Aussie Data MCP

An MCP server that lets Claude (or any MCP client) query Australian economic and transport data directly: ABS, RBA, and Sydney Opal tap data from Commute Pulse.

Ask things like "how has Sydney rent moved against the cash rate since 2022?" and the model pulls the real series instead of guessing.

Tools

| Tool | What it answers | Source | |---|---|---| | get_cpi | Inflation by item and capital city (headline, trimmed mean, rents, electricity...) | ABS monthly CPI | | get_labour_force | Unemployment, participation, employment by state | ABS Labour Force | | get_cash_rate | RBA cash rate target, monthly | RBA F1.1 | | get_lending_rates | Home loan, business and credit card rates (advertised) | RBA F5 | | get_exchange_rates | AUD against 18 currencies, plus the TWI | RBA F11.1 | | rba_series | Any other RBA table (list its series, then fetch) | RBA statistical tables | | get_commute_pulse | Sydney's Friday gap and return-to-office patterns since 2020 | TfNSW Opal Tap Data | | abs_search_dataflows | Find any ABS dataset by keyword | ABS Data API | | abs_describe_dataflow | Dimensions and codes for an ABS dataset | ABS Data API | | abs_get_data | Fetch any ABS dataset by SDMX key | ABS Data API |

Every tool returns compact JSON: named series with units, the latest value, the start value and the change over the window already worked out, plus notes on caveats. No API keys needed.

Use it with Claude Desktop

Add this to claude_desktop_config.json (Settings > Developer > Edit Config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aussie-data": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "aussie-data-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Or from a local clone, point it at the build: "command": "node", "args": ["/path/to/aussie-data-mcp/dist/index.js"].

npx -y aussie-data-mcp runs the newest published version every time Claude starts. To stay on a version you have checked, pin it: "args": ["-y", "[email protected]"].

Every id the model passes in (RBA table, ABS dataflow, SDMX key, CPI code) is checked against the shape of a real id before it goes into a request URL. npm test covers those checks.

Develop

npm install
npm run smoke     # hits every live source and prints a summary
npm run inspect   # opens the MCP Inspector against the server

Responses are cached for 6 hours (memory + temp dir). Override with AUSSIE_DATA_CACHE_TTL_HOURS and AUSSIE_DATA_CACHE_DIR.

Commute Pulse data is a bundled snapshot of that pipeline's outputs. After re-running it, refresh with npm run sync:commute.

Health check

Every morning a GitHub Action calls the live ABS and RBA APIs the way the tools do and appends the result to health/log.jsonl: which checks passed, how long each took, and the latest period and value each returned. health/latest.md is the last run. If a source fails, returns nothing, changes how many series it sends, goes backwards, adds a new note or goes stale, the Action opens a health issue (or comments on the open one). Run it yourself with npm run health.

Data and licences

• ABS data: ABS Data API, CC BY 4.0
• RBA data: RBA statistical tables, see the RBA's copyright terms
• Opal data: TfNSW Open Data - Opal Tap Data, CC BY 4.0

Code: MIT.