bcrp-cli

Agent-first CLI and MCP server for the statistics of the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú (BCRP): exchange rate, inflation, policy rate, reserves, GDP, commodity prices and ~17,000 more series. No API key required.

Tables for humans, clean JSON for scripts and AI agents.

Live demo: https://lizethriveros.github.io/bcrp-cli/

Made by Lizeth Riveros at Crafter Station.

Unofficial project, not affiliated with the BCRP. Data comes from the public BCRPData API.

$ bcrp fx
Tipo de cambio - TC Interbancario (S/ por US$) - Venta
PD04638PD · daily

2026-10-02  3.438

$ bcrp inflation --last 4
Índice de precios Lima Metropolitana (var% 12 meses) - IPC
PN01273PM · monthly · 4 observations

PERIOD   VALUE
───────  ─────
2026-05   3.91
2026-06   4.01
2026-07   4.07
2026-08   4.44

Why

BCRP series have opaque codes (PD04638PD) and the API can't search them. bcrp bundles the full series catalog so you (or your agent) can find a series by name in Spanish or English, then fetch it, with dates and numbers already normalized.

Install

With npm (Node 18+). The package is @lizethriveros/bcrp-cli and installs the bcrp command:

npx @lizethriveros/bcrp-cli fx          # run without installing
npm install -g @lizethriveros/bcrp-cli  # or install it, then just: bcrp fx

From source (requires Bun and Node 18+):

git clone https://github.com/LizethRiveros/bcrp-cli
cd bcrp-cli
bun install
bun run build
npm link          # puts `bcrp` on your PATH

Or run without building: bun src/cli.ts fx.

Usage

bcrp <shortcut>                        # latest value of a headline indicator
bcrp <shortcut|CODE> --last 12         # recent observations
bcrp get <shortcut|CODE> --from 2026-01 --to 2026-09
bcrp compare inflation gdp --last 6    # line up 2-6 series of the same frequency
bcrp change fx --over ytd              # how much it moved (1w, 1m, 3m, 6m, 1y, ytd)
bcrp stats inflation --last 24         # min, max, mean, median, net change over a period
bcrp convert 100 usd                   # at the BCRP interbank rate (or --date 2026-03-15)
bcrp convert 500 eur                   # euros work too; soles -> euros: bcrp convert 2000 pen --to eur
bcrp check fx --above 3.50             # alert check for scripts and schedulers
bcrp get fx --from 2026-01 --csv > fx.csv
bcrp search "tasa de interés" --freq monthly
bcrp info PD04638PD                    # what is this series? source, description, last update
bcrp skill install                     # install the agent skill (see below)
bcrp shortcuts                         # list headline indicators

Shortcuts

Shortcut	Series	Aliases
fx	USD/PEN interbank exchange rate, sell (daily)	usd, dolar, tc
inflation	Lima CPI, 12-month % change (monthly)	ipc, cpi
rate	Monetary policy reference rate (daily)	tasa, tpm
reserves	Net international reserves, US$ millions (daily)	rin
gdp	GDP, year-over-year % change (monthly)	pbi
copper	Copper, London (daily)	cobre
gold	Gold, London (daily)	oro
silver	Silver, H. Harman (daily)	plata
zinc	Zinc, London (daily)
euro	EUR/PEN interbank exchange rate, sell (daily)	eur
interbank	Interbank interest rate in soles (daily)	interbancaria
unemployment	Unemployment rate, Lima, 3-month average (monthly)	desempleo
exports	Exports, FOB US$ millions (monthly)	exportaciones
imports	Imports, FOB US$ millions (monthly)	importaciones
trade	Trade balance, FOB US$ millions (monthly)	balanza, trade-balance

Finding any other series

$ bcrp search "exchange rate" --limit 2
CODE       FREQ    SERIES                                                 RANGE
─────────  ──────  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────  ───────────────────────
PD04638PD  daily   TC Interbancario (S/ por US$) - Venta · Tipo de camb…  1997-01-02 → 2026-09-03
PM05291PA  annual  Yen (¥) · Tipo de cambio de las principales monedas …  1996 → 2025

Search matches the start of words in the name, category and group, ignores accents and understands common English terms (inflation, copper, gdp, reserves, …).

Dates

--from / --to accept YYYY, YYYY-MM, YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-Qn and are converted to whatever the series' frequency needs (daily, monthly, quarterly or annual). --last N keeps the last N observations.

Comparing series

bcrp compare lines up 2 to 6 series by period (they must share a frequency). Gaps show as n.d. because series are published with different lags.

$ bcrp compare inflation gdp --last 4
PN01273PM  Índice de precios Lima Metropolitana (var% 12 meses) - IPC
PN01728AM  Producto bruto interno y demanda interna (variación porcentual interanual) - PBI

PERIOD   PN01273PM  PN01728AM
───────  ─────────  ─────────
2026-05       3.91        2.2
2026-06       4.01        1.8
2026-07       4.07        3.6
2026-08       4.44       n.d.

Changes

bcrp change measures how much a series moved between its latest observation and an earlier point. Daily series use the last observation on or before that date (weekends and holidays); monthly, quarterly and annual series need an observation in exactly that month, quarter or year.

