Linking FRED as a source
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This source is currently in alpha. The interface and available tables may change.
The FRED connector syncs series, observations, series categories, and more into the PostHog data warehouse, so you can analyze them alongside your product data.
Prerequisites
Credentials that can read the data you want to sync. PostHog only reads data, so read access is enough.
Adding a data source
- In PostHog, go to the Sources tab of the data pipeline section.
- Click + New source and click Link next to this source.
- Enter your credentials (see Configuration below) and click Next.
- Select the tables you want to sync, choose a sync method and frequency, then click Import.
Once the syncs are complete, you can start querying this data in PostHog.
Pull US and international economic time series from FRED, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis database.
Request a free API key at fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html. FRED has around 800,000 series, so pick the ones you want: a series ID is the code at the end of its FRED page URL, such as UNRATE for the unemployment rate or CPIAUCSL for CPI.
You'll be asked for:
- API key
- Series IDs: for example
UNRATE, CPIAUCSL, GDPC1, DGS10.
Sync modes
Each table can be synced in one of several modes, depending on what the source supports:
- Webhook (when available) – the source pushes changes to PostHog in real time. Fastest freshness, lowest ongoing cost, and the only mode that reliably captures updates and deletes.
- Incremental – only new or updated rows are synced on each run, using a cursor field (such as an
updated_attimestamp). Cheaper than a full refresh, but deletes aren't captured. - Append only – new rows are appended using a cursor field; existing rows are never updated. Ideal for immutable, append-only tables like event logs.
- Full refresh – the whole table is reloaded on every sync. Use it when a table has no reliable cursor or when you need deletions reflected.
See sync methods for a full explanation of how each mode works and how to choose between them.
All FRED tables are full refresh. Each sync replaces the contents of the table.
Configuration
| Option | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
API key | password | Yes |
Series IDs | textarea | Yes |
Supported tables
| Table | Description | Sync method | Incremental field | Primary key |
|---|---|---|---|---|
series | Metadata for each economic data series listed in the source's series IDs, including its title, frequency, units and when it was last updated. | Full refresh | — | — |
observations | Observation values over time for each series in the source's series IDs. One row per series and observation date. | Full refresh | — | — |
series_categories | Categories each series in the source's series IDs belongs to, in FRED's category tree. | Full refresh | — | — |
series_tags | Tags attached to each series in the source's series IDs, covering frequency, geography, source and seasonal adjustment. | Full refresh | — | — |
series_releases | The release each series in the source's series IDs is published in. | Full refresh | — | — |
releases | Every release of economic data published on FRED, such as the Employment Situation or the Consumer Price Index. | Full refresh | — | — |
release_dates | The publication calendar for FRED releases, including scheduled future dates. | Full refresh | — | — |
sources | Organizations that publish the data behind FRED releases, such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics. | Full refresh | — | — |
tags | Every tag FRED assigns to series, used to filter and group them by frequency, geography, publisher and seasonal adjustment. | Full refresh | — | — |
Troubleshooting
- If the connection fails with an authorization error, the API key is wrong, expired, or has been revoked. Create a new one, then reconnect the source.
- If a table syncs no rows, the credential may not have access to that data. Check its permissions, then reconnect the source.
If your sync is failing or data looks wrong, see the Data warehouse troubleshooting guide. If that doesn't help, contact support – we're happy to help.