Regulations.gov Scraper

Extract federal rulemaking documents, dockets, and public comments from the official Regulations.gov API. Filter by agency, document type, and date range. No browser, no proxy.

What does Regulations.gov Scraper do?

Scrape the public record of every proposed and final federal rule, plus the comments citizens and organizations submit, in three modes:

• Documents — rules, proposed rules, notices, and supporting material. Filter by agency, subtype, and posted date range.
• Comments — public comments on any docket or across a keyword search. Includes submitter name, organization, location, and full comment text.
• Dockets — docket-level metadata with RIN, category, program, and agency.

Every record comes from the official Regulations.gov v4 API at api.regulations.gov — the same API the government portal uses. Free DEMO_KEY works for testing; a free personal key raises throughput [citation:1][citation:4].

Output fields

Document

Field	Description
documentId	Unique document identifier
title	Document title
agencyId	Issuing federal agency (EPA, FDA, SEC, FCC, etc.)
documentType	Rule, Proposed Rule, Notice, etc.
subtype	Document subtype
postedDate	Date posted
commentStartDate	Comment period start
commentEndDate	Comment period deadline
openForComment	Whether the comment window is open
docketId	Parent docket
frDocNum	Federal Register document number
summary	Document abstract
fileFormats	Attached file download URLs

Comment

Field	Description
commentId	Comment identifier
title	Comment title
agencyId / docketId	Context
postedDate / receiveDate	Timestamps
comment	Full comment text
firstName / lastName / organization	Submitter
city / stateProvinceRegion / country / zip	Location
submitterType	Individual, organization, etc.

Docket

Field	Description
docketId	Docket identifier
title	Docket title
agencyId	Issuing agency
docketType / category / subCategory	Classification
rin	Regulatory Information Number
shortName / program	Additional metadata

Who is it for?

• Regulatory affairs and compliance teams monitoring proposed rules that affect their industry
• Law firms and lobbyists gathering public comments to prepare client responses
• Policy researchers building longitudinal rulemaking datasets
• Government contractors tracking compliance obligations
• Data journalists investigating agency activity and public participation

Pricing

$1.50 per 1,000 results. No subscription.

Results	Cost
100	$0.15
1,000	$1.50
10,000	$15.00

How to use it

1. Pick a Mode.
2. Enter a Search Term, Docket ID, or Agency ID.
3. Optionally set Document Subtype and Posted Date range.
4. Paste your free API Key from open.gsa.gov/api/regulationsgov — or leave DEMO_KEY for testing.
5. Click Start.

Output example

{
  "recordType": "document",
  "documentId": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0002-0001",
  "title": "Revised Standards for Clean Air Act Section 111(d)",
  "agencyId": "EPA",
  "documentType": "Proposed Rule",
  "subtype": "Proposed Rule",
  "postedDate": "2024-02-05",
  "commentStartDate": "2024-02-05",
  "commentEndDate": "2024-04-08",
  "openForComment": true,
  "docketId": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0002",
  "frDocNum": "2024-02234",
  "summary": "The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing revised emission guidelines...",
  "fileFormats": "https://downloads.regulations.gov/...",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-24T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Technical details

• Official Regulations.gov v4 API — https://api.regulations.gov/v4. Free, public, requires an X-Api-Key header [citation:1].
• DEMO_KEY works for testing at 1,000 requests/hour. A free personal key from open.gsa.gov/api/regulationsgov raises limits [citation:4].
• Pagination via page[size] (max 250) and page[number].
• Filters via filter[searchTerm], filter[agencyId], filter[docketId], filter[postedDate][ge], filter[postedDate][le].
• No browser, no proxy — pure REST JSON.
• Three modes — documents, comments, dockets.

Known limits

• DEMO_KEY is shared and rate-limited to 1,000 requests/hour. For production runs, register a free personal key [citation:4].
• API responses are paginated at 250 records max per request. Large runs require multiple pages.
• Comment text may be truncated by Regulations.gov for very long submissions.
• No historical archive beyond what the API exposes. Regulations.gov covers the modern rulemaking record; older documents may not be available.
• Rate limit is 1,000 req/hour on the free tier — the actor defaults to 1,200ms between requests to stay under [citation:4].

FAQ

Do I need an API key? DEMO_KEY works for testing. For production, register a free key at open.gsa.gov/api/regulationsgov [citation:4].

Do I need a proxy? No. Datacenter IPs are accepted.

What's the difference between documents and dockets? A docket is a folder that groups related documents (a proposed rule, its public comments, and supporting material). Documents are the individual files.

How do I track open comment periods? Use documents mode, set openForComment filtering downstream, or sort by commentEndDate.

How do I export data? After a run, go to Storage → Export as JSON, CSV, Excel.

Support

Open an issue on the Actor's page for bugs or feature requests.