live-currency-rates: One fluent API, three FX providers (no API key required to start)

Picking an FX data provider is one of those decisions you don't want to couple your code to. ECB data is free but only ~30 currencies. fawazahmed0/currency-api is free and covers crypto, but it's CDN-based. AllRatesToday gives you real-time mid-market rates but needs a key. Each has different endpoints, shapes, and auth.

live-currency-rates is a tiny wrapper that hides all of that behind a fluent API. Write your code once; swap providers with one line when requirements change.

The API you actually write

import { Convert } from 'live-currency-rates'; const result = await Convert(100).from('USD').to('EUR'); console.log(result.amount); // 92.45 

That's it. No setup needed to start — defaults to the free Frankfurter provider (ECB data, no key, no signup).

Install

npm install live-currency-rates 

Zero dependencies. TypeScript types included.

Three providers, one interface

Pick one with setup():

import { setup, Convert } from 'live-currency-rates'; // Free, no key — 200+ currencies including crypto setup({ provider: 'fawaz' }); // AllRatesToday — real-time mid-market rates, free key at allratestoday.com/register setup({ apiKey: 'art_live_...' }); 

Your existing Convert(...) calls don't change. That's the point.

Core API

Convert(amount).from(...).to(...)

const result = await Convert(250).from('GBP').to('JPY'); console.log(`250 GBP = ${result.amount} JPY`); console.log(`Rate: ${result.rate}`); 

Returns { amount, rate, from, to, originalAmount }.

Rate('XXX').to('YYY')

import { Rate } from 'live-currency-rates'; const { rate } = await Rate('USD').to('EUR'); console.log(`1 USD = ${rate} EUR`); 

Rates('XXX', ['YYY', 'ZZZ'])

One round-trip, multiple pairs:

import { Rates } from 'live-currency-rates'; const rates = await Rates('USD', ['EUR', 'GBP', 'JPY']); // { EUR: 0.92, GBP: 0.78, JPY: 149.5 } 

Omit the target list to get every available rate for that base.

Why a wrapper?

Three reasons it earns its keep:

1. Start free, upgrade later. Ship the MVP with Frankfurter. When you hit a currency Frankfurter doesn't cover, flip to fawaz or allrates without touching call sites.
2. Test without hitting production. Point tests at Frankfurter; point prod at AllRatesToday. Same code.
3. Provider lock-in is costly. Every provider has different endpoint shapes. A fluent wrapper means a future provider migration is one file change, not a rewrite.

When you outgrow the wrapper

The wrapper optimizes for "I don't care which provider yet." If you've settled on a provider and need its full feature set, drop to the native client:

• AllRatesToday only? Use @allratestoday/sdk — full API: historicals, time-series, preset periods.
• Just want a one-liner + CLI? Use fx-rates.
• Need cashify-compatible sync conversion? Use moneyify.

Next steps

• npm: live-currency-rates
• Free API key (AllRatesToday provider): allratestoday.com/register

Which provider did you land on, and why? Comments open.

Written by the team behind AllRatesToday — a free, keyless
exchange rate API with real-time mid-market rates for 160+ currencies and
official central-bank rates from 120+ sources. Browse the API docs or
grab a free key to start building.

Open source: official SDKs for JavaScript, Python, PHP and Rust,
plus an MCP server (@allratestoday/mcp-server) for AI agents.

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