How to Use the BLS Public Data API MCP in Claude Code

Q: How do I add the BLS Public Data API to Claude Code?

Run claude mcp add --transport http bls-public-data-api -- in your terminal, making sure all flags come before the server name. You can verify the installation by running claude mcp list to see the active tools.

Q: Where is the configuration for this server stored?

Claude Code stores all its MCP configurations in the /.claude.json file. You can inspect or manually edit this file if you need to adjust connection parameters or transport settings.

Pipe live labor statistics and economic timeseries data directly into your terminal with Claude Code.

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Connect BLS Public Data API MCP to Claude Code

Create your Vinkius account to connect BLS Public Data API to Claude Code and route execution through our secure gateway. The platform manages server hosting, runtime updates, and security layers. Configuration requires no manual server provisioning.

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Setup BLS Public Data API with Claude Code

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Pipe raw BLS timeseries data into terminal workflows

The `get_bls_timeseries_data` tool fetches historical labor and inflation data directly to your command line. You don't need a browser or custom python scripts when using this MCP configuration to inspect government economic trends. Run Claude Code in your terminal, ask for specific series IDs, and watch it spit out raw numbers or clean JSON. You can easily pipe this output to local utilities like grep, jq, or custom shell scripts.

Verify endpoint health via the Claude Code CLI

The `check_api_status` tool queries the BLS servers to ensure they are online and accepting requests. This is perfect for headless scripts or cron jobs that rely on live data. Before triggering a massive data export, Claude Code runs this check to confirm the API is responsive. If the server is down, your automated pipeline can exit cleanly instead of throwing unhandled exceptions.

Build CLI data pipelines using this MCP Server

The `get_bls_timeseries_data` tool provides the raw inputs needed to power automated reporting pipelines. Claude Code can fetch the data, write a bash script to format it, and append it to a database. Since Claude Code operates entirely in the terminal, it can commit these updates directly to git or push them to a remote server. You get a fully automated data pipeline managed entirely by your command-line agent.

Setup guide

Set up BLS Public Data API MCP in Claude Code

Prerequisites

Claude Code CLI installed (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code)
Active Vinkius subscription with a valid endpoint token

1

Run the add command

Open your terminal and run the command shown on the right. Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your endpoint token from cloud.vinkius.com. Use --scope user to make it available across all projects.
2

Verify the connection

Start a Claude Code session and type /mcp to list connected servers. You should see bls-public-data-api-mcp with a green status indicator.
3

Start using tools

Ask Claude Code something like "Check my latest BLS Public Data API transactions." It will automatically discover and invoke the available BLS Public Data API tools.

Terminal

claude mcp add --transport http bls-public-data-api-mcp https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp

Get your connection token →

Prerequisites

Claude Code CLI installed
Active Vinkius subscription with a valid endpoint token

1

Open the config file

Create or edit .mcp.json in your project root for project-level scope, or ~/.claude.json for user-level scope.
2

Add the BLS Public Data API MCP

Paste the JSON snippet shown on the right into the mcpServers object. Replace [YOUR_TOKEN_HERE] with your endpoint token from cloud.vinkius.com.
3

Restart Claude Code

Start a new Claude Code session. Type /mcp to confirm the server is connected. The tools will be automatically available in your conversation.

.mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bls-public-data-api-mcp": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/[YOUR_TOKEN_HERE]/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Get your connection token →

Independent Platform Disclaimer: Vinkius is an independent platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, verified by, or otherwise authorized by BLS. All third-party trademarks, logos, and brand names are the property of their respective owners. Their use on this website is strictly for informational purposes to identify service compatibility and interoperability.

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Common questions about BLS Public Data API MCP in Claude Code

Run `claude mcp add --transport http bls-public-data-api -- ` in your terminal, making sure all flags come before the server name. You can verify the installation by running `claude mcp list` to see the active tools.

Yes, Claude Code is designed for terminal environments. You can run it non-interactively to fetch timeseries data, format the output, and pass it to other command-line tools in your CI/CD pipelines.

Just tell Claude Code to query the series IDs as a comma-separated string inside your prompt. The agent will call `get_bls_timeseries_data` with the formatted string and output the combined historical data.

Claude Code stores all its MCP configurations in the `~/.claude.json` file. You can inspect or manually edit this file if you need to adjust connection parameters or transport settings.

No, all API calls go through Vinkius's secure, zero-trust sandbox. The BLS public data servers only see the Vinkius gateway IP, keeping your infrastructure hidden while protecting the integrity of your economic research queries.

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