> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.macrovisonomics.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Video Tutorials
> Step-by-step video guides and written walkthroughs to help you master MACROVISONOMICS
# Tutorials
Master MACROVISONOMICS with these detailed, step-by-step walkthroughs organized by skill level.
Each tutorial includes a difficulty rating, estimated time, and the plan level required. Follow them in order or jump to the topic you need.
## Beginner Tutorials
### 1. Platform Overview
**Difficulty**: Beginner | **Time**: 5 minutes | **Plan**: Free
Get oriented with the MACROVISONOMICS interface and understand where everything lives.
**What you'll learn:**
1. **Dashboard layout** — The main dashboard shows your saved charts, recent searches, and quick-access widgets. The left sidebar provides navigation to all major sections.
2. **Navigation bar** — Access Search, Charts, Countries, Community Gallery, Economic Calendar, Markets, News, and Trending from the top nav.
3. **Settings & profile** — Click your avatar in the top-right corner to access Settings, manage your subscription, view API keys (Gold+), and configure preferences.
4. **Help resources** — The `?` icon opens contextual help. Visit the FAQ, Glossary, or Support page for additional guidance.
Free accounts can explore the full interface. Locked features display a plan badge showing which tier unlocks them.
***
### 2. Your First Search
**Difficulty**: Beginner | **Time**: 8 minutes | **Plan**: Free
Learn how to find economic data using the search bar.
**Step-by-step:**
1. Click the search bar at the top of the dashboard or press `Ctrl+K` / `Cmd+K`.
2. Type a natural language query like "GDP growth rate" or an indicator code like `NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG`.
3. Review the results list — each result shows the indicator name, source (e.g., World Bank, FRED), and a brief description.
4. Click a result to open it in the chart view.
5. The chart loads with default settings: a line chart showing all available years for the indicator.
**Search tips:**
* Use plain language: "unemployment in Europe" works just as well as technical codes
* Filter by source: click the source filter dropdown to narrow results to a specific provider
* Pro and Gold users get **Neural Search**, which understands synonyms and related concepts (e.g., "jobless rate" finds unemployment indicators)
***
### 3. Creating Your First Chart
**Difficulty**: Beginner | **Time**: 10 minutes | **Plan**: Free
Build a complete visualization from search to finished chart.
**Step-by-step:**
1. **Search for an indicator** — Try "GDP per capita" in the search bar.
2. **Select countries** — Use the country selector to pick one or more countries. Try selecting "United States," "Germany," and "Japan" for a comparison.
3. **Choose a chart type** — Free users have 5 types: Line, Bar, Area, Pie, and Scatter. Select "Line" for time-series data.
4. **Set the date range** — Use the date slider or type specific years. Most World Bank data covers 1960–present.
5. **Customize appearance** — Click the settings gear to adjust colors, axis labels, and legend position.
6. **Read the data** — Hover over data points to see exact values. The chart automatically formats numbers with appropriate units.
7. **Save your work** — Click "Save" to store the chart in My Space (Pro+ required) or "Share" to generate a public link.
Use the keyboard shortcut `Ctrl+S` / `Cmd+S` to quick-save your current chart configuration.
***
### 4. Understanding Country Profiles
**Difficulty**: Beginner | **Time**: 6 minutes | **Plan**: Free
Explore the built-in country intelligence pages.
**What you'll find:**
1. **Country overview** — Navigate to Countries from the sidebar. Each of the 217+ country profiles displays key economic indicators at a glance: GDP, population, inflation, unemployment, and trade balance.
2. **Historical data** — Scroll down to see sparkline charts for major indicators over time.
3. **Country comparison** — Select two or more countries to see them side by side with a comparative table.
4. **Rankings** — View how countries rank globally on any indicator. Sort ascending or descending.
5. **Economic blocs** — Free users can browse all countries. Pro users can filter by G7, BRICS, and EU. Gold users unlock all 7 blocs (G7, G20, BRICS, EU, OECD, ASEAN, OPEC).
***
## Intermediate Tutorials
### 5. Mastering Smart Search
**Difficulty**: Intermediate | **Time**: 8 minutes | **Plan**: Pro
Unlock the full power of MACROVISONOMICS search with Neural and Research modes.
**Three search modes explained:**
| Mode | Plan | How it works |
| -------- | ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Keyword | Free+ | Matches exact terms and indicator codes |
| Neural | Pro+ | AI understands meaning — "cost of living" finds CPI, PPP, and price level indicators |
| Research | Gold | Deep multi-source analysis across 6 parallel research engines |
**Advanced search techniques:**
1. **Natural language queries** — Type questions like "Which African countries have the highest debt-to-GDP ratio?" Neural Search parses the intent and returns relevant indicators.
