TedataBB

Trading Economics data backend to be used by OpenBB Workspace.

Getting Started

This custom backend provides access to Trading Economics data from within the OpenBB Workspace platform, allowing you to search and visualize economic indicators.

Disclaimer

This tool is for personal, educational, and research purposes only.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• Firefox browser installed (required by tedata)

Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/jlokos/tedata_openbb_backend.git
cd tedata_openbb_backend

2. Create a virtual environment and install the dependencies:

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Running

Environment Variables

You can customize the behavior using these environment variables:

TEDATA_DISABLE_LOGGING=true  # Disable detailed tedata logging

Start the FastAPI server:

uvicorn main:app --reload --port 8000

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Integrating with OpenBB

Go into OpenBB Workspace at https://pro.openbb.co/ and add this custom backend.

• Name: TedataBB
• URL: http://127.0.0.1:8000

If all is working, you can click "Test" and get confirmation of how many widgets are valid.

Features

Search Widget

Search for economic indicators across Trading Economics database:

• Search by country, indicator name, or other keywords
• View search results in a table format

Scrape Widget

Extract time-series data for selected economic indicators:

• Supports multiple scraping methods (highcharts_api, path, tooltips, mixed)
• Retrieves historical data points
• Presents data in a table format ready for analysis

Metadata Widget

View detailed metadata for any economic indicator:

• See full description, source, latest values
• View update frequency and other important information
• Choose between pretty formatted view and raw JSON format

Known TODOs

• Search functionality needs improvement to allow grouping by indicator_id
• When clicking an indicator ID in search results, it should copy to clipboard rather than populating the search widget

Repo Structure

main.py

The main entry point for the FastAPI application that:

• Creates a FastAPI instance with API documentation
• Configures CORS middleware for cross-origin requests
• Implements endpoint handlers for searching and scraping data
• Provides utility functions for data extraction and formatting

widgets.json

Defines the widget configurations recognized by OpenBB Workspace:

• Parameter definitions
• Widget size recommendations
• Descriptions and documentation
• Category assignments for organization

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Acknowledgment

• tedata