Discover FAOSTAT statistical domains (production, trade, food balances, food security, land use, agri-emissions, prices, value) with their codes, descriptions, last-update date, upstream row count, and local index status. Every query keys on a domain code from here. The `indexed` flag tells you which domains are queryable right now; un-indexed domains exist in the catalog but must be added to FAOSTAT_DOMAINS and re-synced before faostat_query_observations can read them. The catalog runs to ~69 domains with long descriptions, so responses are paged: narrow with `topic` / `indexed_only`, pass `code` to fetch one domain outright, or page with `offset` + `limit` — when the response reports `truncated`, pass the returned `nextOffset` to fetch the rest.
Resolve human terms to the opaque integer codes faostat_query_observations needs, within a dimension: areas (countries/regions), items (commodities), or elements (metrics like production, yield, import quantity). Pass `query` for fuzzy full-text matching ("maize" → item 56), `name_contains` for a substring filter, or `code` for an exact-code lookup; omit all three to list the whole dimension. Item and element results are scoped to the requested domain — only codes present in that domain's cube are returned, so a resolved code is always queryable there (areas are shared across domains). Page large listings with `offset` + `limit`: when the response reports `truncated`, pass the returned `nextOffset` to fetch the next page. Every area match is flagged `country` or `aggregate` — aggregates (World, continents, economic groupings — codes ≥ 5000 plus a few curated sub-threshold roll-ups such as China=351, which sums mainland + Taiwan + Hong Kong + Macao) double-count if summed with their member countries, so resolve before querying and exclude aggregates unless you want the regional roll-up.
Query a FAOSTAT domain's data cube by area(s), item(s), element(s), and year range, returning observations (area, item, element, year, value, unit, and the data-quality flag). Resolve codes first with faostat_resolve_codes — the cube is unqueryable without them. Aggregate regions (World, continents, economic groupings) are EXCLUDED by default so a naive SUM does not double-count a region with its member countries; set include_aggregates=true to get the regional roll-ups, or pass explicit area_codes to query exactly what you name. Small result sets return inline; large ones spill to a DataCanvas table (returned canvas_id + table_name) for GROUP BY / ranking / time-series analysis via faostat_dataframe_query. Every row carries its flag — commonly A=Official, B=time-series break, E=Estimated, I=Imputed, M=Missing (value cannot exist), T=Unofficial, X=from an international organization, plus others FAOSTAT defines per domain — so honor it, treat any unrecognized flag as informational, and never assume an estimated, imputed, or unrecognized value is official.
Assemble a global profile for one commodity in a single call: top-producing countries, the annual production trend, and trade flows (top exporters and importers). Accepts a commodity name, resolves it to item codes, then queries the production (QCL) and trade (TCL) domains and merges the results. Each ranking is a per-country sum across the resolved items, taken at that country's own latest year with data and grouped by unit so incomparable quantities are never added. The trend is returned inline as year/value points. Country-level only (aggregates excluded). When a required domain is not indexed locally, returns a partial profile with a notice naming the gap rather than failing. The full merged observation set spills to a DataCanvas table for deeper SQL via faostat_dataframe_query.
Run a single-statement SELECT against the canvas tables staged by faostat_query_observations and faostat_commodity_profile (table names look like faostat_xxxxxxxx). Use this for cross-country and cross-item aggregation, GROUP BY rankings, joins, and time-series analysis over the full result set the inline preview only sampled. Standard DuckDB SQL — joins, aggregates, window functions, CTEs all work. Read-only: writes, DDL, DROP, COPY, PRAGMA, ATTACH, and external-file table functions are rejected; system catalogs (information_schema, sqlite_master, duckdb_*) are denied — list staged tables via faostat_dataframe_describe. Every row carries its data-quality `flag` — commonly A=Official, B=time-series break, E=Estimated, I=Imputed, M=Missing (value cannot exist), T=Unofficial, X=from an international organization, plus others FAOSTAT defines per domain — keep it in projections, treat any unrecognized flag as informational, and never assume it is official.
List the canvas tables (faostat_xxxxxxxx) staged by faostat_query_observations and faostat_commodity_profile, each with its source tool, the query parameters that produced it, creation/expiry timestamps, row count, and column schema. Call this before faostat_dataframe_query to discover the exact table and column names to reference in SQL. Tables are listed newest-first and paged: pass `name` to describe one table outright, or page with `offset` + `limit` — when the response reports `truncated`, pass the returned `nextOffset` to fetch the rest.