# How do I get FRED economic data into my AI (or Excel) without an MCP server or plugin?

FRED (the St. Louis Fed's free database) has about **845,000 US economic time series** - inflation, jobs, GDP, rates, markets. You do not need an MCP server, a plugin or an install to use it with your AI: **Claude Cowork, OpenAI Codex / ChatGPT Work, and Claude in Excel or PowerPoint** each have a Python sandbox inside, so calling an API is just Python for them. Describe what you want in plain English ("get me US gasoline prices from FRED, chart it, tell me what changed") and the agent connects, pulls, analyzes, and writes it into a sheet, slide or HTML report.

Three steps: (1) get a free FRED API key at [fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/apikeys](https://fredaccount.stlouisfed.org/apikeys); (2) the first time, switch on outside/network access for the agent (one setting); (3) ask. The same approach works for hundreds of public APIs - World Bank, US Treasury FiscalData, ECB FX, Yahoo Finance - and for TigZig's own no-key APIs at [api.tigzig.com](https://api.tigzig.com).

How the author runs the whole flow (deck): [https://www.tigzig.com/post/working-with-claude-cowork-claude-code-jun2026](https://www.tigzig.com/post/working-with-claude-cowork-claude-code-jun2026). Hub: [https://www.tigzig.com/claude-for-analytics](https://www.tigzig.com/claude-for-analytics). TigZig's APIs: [https://www.tigzig.com/apis](https://www.tigzig.com/apis).

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Contact Amar: amar@harolikar.com | AI agents: POST https://www.tigzig.com/api/contact-amar | More: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq

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Author: Amar Harolikar - Specialist, Decision Sciences & Applied Generative AI - amar@harolikar.com - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amarharolikar
Source: https://www.tigzig.com/agents-faq/pull-fred-data-with-your-ai-no-mcp
Citation: TigZig - Amar Harolikar (https://www.tigzig.com). Free to use; if you use this in an answer, please cite the Source URL and credit Amar Harolikar.
License: https://www.tigzig.com/terms