🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio
🏦 swiss-snb-mcp
MCP server for the Swiss National Bank (SNB) data portal — exchange rates, balance sheet, interest rates, SARON, monetary aggregates, banking statistics, and balance of payments.
🇩🇪 Deutsche Version
Overview
swiss-snb-mcp connects AI models to the official Swiss National Bank data portal at data.snb.ch via the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It provides structured access to SNB's public REST API — no authentication required.
The server covers three tiers of datasets, all confirmed against the live API:
Phase 1 — Dedicated tools:
- Exchange rates (monthly averages, month-end rates, annual averages) for 27 currencies against CHF
- SNB balance sheet (Bilanz): gold reserves, foreign exchange investments, banknotes in circulation, sight deposits, and totals
Phase 2 — Via generic cube tools (snb_get_cube_data + snb_get_cube_metadata):
- SNB policy rate (Leitzins) and SARON daily fixing, emergency facility rate, sight deposit rates
- SARON compound rates: Overnight, 1M, 3M, 6M
- International money market rates: SARON (CH), SOFR (USA), TONA (JP), SONIA (UK), €STR/EURIBOR (EZ)
- Official central bank rates: SNB, Fed, ECB, Bank of England, Bank of Japan
- Monetary aggregates M1, M2, M3: stock levels and year-on-year changes
Phase 3 — Warehouse API (banking statistics) and balance of payments:
- Banking balance sheets (BSTA BIL): total assets and liabilities by bank group — annual and monthly
- Banking income statements (BSTA EFR): operating income, expenses, taxes by bank group — annual
- Balance of payments: current account, capital account, financial account (quarterly)
- International investment position: components by investment type (quarterly)
- Generic warehouse access: raw access to any SNB Warehouse cube by ID
Anchor demo query: "What was the EUR/CHF exchange rate during the 2015 Franc shock, and where does the SNB policy rate stand today compared to the Fed and ECB?"
Features
- 💱 Exchange rates — monthly CHF rates for EUR, USD, JPY, GBP, CNY and 22 more currencies
- 📅 Annual averages — year-by-year rates from 1980 onwards
- 🏛️ SNB balance sheet — gold, foreign exchange investments, banknotes, sight deposits (monthly)
- 🔄 Currency conversion — convert any amount to CHF using official SNB rates
- 📈 Policy rate & SARON — daily fixing, Leitzins, compound rates (1M/3M/6M)
- 🌍 International rate comparison — SNB, Fed, ECB, Bank of England, Bank of Japan side by side
- 💰 Monetary aggregates — M1, M2, M3 stock levels and year-on-year growth
- 🏦 Banking statistics — balance sheets and income statements by bank group (12 groups)
- 📊 Balance of payments — current account, IIP, and international investment position
- 🔍 Generic cube access — query any SNB data cube or Warehouse cube by ID
- 🔓 No authentication required — fully public SNB data portal
Prerequisites
- Python 3.11+
uv or pip- MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any MCP host)
Installation
Via uvx (recommended — no permanent installation needed):
uvx swiss-snb-mcp
Via pip:
pip install swiss-snb-mcp
From source:
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/swiss-snb-mcp.git
cd swiss-snb-mcp
pip install -e .
Usage / Quickstart
Claude Desktop — add to claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"swiss-snb-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["swiss-snb-mcp"]
}
}
}
Config file locations:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- Windows:
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:
"What is the current EUR/CHF exchange rate according to the SNB?"
"Show me the SNB balance sheet for the last 12 months — gold and foreign reserves."
Configuration
No API key or authentication required. The SNB data portal is fully public.
Optional environment variable:
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|
SNB_TIMEOUT | 15 | HTTP request timeout in seconds |
Available Tools
Phase 1 — Dedicated Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|
snb_get_exchange_rates | Monthly CHF rates for EUR, USD, JPY, GBP, CNY and 22 more currencies |
snb_get_annual_exchange_rates | Annual average rates, data from 1980 |
snb_get_balance_sheet | SNB Bilanz positions in millions CHF (monthly) |
snb_convert_currency | Convert any amount to CHF using official SNB rates |
Phase 2 — Generic Cube Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|
snb_get_cube_data | Generic access to any SNB cube by ID |
snb_get_cube_metadata | Inspect dimensions and filter values of any cube |
Phase 3 — Warehouse API (Banking Statistics) and Balance of Payments
| Tool | Description |
|---|
snb_get_banking_balance_sheet | Banking balance sheets by bank group (monthly/annual, assets/liabilities) |
snb_get_banking_income | Banking income statements by bank group (annual) |
snb_get_balance_of_payments | Balance of payments and international investment position (quarterly) |
snb_get_warehouse_data | Generic access to any SNB Warehouse cube by ID |
snb_get_warehouse_metadata | Inspect dimensions and last update of a Warehouse cube |
Resources (static catalogs)
