Federal Register API Search: Rules & Comment Deadlines

Search Federal Register rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents by keyword, agency, type and date. Find open comment periods. Official API. $2.50 per 1,000 documents.

What does it do?

Federal Register Search queries the official FederalRegister.gov API for rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents by keyword, agency, document type and date, with filters for open comment periods and significant rules.

• ✅ Official public data source: no login, no cookies, no proxies
• ✅ Fast: plain API calls, typical runs finish in seconds
• ✅ Clean, flat JSON / CSV / Excel output, ready for Sheets, BI tools or AI agents
• ✅ Pay only for results: no monthly rental

Use cases

• Regulatory & compliance teams: monitor new rules in your industry.
• Trade associations & lobbyists: catch comment deadlines.
• Newsletters & AI: daily regulatory digests.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free. The input is prefilled with a working example.
2. Edit the input (see examples below) and click Start.
3. Download results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or pull them via API.

Input examples

Drone rules & proposed rules

{
  "searchTerm": "drone",
  "documentTypes": [
    "RULE",
    "PRORULE"
  ],
  "maxItems": 20
}

Output

Sample rows:

title	type	publication_date	agencies	comments_close_on	html_url
Safety Zone; Lake Michigan, Chicago, IL	Rule	2026-10-15	["Homeland Security Department", "Coast Guard"]		https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/15/2026-21…
Measures To Restrict Stockpiling of Polysilicon and Polysili…	Rule	2026-09-24	["Commerce Department", "Industry and Security Bureau"]		https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/24/2026-19…
Annual Fireworks Displays and Other Events in the USCG Heart…	Rule	2026-09-16	["Homeland Security Department", "Coast Guard"]		https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/09/16/2026-18…

Sample JSON record (long fields shortened):

{
  "title": "Safety Zone; Lake Michigan, Chicago, IL",
  "type": "Rule",
  "abstract": "The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for navigable waters within an area of Lake Michigan in Chicago, IL. The safety z...",
  "document_number": "2026-21053",
  "publication_date": "2026-10-15",
  "agencies": [
    "Homeland Security Department",
    "Coast Guard"
  ],
  "html_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/15/2026-21053/safety-zone-lake-michigan-chicago-il",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-10-15/pdf/2026-21053.pdf",
  "citation": "91 FR 65460",
  "effective_on": "2026-10-15",
  "comments_close_on": null,
  "docket_ids": [
    "Docket Number USCG-2026-1291"
  ],
  "regulation_id_numbers": [
    "1625-AA00"
  ],
  "action": "Temporary final rule.",
  "significant": false,
  "topics": [
    "Harbors",
    "Marine safety",
    "Navigation (water)",
    "..."
  ],
  "start_page": 65460,
  "source": "FederalRegister.gov API v1"
}

Pricing

Pay per event: $0.0025 per document ($2.50 per 1,000). No start fee, no monthly rental. Rows for not-found inputs and errors are free.

Results	Cost
100 documents	$0.25
1,000 documents	$2.50
10,000 documents	$25.00

Apify's free plan includes monthly platform credit, so you can try it at no cost.

Integrations

• Google Sheets: use Apify's Google Sheets integration, or import the dataset CSV link with =IMPORTDATA().
• Zapier & Make: trigger runs and receive the dataset via the official Apify apps.
• Webhooks & schedules: run daily or hourly and post results anywhere.
• AI agents (MCP): available to Claude, ChatGPT and other agents through the Apify MCP server.
• API & SDKs: call from Python, JavaScript or any HTTP client:

curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/clearpathdata~federal-register-search/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"searchTerm": "drone", "documentTypes": ["RULE", "PRORULE"], "maxItems": 20}'

FAQ

Can I schedule it?

Yes. Schedule a daily run sorted by newest.

Data source?

FederalRegister.gov public API.

Something not working?

Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab, and it will be fixed quickly.

More details

Search Federal Register rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents by keyword, agency, type and date. Find open comment periods. Official API.

Search the Federal Register, the U.S. government's daily journal of rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents, through its official API. Filter by keyword, agency, document type, date, significance, or open comment periods.

Uses: regulatory monitoring for compliance and legal teams, comment-deadline tracking, government affairs, policy research, alerts (schedule it daily).

Output fields

title, type, action, abstract, document number, publication date, agencies, effective date, comment close date, docket IDs, RINs, citation, significance, topics, HTML and PDF links.

Source and terms

Data comes from the public FederalRegister.gov API v1 (no key needed). This is not the official legal edition; for legal purposes, rely on govinfo.gov. Not affiliated with OFR/GPO.

Pricing

Pay per event: document. Charged per Federal Register document returned. You pay only for results. Not-found/error rows are free. Apify platform usage is included.

Example input

{
  "searchTerm": "drone",
  "documentTypes": [
    "RULE",
    "PRORULE"
  ],
  "maxItems": 5
}

Built by clearpathdata, a maker of official-government-data Actors. Questions and feature requests are welcome in the Issues tab.