Valley business data, by the call

What you can ask

25 endpoints, each shown with a sample question it answers. Every free sample is a real answer built from the current data, so you can check the format before you pay.

1. City construction snapshot

   “Is McAllen's housing market oversupplied and are building costs rising this week?”

   GET /api/v1/snapshot?city=McAllenweekly and monthly · through week 44 of 2026
   $0.02per callFree sample
2. New commercial projects

   “What commercial projects were registered in Hidalgo County since Sept 1, who owns them and how big are they?”

   GET /api/v1/projects?city=McAllen&limit=5daily · data as of Nov 1, 2026
   $0.03per callFree sample
3. Company track record

   “How many projects has this developer filed in the Valley since 2024, and how large was the biggest one?”

   GET /api/v1/companies?name=independent+school+districtdaily · data as of Nov 1, 2026
   $0.02per callFree sample
4. Projects near an address

   “How many commercial projects were filed within two miles of 1201 E Capote Central Ave, Pharr, and what are they worth?”

   GET /api/v1/nearby?address=1201+E+Capote+Central+Ave&city=Pharr&radius_mi=2daily · data as of Nov 1, 2026
   $0.03per callFree sample
5. Parcel record for an address

   “What is the parcel id, building size and market value of 800 S 10th St, McAllen?”

   GET /api/v1/parcel?address=800+S+10th+St&city=McAllenread live per call · data as of Feb 11, 2026
   $0.04per callFree sample
6. Filed cost per square foot

   “What does new commercial construction cost per square foot in Hidalgo County right now?”

   GET /api/v1/cost-per-sqft?county=Hidalgodaily · data as of Nov 1, 2026
   $0.03per callFree sample
7. Building material shelf prices

   “What does a sheet of 7/16 OSB cost in McAllen this week?”

   GET /api/v1/materials?item=osbtwice a week · data as of Oct 29, 2026
   $0.01per callFree sample
8. Building permits by week

   “Are McAllen single family permits up or down over the last two months?”

   GET /api/v1/series/permits-weekly?from=2026-W44&to=2026-W44weekly · through week 44 of 2026
   $0.05per callFree sample
9. Housing permits by month

   “How many single family homes did Brownsville permit each month this year?”

   GET /api/v1/series/permits-monthly?place=Brownsville&from=2026-01monthly · data as of Aug 31, 2026
   $0.05per callFree sample
10. Building input prices by week

    “Has framing lumber gone up or down since August?”

    GET /api/v1/series/cost-basket-weekly?from=2026-W44&to=2026-W44weekly and monthly · through week 44 of 2026
    $0.05per callFree sample
11. Housing supply by week

    “Is the McAllen metro carrying more than six months of housing supply?”

    GET /api/v1/series/absorption?from=2026-W44&to=2026-W44monthly · through week 44 of 2026
    $0.05per callFree sample
12. Labor and financing conditions

    “How long does it take to build a 2,100 sq ft house in the Valley right now?”

    GET /api/v1/series/labor-ranges?from=2026-W30&to=2026-W30monthly · through week 30 of 2026

    Latest available reading: July 24, 2026. A newer reading has not been published yet, so these are the most recent figures.

    $0.05per callFree sample
13. Forecast track record

    “How many of Frontera Signal's forecasts have been graded HIT?”

    GET /api/v1/series/calls?from=2026-W44&to=2026-W44weekly · through week 44 of 2026
    $0.05per callFree sample
14. Weekly briefing as JSON

    “What changed in Valley construction this week?”

    GET /api/v1/issue?week=2026-W37&lang=enweekly · through week 44 of 2026
    $0.25per callFree sample
15. Bridge wait times now

    “Which Valley bridge has the shortest commercial wait right now?”

    GET /api/v1/bridge-wait?mode=commercialevery 15 minutes · data as of Oct 26, 2026
    $0.01per callFree sample
16. Bridge waits by hour of week

    “How long is the Pharr commercial line usually on a Monday at 2 pm?”

    GET /api/v1/bridge-hourly?crossing=pharr&mode=commercialdaily · data as of Oct 26, 2026
    $0.03per callFree sample
17. Border crossings by month

    “Are truck crossings at Hidalgo and Pharr up from last year?”