2. **Source filtering** — Prefix your query with a source name: `FRED: interest rates` narrows results to Federal Reserve data only.
3. **Country scoping** — Add country context: "inflation Brazil 2020-2024" returns Brazilian CPI and related indicators for that period.
4. **Indicator codes** — If you know the exact code (e.g., `SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS` for unemployment), type it directly for instant results.
***
### 6. Working with Chart Types
**Difficulty**: Intermediate | **Time**: 12 minutes | **Plan**: Pro
Choose the right visualization for your data story.
**Chart type guide:**
| Chart Type | Best For | Plan |
| ---------------- | ------------------------- | ---- |
| Line | Time-series trends | Free |
| Bar | Period comparisons | Free |
| Area | Cumulative trends | Free |
| Pie | Composition/share | Free |
| Scatter | Correlation analysis | Free |
| Map (Choropleth) | Geographic distribution | Pro |
| Waterfall | Sequential changes | Pro |
| Bullet | Target vs. actual | Pro |
| Heatmap | Multi-variable density | Pro |
| Treemap | Hierarchical proportions | Pro |
| Bubble | Three-variable comparison | Pro |
| Radar | Multi-axis profiles | Pro |
| Stacked | Composition over time | Pro |
| Bump | Rank changes over time | Gold |
| Box Plot | Distribution analysis | Gold |
| Sankey | Flow relationships | Gold |
| Stream | Volume evolution | Gold |
| Candlestick | Financial OHLC data | Gold |
| Dumbbell | Before/after comparison | Gold |
| Parallel | Multi-dimensional data | Gold |
| Small Multiples | Faceted comparison | Gold |
**Customization options:**
* **Axis scaling** — Toggle between linear and logarithmic scales for data with large ranges
* **Color palettes** — Choose from 8 built-in themes or set custom hex colors
* **Annotations** — Add text labels, reference lines, and event markers to highlight key moments
* **Date range** — Drag the timeline slider or enter specific years for precise control
***
### 7. Saving, Sharing & Exporting
**Difficulty**: Intermediate | **Time**: 7 minutes | **Plan**: Pro
Organize your work and share it with others.
**Saving charts:**
1. Click "Save" on any chart view — enter a title, optional description, and tags.
2. Charts appear in **My Space**, accessible from the sidebar.
3. Pro users can save up to their plan limit; Gold users get unlimited storage.
**Sharing options:**
* **Public link** — Generate a shareable URL anyone can view (no login required)
* **Embed code** — Copy an iframe snippet to embed the chart on any website
* **Community Gallery** — Publish your visualization for the community to discover, like, and comment on
**Exporting formats:**
| Format | Description | Plan |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------ | ---- |
| PNG | High-resolution image (300 DPI) | Pro |
| SVG | Scalable vector for print/web | Pro |
| CSV | Raw data in spreadsheet format | Pro |
| Excel (.xlsx) | Formatted workbook with metadata | Pro |
| JSON | Machine-readable structured data | Gold |
| PDF | Print-ready document with chart + metadata | Gold |
***
### 8. Using the Community Gallery
**Difficulty**: Intermediate | **Time**: 6 minutes | **Plan**: Free (view) / Pro (publish)
Discover, share, and engage with community-created visualizations.
**Browsing the gallery:**
1. Navigate to **Community Gallery** from the sidebar.
2. Browse **Trending**, **Latest**, or **Top** charts.
3. Click any chart to view it full-screen with the original data and methodology.
4. Use the search bar within the gallery to find charts by topic, country, or indicator.
**Publishing your work (Pro+):**
1. Open a saved chart in My Space.
2. Click "Publish" and fill in the title, description, and tags.
3. Your chart appears in the gallery with your profile linked.
4. Gold users can add custom branding and watermarks.
**Engagement (Gold):**
* Like charts you find valuable
* Leave comments with your analysis or questions
* Follow creators whose work you want to track
***
## Advanced Tutorials
### 9. AI Insights & Forecasting
**Difficulty**: Advanced | **Time**: 10 minutes | **Plan**: Pro (Insights) / Gold (Forecasting)
Let AI analyze your data and generate predictions.
**Using Expert Insights (Pro+):**
1. Open any chart with data loaded.
2. The **Quick Stats** panel appears automatically on the right side, showing key statistics (mean, median, min, max, standard deviation, trend direction).
