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This guide takes you from no account to a working request that pulls live macro data, with full provenance, in under five minutes. The base URL is https://api.financialdatapi.com, and endpoints use clean, versionless paths such as /observations/latest.

Prerequisites

  • A Financial Data API key. Signup is self-serve and free; see Create an API key below.
  • Either curl and a shell, or any HTTP client (Python requests, Node fetch, the official TypeScript SDK).
  • Node.js 18+ if you plan to use the SDK.

Get started

Create an API key

Sign up at app.financialdatapi.com, verify your email, and create a key in the dashboard. It works immediately. The Free tier includes 2,500 requests a month with no card required.Export the key so the examples below pick it up:
Keys are hashed server-side and never shown again after creation. Store yours securely the moment you create it.

Make your first request

Pull the latest US CPI inflation reading. Either header form works; pick one and stay consistent.
You will get back the standard response envelope: the value in data, request metadata in meta, and a requestId for tracing.

Page through a time series

The latest endpoint returns one row per indicator. To pull history, hit /observations and follow the cursor while meta.pagination.has_more is true.
See Pagination for the full loop.

Trace any value to its source

Every observation carries source, sourceUrl, and an observationId. Pass the id to the provenance endpoint for the full auditable chain.
See Provenance for what each field means.

Where to go next

Authentication & scopes

Header forms, scopes, the keyless discovery endpoints, and rate-limit headers.

The time model

Period, knowledge time, and as_of. The basis for lookahead-free backtests.

Macro screener

Filter countries by canonical macro indicators with a compact DSL.

TypeScript SDK

A typed, zero-dependency client with auto-pagination and screener helpers.
Need help? Email support@financialdatapi.com and include the requestId from the affected response. See Support.