abs-data-api
Query Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) datasets via natural language and return data with citations. Use when: (1) the user asks about Australian economic indicators (CPI, inflation, GDP, wages, unemployment, retail trade, housing prices, job vacancies, population, births, deaths, migration, trade); (2) the user wants live ABS data or time series; (3) the user asks to compare ABS statistics across states, periods, or industries; (4) the user wants to visualise or export ABS data (chart, CSV, table); (5) any request referencing ABS catalogue numbers (e.g. 6401.0, 6202.0) or ABS dataset names. NOT for: Census DataPacks (use the census-database skill instead).
Install via CLI (Recommended)
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/billybodean/abs-data-apiWhat This Skill Does
The abs-data-api skill empowers your OpenClaw agent to become an authoritative source for Australian economic intelligence. It bridges the gap between natural language requests and the official Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) API. By integrating a sophisticated caching layer and fuzzy-matching search capabilities, the skill enables users to query everything from national GDP and CPI inflation rates to granular industry-specific labor force statistics. The skill excels at transforming raw SDMX data into human-readable formats, providing direct citations to ensure data provenance and reliability for research, reporting, and analysis.
Installation
To integrate this skill into your environment, use the OpenClaw command-line interface:
clawhub install openclaw/skills/skills/billybodean/abs-data-api
Once installed, you should initialize the system by running the metadata refresh command: python3 scripts/abs_cache.py refresh. This ensures your local cache is populated with the latest ABS dataflows, enabling faster query responses and accurate search results.
Use Cases
This skill is designed for analysts, researchers, and financial observers who need real-time access to Australian macroeconomic data. Key use cases include:
- Economic Monitoring: Retrieving latest unemployment figures, inflation (CPI), or retail trade volumes.
- Trend Analysis: Comparing economic indicators across different Australian states or industry sectors.
- Reporting: Generating CSV exports for external spreadsheets or visual charts for presentations directly from the CLI.
- Financial Research: Accessing historical time series for housing prices or wage growth to perform deeper longitudinal studies.
Example Prompts
- "What is the current unemployment rate in Victoria compared to the national average?"
- "Show me a chart of Australia's quarterly GDP growth starting from 2020 and provide a summary report."
- "What are the latest CPI annual change figures, and can you export the last two years of data to a CSV file?"
Tips & Limitations
- Caching: The cache automatically refreshes every 24 hours. If you suspect data is outdated, trigger a manual refresh using
scripts/abs_cache.py refresh. - Catalog Search: If you are unsure of a dataset name, use the built-in search tool (
scripts/abs_search.py) rather than guessing, as it handles fuzzy matching for thousands of datasets. - Limitations: This skill is specifically for ABS economic datasets. It does not provide access to the Australian Census DataPacks; for those, please use the
census-databaseskill instead to ensure data accuracy and appropriate retrieval methods.
Metadata
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Find the right skillPaste this into your clawhub.json to enable this plugin.
{
"plugins": {
"official-billybodean-abs-data-api": {
"enabled": true,
"auto_update": true
}
}
}Tags(AI)
Flags: network-access, file-read, file-write, external-api