3. Click **"Generate Insights"** to activate the AI analysis pipeline.
4. The AI produces four tabs of analysis:
* **Summary** — Key findings, notable patterns, and actionable takeaways
* **Analysis** — Correlation detection, anomaly identification, and structural break analysis
* **Research** — Curated secondary sources and academic references related to the data
* **Report** — A comprehensive, downloadable research report
**Using AI Forecasting (Gold):**
1. After generating insights, click the **Forecast** tab.
2. The AI produces forward-looking predictions using linear regression on historical trends.
3. Forecasts project data points for up to 10 years based on observed patterns.
4. Hover over the forecast line to see predicted values.
5. Export forecasts as part of your chart data in CSV, Excel, or JSON format.
***
### 10. Data Monitoring & Alerts
**Difficulty**: Advanced | **Time**: 8 minutes | **Plan**: Gold
Set up automated monitoring to track economic changes in real time.
**Creating a watchlist:**
1. Navigate to **Market Monitor** from the sidebar under **Markets**.
2. Click "Add to Watchlist" on any indicator.
3. Set threshold alerts: choose a condition (above, below, crosses, percent change) and enter your target value.
4. Configure notification preferences: in-app, email digest, or both.
**Signal Radar:**
The Signal Radar provides a real-time overview of global market conditions:
* **VIX zones** — Green (\< 15, calm), Yellow (15–25, elevated), Orange (25–35, stressed), Red (> 35, crisis)
* **Asset class summaries** — Equities, bonds, commodities, currencies, and crypto at a glance
* **Trend indicators** — Moving averages and momentum signals for each tracked metric
***
### 11. Using the Developer API
**Difficulty**: Advanced | **Time**: 10 minutes | **Plan**: Pro (500 calls/mo), Gold (2,000 calls/mo), Enterprise (Unlimited)
Access MACROVISONOMICS data programmatically.
**Getting started:**
1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Developer** or visit the Developer Portal.
2. Click **"Create API Key"** — your key is shown only once, so copy it immediately.
3. All API requests use the base URL: `https://macrovisonomics.com/api/v1/`
4. Include your key as a Bearer token: `Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY`
**Available endpoints:**
| Endpoint | Method | Description |
| ------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------------------ |
| `/search` | GET | Search indicators by keyword or natural language |
| `/indicators/{id}` | GET | Get indicator metadata |
| `/data/{id}` | GET | Fetch time-series data with country/date filters |
| `/countries` | GET | List all countries with ISO codes |
| `/countries/{code}` | GET | Get country profile and key indicators |
| `/insights` | GET | Generate AI insights for a dataset |
| `/forecast` | GET | Generate trend-based forecasts |
**Rate limits by plan:**
| Plan | Requests/minute | Monthly quota |
| ---------- | -------------------- | ------------- |
| Free | 10 | 100 |
| Pro | 60 | 500 |
| Gold | 200 | 2,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom (up to 2,000) | Unlimited |
**MCP Server (Gold+):**
The MCP Server lets AI agents like Claude and ChatGPT access MACROVISONOMICS data directly. See the [Developer API docs](/features/developer-api) for setup instructions.
***
### 12. Trade Analysis & Screener
**Difficulty**: Advanced | **Time**: 10 minutes | **Plan**: Gold
Use specialized tools for trade flow analysis and indicator screening.
**Trade Analysis:**
1. Navigate to any country profile from the sidebar under **Countries**, then click the **Trade** tab.
2. Select exports, imports, or trade balance view.
3. Explore trade partners, product categories (HS codes), and historical trends.
4. Use the trade balance heatmap to spot surplus/deficit patterns across regions.
5. Compare trade openness ratios across country groups.
**Screener:**
1. Navigate to **Screener** from the sidebar under **Explore**.
2. Define filter criteria: select an indicator, choose a condition (greater than, less than, between), and set threshold values.
3. Add multiple filters to narrow results (e.g., GDP growth > 3% AND inflation \< 5% AND debt-to-GDP \< 60%).
4. Results display as a sortable table showing all matching countries with their values.
5. Click any country to jump directly to its profile or chart the filtered indicator.
**Pre-built screens:**
* High-growth emerging markets
* Low-debt developed economies
* Countries with declining inflation
* Top trade surplus nations
***
## Quick Reference
* `Ctrl+K` / `Cmd+K` — Open search
* `Ctrl+S` / `Cmd+S` — Save chart
* `Esc` — Close panels/modals
* `L` — Toggle logarithmic scale
* `F` — Fullscreen chart
* **Chart not loading?** Check your internet connection and try refreshing
* **Search returns no results?** Try broader terms or check spelling
* **Export failing?** Ensure the chart has loaded data first
* **API key not working?** Verify the key hasn't expired in Settings
***
## Additional Resources
Written step-by-step guide for new users
Common questions answered
50+ economic terms explained
Real charts from the community