Discovery aids served as MCP resources rather than tools so they don't crowd the tool manifest:
| URI | Description |
|---|
data://snb/currencies | All 27 currency IDs with labels and units |
data://snb/balance-sheet-positions | Asset and liability position IDs |
data://snb/cubes | All verified Cube-API IDs (Phase 1–2) + discovery guide |
data://snb/warehouse-cubes | Available Warehouse cube IDs (BSTA) |
data://snb/bank-groups | All 12 bank group IDs with labels |
Example Use Cases
| Query | Tool |
|---|
| "What is the current EUR/CHF rate?" | snb_get_exchange_rates |
| "Convert CHF 10,000 to USD" | snb_convert_currency |
| "Show SNB gold reserves over the last year" | snb_get_balance_sheet |
| "What is the current SNB policy rate?" | snb_get_cube_data (cube: snbgwdzid) |
| "How do SNB, Fed and ECB rates compare?" | snb_get_cube_data (cube: snboffzisa) |
| "What is the SARON 3M compound rate?" | snb_get_cube_data (cube: zirepo) |
| "How fast is M3 money supply growing?" | snb_get_cube_data (cube: snbmonagg) |
| "Total assets of all Swiss banks?" | snb_get_banking_balance_sheet |
| "Income statement of cantonal banks?" | snb_get_banking_income (bank_group: G10) |
| "Switzerland's balance of payments?" | snb_get_balance_of_payments |
| "Which cubes are available?" | resource data://snb/cubes |
→ More use cases by audience →
Safety & Limits
| Aspect | Details |
|---|
| Access | Read-only (readOnlyHint: true) — the server cannot modify or delete any data |
| Personal data | No personal data — all sources are aggregated, public macroeconomic statistics |
| Rate limits | SNB Warehouse API has WAF protection (HTTP 503 after ~100 rapid requests); the server retries automatically with exponential backoff (max 3 retries, delays 2/4/8s) |
| Timeout | 15 seconds per API call |
| Authentication | No API keys required — both APIs (/api/cube/ and /api/warehouse/cube/) are publicly accessible |
| Data source | Swiss National Bank — data.snb.ch |
| Terms of Service | Subject to SNB's Terms of Use and Copyright; data is free for non-commercial use with source attribution |
Architecture
┌─────────────────┐ ┌───────────────────────────┐ ┌──────────────────────┐
│ Claude / AI │────▶│ Swiss SNB MCP │────▶│ data.snb.ch │
│ (MCP Host) │◀────│ (MCP Server) │◀────│ │
└─────────────────┘ │ │ │ /api/cube/ (JSON) │
│ 11 Tools · 5 Resources │ │ /api/warehouse/ │
│ Stdio | SSE │ │ Public · No Auth │
│ │ │ │
│ Phase 1: dedicated tools │ │ Exchange rates │
│ Phase 2: generic cubes │ │ Balance sheet │
│ Phase 3: warehouse + │ │ Interest rates │
│ banking stats │ │ Banking statistics │
└───────────────────────────┘ │ Balance of payments │
└──────────────────────┘
Cube Discovery Pattern
The SNB API follows a consistent cube-based structure. Read the data://snb/cubes resource to explore verified cube IDs, then snb_get_cube_metadata to inspect dimensions before querying with snb_get_cube_data. Phase 3 adds the Warehouse API (/api/warehouse/cube/) for granular banking statistics — start from the data://snb/warehouse-cubes and data://snb/bank-groups resources.
Project Structure
swiss-snb-mcp/
├── src/
│ └── swiss_snb_mcp/
│ ├── __init__.py
│ ├── server.py # Core tools and FastMCP server (Phase 1–2 + BoP)
│ └── warehouse.py # Warehouse API tools (Phase 3: banking statistics)
├── tests/
│ ├── test_unit.py # respx-mocked unit tests (run in CI)
│ ├── test_live_scenarios.py # 20 live scenarios for Phase 1–2 (nightly)
│ └── test_live_warehouse.py # 20 live scenarios for Phase 3 (nightly)
├── pyproject.toml # Build configuration (hatchling)
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md # Contribution guidelines (English)
├── CONTRIBUTING.de.md # German version
├── SECURITY.md # Security policy & posture (English)
├── SECURITY.de.md # German version
├── LICENSE
├── README.md # This file (English)
└── README.de.md # German version
Known Limitations
- Exchange rates: Monthly averages only — no intraday or daily rates available via this API
- Balance sheet: Monthly data; some positions may have a publication lag of 1–2 months
- Cube access: Cube IDs are not officially documented by the SNB — read the
data://snb/cubes resource for verified IDs
- Historical depth: Coverage varies by series; exchange rates go back to 1980, some interest rate series start later
- No forecasts: All data is historical/realised — SNB does not publish forecasts via this API
Testing
# Unit tests (no API key required)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "not live"
# Integration tests (live SNB API)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "live"
Changelog
See CHANGELOG.md
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on reporting issues, suggesting new SNB cube IDs, and contributing code.
Security
This server is read-only, processes no personal data, and talks only to data.snb.ch. See SECURITY.md for the full security posture, audit results, and how to report a vulnerability.
License
MIT License — see LICENSE
Author
Hayal Oezkan · github.com/malkreide
Credits & Related Projects
Installation
Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):
{
"mcpServers": {
"swiss-snb-mcp": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"swiss-snb-mcp"
]
}
}
}
