fred = Fred(api_key=api_key) # Fetch a specific economic data series (e.g., S&P 500) data = fred.get_series('SP500') print("Fetched S&P 500 data (last 5 entries):") print(data.tail()) # Search for data series search_results = fred.search('unemployment rate') print("\nSearch results for 'unemployment rate' (first 3):") print(search_results[['id', 'title']].head(3))

Debug

Known issues

gotchaAn API key is mandatory for all requests. You can obtain one for free from the FRED website. Ensure it's set as the 'FRED_API_KEY' environment variable or passed directly to the `Fred` constructor.

fix

Apply for a FRED API key at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html and configure it as an environment variable (`export FRED_API_KEY='your_key'`) or pass it directly: `fred = Fred(api_key='your_key')`.

affects: All versions

breakingOlder versions of fredapi (<0.5.1) used `DataFrame.append`, which is deprecated in newer pandas versions. Using such old fredapi versions with modern pandas will lead to `FutureWarning`s or errors.

fix

Upgrade fredapi to version 0.5.1 or newer: `pip install --upgrade fredapi`. This version replaced `DataFrame.append` with `pd.concat`.

affects: <0.5.1

breakingVersions of fredapi prior to 0.3.7 used HTTP for API calls. FRED's API primarily uses HTTPS. Using very old versions might result in connection errors if FRED no longer supports HTTP for certain endpoints.

fix

Upgrade fredapi to version 0.3.7 or newer: `pip install --upgrade fredapi`. This version switched to using HTTPS for all FRED API calls.

affects: <0.3.7

Errors

Common errors & fixes

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fredapi'

The 'fredapi' library has not been installed in the Python environment you are currently using.

fix

Install the 'fredapi' package using pip: `pip install fredapi` or using conda if in an Anaconda environment: `conda install -c conda-forge fredapi`.

ValueError: You need to set a valid API key.

The fredapi client was initialized without a valid FRED API key, which is required to authenticate requests to the FRED API.

fix

Obtain a free API key from the FRED website (fred.stlouisfed.org) and provide it during Fred object initialization (e.g., `Fred(api_key='YOUR_API_KEY')`), set it as an environment variable `FRED_API_KEY`, or save it to a file specified by `api_key_file`.

AttributeError: 'xml.etree.ElementTree.Element' object has no attribute 'getchildren'

This error occurs in Python 3.9 and later because the `getchildren()` method of `xml.etree.ElementTree.Element` was deprecated in Python 3.2 and removed in Python 3.9, and the installed version of `fredapi` relies on this deprecated method for XML parsing.

fix

Upgrade 'fredapi' to a version compatible with Python 3.9+ (e.g., `pip install --upgrade fredapi`) or ensure you are using a Python version older than 3.9.

ImportError: cannot import name 'Fred' from 'fredapi'

This typically occurs if you have a local Python file named 'fredapi.py' in the same directory as your script, which shadows the installed 'fredapi' package, or if there's a circular import issue.

fix

Rename any local file named 'fredapi.py' to something else (e.g., 'my_fred_script.py') to avoid module shadowing, or ensure your import statement is `from fredapi import Fred` and not attempting to import a non-existent name.

requests.exceptions.HTTPError: 401 Client Error: Unauthorized for url: ...

The FRED API key is missing, invalid, or incorrectly configured, preventing successful authentication with the FRED API.

fix

Obtain a valid FRED API key from the FRED website (fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html) and provide it when initializing Fred or set it as an environment variable:
```python
# Option 1: Pass key directly
from fredapi import Fred
fred = Fred(api_key='YOUR_API_KEY')

# Option 2: Set as environment variable (e.g., export FRED_API_KEY='YOUR_API_KEY' in your shell)
# Then, fredapi will automatically pick it up:
# from fredapi import Fred
# fred = Fred()
```

Upgrade

Version history

0.5.2latest on PyPI · released May 5, 2024

Audit

Dependencies

pandasrequiredCore data structures (Series, DataFrame) for API responses.

Agent activity

46 hits · last 30 days

node

Amazon

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/mortada/fredapi ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/fredapi/ ↗

homepagehttps://fred.stlouisfed.org/ ↗