start_period

MCP tool from Imf MCP Server by cyanheads

/ endperiod accept YYYY, YYYY-SN, YYYY-QN, YYYY-MM, or YYYY-MM-DD whatever the series frequency, and cover the whole period they name — endperiod: 2023 includes 2023-M12 and 2023-Q4

How to use it

start_period is exposed by the Imf MCP Server MCP server. Add the server to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf and others), and the start_period tool becomes available to the model automatically. See the full listing for setup details and every tool this server provides.

Install Imf MCP Server

$docker run --rm -p 3010:3010 imf-mcp-server

FULL IMF MCP SERVER LISTING

Other tools in Imf MCP Server (8)

imf_dataframe_describe

List DataCanvas tables and columns staged by a prior imfquerydataset call

imf_dataframe_query

Run a read-only SQL SELECT across staged DataCanvas tables for multi-country comparisons and aggregations

imf_get_database

Fetch a dataflow's dimension list and a codelist preview per dimension — resolves human terms to SDMX codes before querying

imf_list_databases

List IMF SDMX dataflows available on the portal, a page at a time, with optional name/ID substring filtering

imf_query_dataset

Query a dataflow by dimension key over a time range; large result sets spill to DataCanvas

key_format

field shows the exact dot-separated dimension order required by imfquerydataset

no_data

errors include availability context from the upstream constraint endpoint: a dataflow that publishes no series at all is reported as such and points at a different dataflow, since no key would work; otherwise seriescount=0 means the code has no coverage and dataflowavailability names codes that do,

unit

is the upstream code — PT, USD, XDC, IX, NUM. Every key shape reports the same unit: the portal drops the unit block when a key uses + on the dimension that carries it, and one extra attributes-only request recovers it, so USA.NGDPRPCH+NGDPD.A and USA.NGDPRPCH+NGDPD. both report USD and PT. That key