A research-grade upgrade in three logical blocks: (1) discoverability and reference data, (2) workflow utilities and the default plot method, and (3) reproducibility helpers. 35 exports + 4 S3 methods, 275 tests, three new vignettes.
fred_catalogue() returns an offline curated catalogue of around 50
widely used FRED series (GDP, employment, inflation, rates, housing,
financial, money/credit, trade/FX, consumer, fiscal). Filter by category
or free-text. No API call required.fred_browse() pretty-prints the FRED category tree. With no
arguments, shows the eight top-level categories from a static reference
(no API call). Pass a category_id to drill into children.fred_recession_dates() returns NBER business-cycle reference dates
(peak, trough, duration) since 1857. Pass a vector of dates to flag to
get back per-observation in-recession indicators for use as a regression
covariate.fred_fomc_dates() returns FOMC scheduled meeting decision dates
2017 to 2025, including SEP-meeting flags. Selected unscheduled meetings
during stress periods are included.fred_tbl now threads through fred_search(), fred_category(),
fred_category_children(), fred_category_series(), fred_releases(),
fred_release_series(), fred_release_dates(), fred_sources(),
fred_source_releases(), fred_tags(), fred_related_tags(), and
fred_updates(). Their print headers now show the endpoint and search
query (where applicable).summary.fred_tbl() prints query metadata, dimensions, date range,
and value range before the standard summary.data.frame output.[.fred_tbl() preserves the fred_tbl class and fred_query
attribute when subsetting.fred_event_window() extracts data inside a c(before, after) day
window around event dates. Works on both long and wide format. Handy for
event studies around FOMC decisions, recession peaks, or release dates.fred_aggregate() aggregates long or wide format data to a coarser
calendar frequency (week / month / quarter / year) using mean, sum,
first, last, median, min, or max. Complements server-side
aggregation in fred_series(frequency = ...).fred_interpolate() fills NA values via last-observation-carry-
forward ("locf") or linear interpolation ("linear"). Useful for
mixed-frequency analysis.plot.fred_tbl() default plot method. Detects long or wide format,
draws one line per series, and shades NBER recession periods. Uses base
graphics: no ggplot2 dependency.fred_cite_series() produces a citation for a FRED series in BibTeX,
plain text, or bibentry form. Works offline (falls back to the series ID
as the title); pass fetch_metadata = TRUE to use the official series
title from fred_info(). Supports vintage-date pinning so cited data is
reproducible even after revisions.fred_manifest() snapshots one or more fred_tbl objects as a YAML
manifest with query metadata, dimensions, date range, and an MD5 hash of
each object. Saving the manifest alongside paper code lets reviewers
verify that the underlying data is unchanged.fred_vintage_revisions() returns per-observation revision summary
statistics (n_vintages, first/final value, total revision, mean/SD of
inter-vintage changes, days to final). Useful for choosing low-revision
series for nowcasting and real-time analysis.multi-series-workflows: fetch, transform, widen, plot.nowcasting-with-fred: pseudo-real-time GDP nowcasting
using monthly indicators, with vintage-aware backtesting (pairs with the
nowcast package).inflation-revisions: tracking core inflation revisions
using fred_real_time_panel() aligned to FOMC SEP meeting dates.CITATION.cff file at the repository root for the GitHub citation
widget and Zenodo deposit workflow.fred_series() gains a format argument. Pass format = "wide" to get
one row per date with a column per series, instead of the default long
layout.fred_series() gains a transform argument with readable aliases for
the FRED units codes: "level", "diff", "yoy_diff", "qoq_pct",
"yoy_pct", "annualised", "log", "log_diff", and more. The raw
units codes still work; transform and units are mutually exclusive.fred_as_of() returns a series as it appeared on a chosen vintage date.fred_first_release() returns only the initial release of each
observation, with no subsequent revisions.fred_all_vintages() returns the full revision history.fred_real_time_panel() returns the values that were available on
each of a chosen set of vintage dates.fred_cache_info() reports the cache directory, file count, total
size, and per-file metadata. Useful for debugging stale results.fred_tbl, a thin
data.frame subclass with a one-line provenance header showing the
query (series count, observation count, units, transform, frequency,
vintage). The header is informational; downstream code can keep
treating the result as a plain data frame.\donttest with tempdir() cache instead of \dontrun,
fixing CRAN policy compliance.options(fred.cache_dir = ...).fred_series() for fetching one or more FRED time series.