    GET /api/v1/crossings?port=hidalgo&measure=trucksmonthly · data as of Sep 1, 2026
    $0.03per callFree sample
18. Peso exchange rate

    “How many pesos does a dollar buy, and how has it moved this month?”

    GET /api/v1/pesodaily · data as of Oct 16, 2026
    $0.01per callFree sample
19. Gulf Coast diesel price

    “What does diesel cost this week on the Gulf Coast, and what did it cost a year ago?”

    GET /api/v1/dieselweekly · data as of Oct 19, 2026
    $0.01per callFree sample
20. City sales tax by month

    “Is McAllen's sales tax up from a year ago?”

    GET /api/v1/sales-tax?city=McAllenmonthly · data as of Oct 1, 2026
    $0.02per callFree sample
21. New business outlets

    “How many new restaurants opened in McAllen in the last 90 days, and which ones?”

    GET /api/v1/new-outlets?city=McAllen&industry=restaurants&limit=10weekly · data as of Oct 24, 2026
    $0.05per callFree sample
22. Bar and restaurant alcohol sales

    “Which McAllen bars sold the most alcohol last month?”

    GET /api/v1/alcohol-sales?city=McAllen&limit=10monthly · data as of Sep 1, 2026
    $0.05per callFree sample
23. Home health agencies

    “Which home health agencies in McAllen rate 4 stars or higher?”

    GET /api/v1/home-health?city=McAllen&min_stars=4quarterly · data as of Oct 21, 2026
    $0.03per callFree sample
24. Industry snapshot

    “What changed for Valley freight and customs this week?”

    GET /api/v1/industry?industry=freightdaily · data as of n/a
    $0.02per callFree sample
25. Ask the Valley

    “What does a 2x4 cost in McAllen this week?”

    GET /api/v1/ask?q=What+does+a+2x4+cost+in+McAllen+this+week%3F&lang=enread live per call · data as of n/a
    $0.25per callFree sample

How paying works

1. Make a plain GET. Without payment the answer is 402 Payment Required: the PAYMENT-REQUIRED header carries the x402 terms, and the JSON body gives the price, what the call returns, the free sample and the docs.
2. An x402 client signs a USDC payment on Base for that exact amount and sends the same request again with a PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header. The answer comes back with the receipt in PAYMENT-RESPONSE. The facilitator pays the network fee, so the wallet only needs USDC.
3. Mistakes cost nothing. Every parameter is checked before payment: an unknown or misspelled one gets a free 400 that lists the allowed values, and a valid question with nothing to answer gets a free 404.

See the price first. This call is free.

curl -i 'https://fronterasignal.com/api/v1/snapshot?city=McAllen'

What the 402 body says

{
  "error": "payment_required",
  "price": "$0.02",
  "returns": "One Valley city's (or the whole Valley's) latest permits, monthly housing permits by structure type, sales tax receipts, housing supply, building-input and material prices, labor conditions, newest commercial projects and this morning's mortgage rate, 10-year yield and diesel price, every value dated.",
  "sample": "https://fronterasignal.com/data/v1/samples/snapshot.json",
  "docs": "https://fronterasignal.com/openapi.json",
  "how_to_pay": "x402 v2, USDC on Base; retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE"
}

Pay and read the answer with Node 20 or later (save it as pay.mjs)

// npm install @x402/fetch @x402/evm viem
import { wrapFetchWithPaymentFromConfig } from '@x402/fetch';
import { ExactEvmScheme } from '@x402/evm';
import { privateKeyToAccount } from 'viem/accounts';

// A wallet with a little USDC on Base. Keep the key out of your code.
const account = privateKeyToAccount(process.env.PRIVATE_KEY);
const pay = wrapFetchWithPaymentFromConfig(fetch, {
  schemes: [{ network: 'eip155:8453', client: new ExactEvmScheme(account) }],
});

const res = await pay('https://fronterasignal.com/api/v1/snapshot?city=McAllen');
console.log(res.status, await res.json());

Coverage

Freshness

The data runs through week 44 of 2026 and was last updated Nov 3, 2026. Each endpoint above shows its cadence and its newest data. Inside a paid answer, every value says how fresh it is. Two real rows from the free McAllen snapshot sample:

[
  {
    "week_id": "2026-W44",
    "measure": "commercial_projects_registered_state",
    "count": 0,
    "status": "reported",
    "value_usd": null,
    "as_of": "2026-10-30",
    "age_days": 4,
    "cadence": "weekly",
    "stale": false,
    "source": "Frontera Signal"
  }
]

as_of

Date of the reading.

age_days

Days between as_of and the answer.

cadence

How often the source publishes: weekly or monthly.

stale

true once a weekly measure is more than 14 days old, or a monthly one more than 90.

status

reported; dark (the source published nothing that week); or no_reading (we have no reading for it).

value

A range comes as {low, high, unit}; approx: true marks a rounded reading.

