{"uid":"cap_qYEwnNWWYBQDaDDKMpLuT","slug":"fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-category-tree-ec109c04","name":"Fathom Macroeconomic Data API — Category Tree","description":"Free macroeconomic data API powered by FRED. 816,000+ economic time series. GDP, inflation, unemployment, interest rates, and more.","url":"https://fredfathom.vercel.app/api/category-tree?utm_source=zero.xyz","method":"POST","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"categoryId":{"type":"string","description":"Parent category ID (default: 0 for root)"}}},"responseSchema":{"type":"object","required":["source"],"properties":{"source":{"type":"string"},"children":{"type":"array","items":{"type":"object"}},"parent_id":{"type":"string"}}},"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.04","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"registry","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.04/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.04","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.04","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_lyTkrCr8cRQOYzA8n8jTY","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.04","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":null,"unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Retrieves the hierarchical category tree of FRED economic data series, returning child categories under a given parent category ID","exampleAgentPrompt":"Show me the subcategories under FRED's root economic data category so I can figure out which branch covers inflation and price indices.","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Discover inflation data subcategories","prompt":"Can you browse the FRED category tree starting from the root and show me which subcategories relate to inflation or price indices?"},{"title":"Navigate to unemployment data branch","prompt":"I want to explore the FRED macroeconomic data hierarchy — can you look up the child categories under the Labor Markets or Employment category?"},{"title":"Build a category explorer for economic data","prompt":"Fetch the full top-level category list from FRED's category tree (root category 0) so I can let users drill down into specific economic data series."}],"resultDescription":"Returns a JSON object containing the data source name (FRED), the parent category ID, and an array of child category objects each describing a subcategory in the FRED economic data hierarchy. These child categories can be used to further drill down into specific economic time series.","failureModes":["Invalid or non-existent categoryId returns an empty children array or error","Network or upstream FRED API unavailability results in a failed response","Malformed request body (e.g., non-string categoryId) may return a 400 error","Rate limiting or payment failures due to x402 protocol may block the request"],"whenToPreferThis":"Use this endpoint when you need to programmatically navigate the FRED economic data hierarchy to discover available categories before fetching actual time series data. Prefer this over direct series search when you want to browse by category structure rather than keyword, or when building a category explorer or data discovery workflow on top of FRED's 816,000+ economic series.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-10-11T12:42:18.032Z","isFirstParty":false,"canonicalSlug":"fathom-macroeconomic-data-api-category-tree-ec109c04"}