abs-mcp 0.2.4

MCP server for the Australian Bureau of Statistics Data API. Hides SDMX behind plain-English tools, with curated mappings for Labour Force, CPI, ERP, Building Approvals, and Lending Indicators.

abs-mcp

An MCP server that wraps the Australian Bureau of Statistics Data API and hides SDMX behind plain-English tools. Ask Claude "What's the unemployment rate in NSW?" and get a real answer with a source link, instead of a wall of SDMX codes.

Five tools, ten curated dataflows: Labour Force, CPI, Wage Price Index, Job Vacancies, Average Weekly Earnings, GDP / National Accounts, quarterly + annual Estimated Resident Population, Building Approvals, and Lending Indicators.

What you can ask

Once installed, your LLM can answer questions like:

Question	Real response (verified)
What's the unemployment rate in NSW?	4.27% (Mar 2026)
AU annual CPI inflation?	4.60% (Mar 2026)
AU annual wage growth?	3.40% (Q4 2025)
Average weekly earnings in Australia?	$1,562 (Sep–Oct 2025)
AU GDP quarterly growth?	0.80% (Q4 2025)
AU GDP per capita?	$24,900/qtr (Q4 2025)
Job vacancies in NSW?	101,200 (Q1 2026)
Dwelling approvals in NSW?	4,400/month (Mar 2026)
New NSW housing loan commitments?	$19.7B (Q4 2025)
Quarterly population of Australia?	27.7M (Q3 2025)

Every answer comes with the period, units, and a link back to the ABS source page. Comparisons and time-series queries work just as well — see Worked examples below.

Install

# After publish:
uvx abs-mcp

# Local dev install:
uv pip install -e .

Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["abs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

For a local checkout (before PyPI publish):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abs": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/absolute/path/to/abs-mcp", "abs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The abs server appears in the tools panel with five tools.

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or workspace .cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "abs": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["abs-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Tools

Tool	What it does
search_datasets(query, limit=10)	Fuzzy-search ABS dataflow names. Returns the top matches.
describe_dataset(dataset_id)	Plain-English description of a dataflow's dimensions and values.
get_data(dataset_id, filters, start_period, end_period, format)	Query a dataflow with filters. Returns clean records (default), grouped series, or CSV.
latest(dataset_id, filters)	Just the most recent observation(s) — wraps get_data with lastNObservations=1.
list_curated()	The ten dataflow IDs that have hand-curated plain-English support.

Curated dataflows

For these ten, filters accepts plain-English values (e.g. "region": "nsw" instead of "REGION": "1"):

• LF — Labour Force, monthly: employment, unemployment, participation by state/sex
• CPI — Consumer Price Index, quarterly inflation by capital city and category
• WPI — Wage Price Index, quarterly wage growth by industry/sector/state
• JV — Job Vacancies, quarterly labour demand by industry/sector/state
• AWE — Average Weekly Earnings, half-yearly by industry/sector/state
• ANA_AGG — National Accounts: GDP, GDP per capita, terms of trade, real income (Australia, quarterly)
• ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_ASGS2021 — Estimated Resident Population, annual by state and sub-state geography
• ERP_Q — Quarterly Estimated Resident Population, by state/sex/age
• BA_GCCSA — Building Approvals, monthly by state/capital region and building type
• LEND_HOUSING — Lending Indicators, quarterly new housing loan commitments by purpose, lender, and state

Any other ABS dataflow still works — pass raw SDMX dimension IDs and codes.

Worked examples

"What's the current unemployment rate in NSW?"

Claude calls:

latest(dataset_id="LF", filters={"region": "nsw", "measure": "unemployment_rate"})

Returns:

{
  "dataset_id": "LF",
  "dataset_name": "Labour Force",
  "query": {"region": "nsw", "measure": "unemployment_rate"},
  "period": {"start": "2026-03", "end": "2026-03"},
  "unit": "Percent",
  "records": [
    {
      "period": "2026-03",
      "value": 4.27,
      "dimensions": {"measure": "Unemployment rate", "region": "New South Wales", "sex": "Persons"},
      "unit": "Percent"
    }
  ],
  "source": "Australian Bureau of Statistics",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-05-11T03:14:22Z",
  "abs_url": "https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia"
}

"Show me NSW housing approvals over the last two years"

get_data(dataset_id="BA_GCCSA", filters={"region": "nsw", "measure": "dwelling_units"}, start_period="2024")

"Compare quarterly CPI in Sydney vs Melbourne"

get_data(dataset_id="CPI", filters={"region": ["sydney", "melbourne"], "measure": "change_year"}, start_period="2023")

Period formats

ABS uses different period formats per dataflow. Pass start_period / end_period in the matching format:

Dataflows	Frequency	Format	Example
LF, BA_GCCSA	Monthly	YYYY-MM	"2026-03"
CPI, WPI, JV, ANA_AGG, LEND_HOUSING, ERP_Q	Quarterly	YYYY-Q* or YYYY-MM	"2025-Q4"
AWE	Half-yearly	YYYY-S*	"2025-S2"
ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_ASGS2021	Annual	YYYY	"2025"

Development

git clone https://github.com/Bigred97/abs-mcp.git
cd abs-mcp
uv sync --extra dev
uv pip install -e .

# Unit tests (no network)
uv run pytest

# Live integration tests (hits real ABS API)
uv run pytest -m live

The SQLite cache lives at ~/.abs-mcp/cache.db. Catalogue refreshes every 24h, codelists every 7 days, data responses every hour, latest 15 minutes. Delete the file to force a refresh.

How it differs from existing ABS MCP servers

The one existing community option (seansoreilly/abs) exposes a single query_dataset tool that passes raw SDMX through. This package offers semantic tools and curated mappings for the highest-value dataflows so an LLM can answer real questions without you needing to know what M13.3.1599.20.1.M means.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for release history.

License

MIT — Harry Vass, 2026.