https://github.com/jimurrito/whatdoesthefedsay

A simple Rest API that provides the current effective interest rate, as provided by the federal reserve here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/
https://github.com/jimurrito/whatdoesthefedsay

federal-interest interest-rates static-site

Last synced: about 1 month ago
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A simple Rest API that provides the current effective interest rate, as provided by the federal reserve here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/jimurrito/whatdoesthefedsay
• Owner: jimurrito
• Created: 2024-06-07T20:28:23.000Z (7 months ago)
• Default Branch: main
• Last Pushed: 2024-11-08T18:00:05.000Z (about 1 month ago)
• Last Synced: 2024-11-08T18:17:25.866Z (about 1 month ago)
• Topics: federal-interest, interest-rates, static-site
• Language: PowerShell
• Homepage: http://whatdoesthefedsay.com/
• Size: 361 KB
• Stars: 0
• Watchers: 2
• Forks: 0
• Open Issues: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.md

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README

        
# What Does the Fed(eral Reserve) say?

A simple Rest API that provides the current effective interest rate, as provided by the federal reserve here: [https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/](https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/)

The values for the API are updated as the federal reserve updates.

#### [Github Repo](https://github.com/jimurrito/whatdoesthefedsay)

## How to use

From either a browser, or a Rest API client like Postman, goto [http://whatdoesthefedsay.com/rate](http://whatdoesthefedsay.com/rate).

This will provide a JSON body between 700-800 bytes in size.

```json

{ 

    "rate": "5.33", 

    "seed": 442595821, 

    "date": "2024-Jun-7", 

    "source": "https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/" 

}

```

There is no authentication or token needed to access.

> Keep in mind a few things as you use this:

> - The rate provided is from the last business day.

> - Effective rate is not the same as the average interest rate a loan will have. That rate will usually be higher.

## Any issues?

Open an issue on this [repo](https://github.com/jimurrito/whatdoesthefedsay)!

# How I built this API for (almost) free

To build this API, I used a combination of Powershell, the Github Rest API, Github Pages.

## Powershell Script ([getrate.ps1](getrate.ps1))

1. Pulls the current current interest rate from the fed.

2. Parses HTML for the required values.

3. Used the Github API to create a branch on top of the Main branch to this [repo](https://github.com/jimurrito/whatdoesthefedsay).

4. Pushes the new rate into the [rate.html](rate.html) file.

This script runs as a cronjob using Powershell Core. However, it could also be ran from an Azure Function for the same cost. **Just so long as you keep it under 1,000,000 runs per month.**

## Github Pages

Pages feature in Github is a great way to host a blog. However, I'm using the static website functionality of pages to be the backend of my Rest API. 

This ensures I do not incurr any compute costs or scaling for the incomming requests. The last thing I want to do is expose a VM to the internet.

This also provides free DDOS attack protection, and any other protections that are native to Github.

## The Money Part

I used my domain provider IONOS to purchase the domain [whatdoesthefedsay.com](whatdoesthefedsay.com) for $10 a year. Feels like a good cost all-in-all.