$ bcrp change fx --over ytd
Tipo de cambio - TC Interbancario (S/ por US$) - Venta
PD04638PD · daily
Source: SBS, Reuters, Datatec, BCRP

Over ytd:  3.364 (2025-12-31)  →  3.427 (2026-10-05)
Change:    +0.064  (+1.89%)

Series that are already rates or percentages (inflation, interest rates) report the change in points, not a percentage of a percentage. A period shorter than the series' own frequency (a weekly change of a monthly series) is refused instead of comparing the wrong periods.

Summary statistics

bcrp stats summarizes a period without pulling every point: observations, first and last value, net change, min and max (with their periods), mean, median and standard deviation. Rates and percentages report the change in points, as with change. Without a range it uses a recent default window.

$ bcrp stats inflation --last 12
Índice de precios Lima Metropolitana (var% 12 meses) - IPC
PN01273PM · monthly
Source: INEI

Observations  12
First         1.35  (2025-10)
Last          4.55  (2026-09)
Change        +3.20
Min           1.35  (2025-10)
Max           4.55  (2026-09)
Mean          3.08
Median        3.85
Std dev       1.31

Converting dollars, euros and soles

$ bcrp convert 100 usd
100.00 USD = 342.71 PEN
Rate: 3.427 S/ per US$ · interbank sell · 2026-10-05
PD04638PD · Source: SBS, Reuters, Datatec, BCRP
Reference rate; banks and exchange houses quote their own.

--date 2026-03-15 uses the last rate on or before that date, and --side buy uses the interbank buy rate. USD and EUR against the sol are supported (bcrp convert 2000 pen --to eur); cross rates such as USD to EUR are refused.

Alerts

bcrp check tests the latest value against a threshold and is meant for scripts and schedulers. Like grep, it exits 0 when the condition holds (alert) and 3 when it does not; 1 and 2 stay reserved for errors.

bcrp check fx --above 3.50 && echo "The dollar is above 3.50"

# cron, weekdays at 5 pm
0 17 * * 1-5  bcrp check fx --above 3.50 --json && curl -d "dollar above 3.50" ntfy.sh/my-topic

Output

A table in a terminal (with a one-line trend chart for series); JSON when piped. Force with --json / --table, or export with --csv (get, latest, search and compare). Errors go to stderr as {"error": "..."} with exit code 1 (data/API) or 2 (usage).

$ bcrp get fx --last 7
Tipo de cambio - TC Interbancario (S/ por US$) - Venta
PD04638PD · daily · 7 observations

▁▃▆▇▅█▆  3.406 → 3.438  (+0.033)
...

bcrp fx | jq .value
bcrp get inflation --last 12 | jq '.points[] | [.period, .value]'
bcrp compare inflation gdp --last 12 --csv > macro.csv

Use it from an AI agent (MCP)

bcrp mcp starts a Model Context Protocol server over stdio with ten tools: bcrp_search, bcrp_latest, bcrp_get, bcrp_compare, bcrp_change, bcrp_stats, bcrp_convert, bcrp_check, bcrp_shortcuts and bcrp_info.

Claude Code:

claude mcp add bcrp -- npx -y @lizethriveros/bcrp-cli mcp

Claude Desktop / any MCP client (mcpServers config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bcrp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@lizethriveros/bcrp-cli", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask things like "What's the dollar at today?" or "How much has the dollar risen this year?"

Agent skill

The MCP tools say what an agent can call; the skill teaches it when and what to watch out for: publication lag, comparing only series of the same frequency, not treating a percentage as a level, and being gentle with the API. It ships inside the package:

bcrp skill install      # copies SKILL.md to ~/.claude/skills/bcrp for Claude Code
bcrp skill              # or print it, to put it wherever your agent reads skills

Keeping the catalog fresh

A snapshot of the catalog ships with the package. To refresh it from BCRPData:

bcrp catalog update     # saves to ~/.bcrp/catalog.json, used from then on
bcrp catalog            # show catalog size, date and source

To regenerate the bundled snapshot in this repo: bun run catalog.

Development

bun install
bun test            # unit tests (no network needed)
bun run typecheck
bun run build       # bundles to dist/cli.js (runs on Node)

Notes

• The BCRP publishes with a lag: monthly series trail by a few weeks, quarterly by a few months. bcrp <series> always returns the latest published observation.
• Series metadata in the catalog (date ranges) can be older than the live data.
• Each series carries its source (BCRP, INEI, SBS, ...) from the catalog; bcrp info also shows the description, methodology link and last update when BCRPData provides them.
• Responses are cached for 10 minutes in ~/.bcrp/cache (only answers with data). Use --no-cache or BCRP_NO_CACHE=1 to skip it.
• The BCRP API sits behind an anti-bot filter that rejects bursts of requests. bcrp retries (also on network errors and 5xx/429 answers) with a short back-off, and compare fetches all its series in a single request; if you script many calls, add a small delay between them.

License

MIT © Lizeth Riveros. Made at Crafter Station.