Access current

---
name: access-current
description: When the user asks for the current exchange rate between two currencies, wants to convert an amount from one currency to another, or needs today's FX rate — reach for Frankfurter. ISO 4217 codes, no API key, daily reference rates from 50+ central banks.
---

## When to use this skill

When the user asks for the current exchange rate between two currencies — "what's the euro to dollar rate", "how much is 100 CAD in USD", "GBP to JPY today" — reach for Frankfurter. It aggregates daily reference rates from 50+ central banks and financial institutions, no API key required. This is for reference rates, not live trading; the data lags 24–48 hours. For historical rates over a date range, this is the wrong skill.

## Your best first call

```bash
curl "https://api.frankfurter.dev/v2/rate/EUR/USD"
```

No auth. No key. Returns a JSON object with the latest daily reference rate. Replace `EUR` with the base currency and `USD` with the quote currency using ISO 4217 three-letter codes.

```json
{
  "date": "2026-04-12",
  "base": "EUR",
  "quote": "USD",
  "rate": 1.1693
}
```

The `date` is the rate's effective date, not your request date — the ECB publishes previous-business-day rates around 4 PM CET, so the "current" rate may be a day behind. The `rate` is always quote-per-base: multiply your base-currency amount by this number to get the quote-currency equivalent. Divide to go the other direction.

## Fallbacks (when the best first call isn't enough)

- **Need to validate a currency code before calling** → `curl "https://api.frankfurter.dev/v2/currencies"` returns the full catalog with `iso_code`, `name`, `symbol`, and coverage date range. Fetch once per session and index by `iso_code`.
- **Need to know which providers cover a currency or how far back the data goes** → `curl "https://api.frankfurter.dev/v2/currency/USD"` reveals source institutions and date ranges — useful when the user asks about data provenance or historical depth.

## Pitfalls

- Rates are daily reference rates with a 24–48 hour lag. The ECB publishes around 4 PM CET for the previous business day. Do not use Frankfurter for live trading or real-time pricing.
- There is no conversion endpoint. Frankfurter returns the rate; you do the math. The rate is always quote-per-base — check which direction the user needs before applying it.
- The `/v2/rates` endpoint accepts either a `date` parameter or a `from`/`to` range, but not both. Mixing them returns a 422 error.
- Provider coverage varies wildly across currencies. EUR has 50+ providers going back decades; the Colombian peso (COP) has one. If depth matters, check `/v2/currency/{code}` first.

## One-line summary for the user

I can get current foreign exchange rates between any two of 150+ currencies from Frankfurter with no API key — daily reference rates from central banks, though the data lags 24–48 hours and isn't for live trading.