Limits

• DARK is an answer too. In week 44 of 2026, 4 of the 33 permit readings were dark because the source published nothing. You get the row marked dark, never a zero or an estimate. If every row you ask for is dark, the answer is a free 404.
• Monthly sources leave gaps. 376 of the 465 weekly housing supply rows are no_reading. Check as_of before you compare weeks.
• Labor readings are sparse. The newest is from week 30 of 2026.
• Cost per square foot comes from filed estimates. It is calculated from the estimated costs filed with the state. Nothing here is a quote, bid or appraisal.
• Weekly permits cover two counties. Weekly city permits cover Hidalgo and Cameron. Monthly housing permits cover all four counties. Starr (22) and Willacy (10) commercial projects do appear in the filings.
• Map points are partial. Only 66.1% of filings have a map point, because intersections and addresses with no house number can't be placed. Treat the nearby count as a floor.
• Parcels in Hidalgo County only, for now. A Cameron, Starr or Willacy address gets a free 400. Hidalgo has no digital flood map, so the answer says no_digital_firm and never says a parcel is outside a flood zone. Values carry the date the county last updated its records; the tax year is not confirmed. /api/v1/parcel/match checks an address for free before you pay.
• People who own property stay private. A parcel record shows the owner only when it is a company, church, school district, government body or similar organization.
• Company records carry trade licenses only. Texas has no license for general contractors or home builders, and plumbers are licensed by a separate board.
• Year to date totals can disagree. For some places the year to date permit total includes late reports and corrections that the monthly rows do not. The answer lists those places.
• v1 stays compatible. From Oct 3, 2026, v1 changes are additive: fields and endpoints may be added, none renamed or removed. A breaking change would ship under a new version path. /api/v1/changelog.json

Docs

• /api/v1: the catalog. Every endpoint with its price, parameters, cadence, coverage and a sample request.
• /openapi.json: OpenAPI 3.1 with response schemas, real examples and every error code.
• /.well-known/x402: x402 discovery, for indexes and agent marketplaces.
• /llms.txt: a plain text guide to the site and the API, for language models.
• /mcp: a free MCP server for agent clients: it lists the endpoints, returns the samples and builds the paid call. It never charges or pays.
• /a2a: a free A2A agent (A2A 1.0, JSON RPC): name an endpoint or a Valley city and it answers with the paid URL and its price. It never charges or pays.
• /data/v1/samples/index.json: every free sample in one list.
• /api/v1/health and /api/v1/changelog.json: service status and every change to v1.

Questions about the API: hello@fronterasignal.com

Free data

The weekly data behind each issue, free in JSON format. Every row is dated. The free files carry the latest 4 weeks of each series; the paid series endpoints carry the full history. /data/v1/index.json

• JSON · week 44 of 2026 · 465 rows

  Absorption and inventory

  Months of supply, days on market and listings by metro. /data/v1/absorption.json

• JSON · week 44 of 2026 · 106 rows

  Forecast record

  Every dated forecast and how it turned out: hit, miss, push or still open. /data/v1/calls.json

• JSON · week 44 of 2026 · 465 rows

  Materials basket

  Weekly price and trend for framing lumber, OSB, drywall, copper, diesel and mortgage rates. /data/v1/cost-basket-weekly.json

• JSON · week 30 of 2026 · 45 rows

  Labor and capacity

  Build times and jobsite enforcement for the Valley as a whole, with no company level data. /data/v1/labor-ranges.json

• JSON · week 44 of 2026 · 240 rows

  Permits by city and week

  Permit counts by city and type, with the week marked as no data where a city publishes nothing. /data/v1/permits-weekly.json

Terms