# Federal Register API: Rules, Notices & Proposed Rules, $1/1K (`conserving_celerytop/federal-register-api`) Actor

Get Federal Register rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents from the official federalregister.gov API. Search by keyword, agency, type and date, look up numbers, list upcoming documents or monitor new ones. $1 per 1,000. Unofficial, not affiliated with the OFR.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/federal-register-api.md
- **Developed by:** [Don Mangu](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.70 / 1,000 federal register documents

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Federal Register API

Federal Register API for compliance, policy and government affairs teams: search rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents by keyword, agency, type and date, and get one clean row per document. **$1 per 1,000 documents.**

**Cost:** $0.001 per document ($1 per 1,000). Searches with no results, invalid searches and API errors are free. No login or API key.

### What does Federal Register API do?

It reads the official federalregister.gov API, which is published by the Office of the Federal Register. Each row is one document with its title, type, agencies, publication date, effective date, comment deadline, citation, page range, links, docket IDs, Regulation Identifier Numbers (RIN) and the CFR parts it touches. Rows hold no names of individual people.

There are four modes:

- **Search documents:** keyword, agency, document type, publication date range, and a "significant only" filter.
- **Documents by number:** paste document numbers or document links and get the matching rows.
- **Public inspection (upcoming):** documents that agencies have filed and that are due to be published soon.
- **New since last run (monitor):** returns only documents it has not returned before. Schedule it daily and use the output as an alert feed.

Typical uses: track new proposed rules with open comment periods for an agency, watch a topic such as "artificial intelligence" or "tariff", build a dataset of final rules for a CFR title, or feed new documents into your own alerts.

**Try it now.** The form opens with final rules from the last 7 days (25 documents). Click **Start**. It takes a few seconds and costs under 3 cents.

### How to use Federal Register API

1. Pick **What to get**.
2. For a search, add **Keywords**, **Agencies** (one slug per line, such as `environmental-protection-agency`), **Document types**, and the **Published from** and **Published until** dates.
3. For lookups, add **Document numbers** such as `2026-20888`.
4. Set **Maximum documents** and click **Start**. Open the **Documents** or **Comment deadlines** table.

To find an agency slug, open the agency page on federalregister.gov. The slug is the last part of the page address.

#### Monitor mode

Give each monitor its own **Monitor name** under Advanced options. The Actor saves what it returned in a key-value store named `federal-register-monitor` in your account. The first run looks back 7 days (or from **Published from**). Later runs start from the last document they saw. The oldest new documents come first, so a low **Maximum documents** cuts nothing: the rest come in the next run. A run with nothing new gives one free `no_results` row.

### How much does it cost?

| Event | Price |
|---|---|
| Document (`document`) | $0.001 ($1 per 1,000) |
| Search with no results, invalid search or API error | Free |

Apify adds only its small standard fee per run start. You can set a spending limit on any run, and the Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

Example: on 13 October 2026 the API showed 59 final rules published in the last 7 days. A run for them gives 59 documents and costs 59 x $0.001 = $0.059. A run for 1,000 documents costs $1.00.

### Input

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "documentTypes": ["RULE"],
  "dateFrom": "7 days",
  "maxResults": 25
}
```

Search by agency and keyword, significant rules only:

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchTerm": "emissions",
  "agencies": ["environmental-protection-agency"],
  "documentTypes": ["RULE", "PRORULE"],
  "significantOnly": true,
  "dateFrom": "2026-06-01",
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

### Output

One row per document. This is a real row from a run on 13 October 2026 (abstract shortened here):

```json
{
  "mode": "by_number",
  "document_number": "2026-20888",
  "title": "Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets",
  "type": "Proposed Rule",
  "abstract": "The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (\"Commission\" or \"CFTC\") is issuing an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking regarding section 2(c)(2)(D) of the Commodity Exchange Act ...",
  "agencies": ["Commodity Futures Trading Commission"],
  "publication_date": "2026-10-13",
  "effective_on": null,
  "comments_close_on": "2026-12-14",
  "citation": "91 FR 64811",
  "start_page": 64811,
  "end_page": 64840,
  "html_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/10/13/2026-20888/regulation-crypto-asset-transactions-and-regulation-crypto-asset-markets",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-10-13/pdf/2026-20888.pdf",
  "docket_ids": [],
  "regulation_id_numbers": ["3038-AF80"],
  "cfr_references": ["17 CFR 1", "17 CFR 38", "17 CFR 39"],
  "significant": null,
  "action": "Advanced notice of proposed rulemaking.",
  "status": "ok",
  "charged": true,
  "source": "Federal Register (federalregister.gov), U.S. Government"
}
```

`status` is `ok` for documents, which are charged. Free rows have a different status: `no_results`, `not_found` (a document number that does not exist), `invalid_input`, `invalid_query` (for example an unknown agency slug), `access_blocked`, `rate_limited` or `api_error`. The `error` field says why. Public inspection rows also fill `filed_at`, `filing_type` and `public_inspection_pages`; they have no abstract, citation or CFR references yet.

### Related Actors

These Actors are built by the same author. Each answers one kind of question from an official public source, so an AI agent or a workflow can pick the right one by the question. All return one clean row per record, a `source` field naming the original publisher, and free rows for errors and empty results.

| Question | Actor |
| --- | --- |
| Which drugs, devices or foods were recalled, and what adverse events were reported? | [FDA Recalls & Drug Adverse Events](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/openfda-scraper) |
| Who won a US federal contract or grant? | [USAspending Awards API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/usaspending-awards-api) |
| Which public tenders are open in the EU and the UK? | [Public Tenders API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/eu-uk-public-tenders) |
| What is the US national debt, a Treasury interest rate or an auction result? | [Treasury Fiscal Data API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/treasury-fiscal-data-api) |
| What is the official ECB exchange rate for a date? | [Exchange Rates API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/exchange-rates-api) |
| What did a public company file with the SEC, and what are its financials? | [SEC EDGAR Filings API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/sec-edgar-filings-api), [SEC Company Financials API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/sec-company-financials-api) |
| Which startups raised money (SEC Form D)? | [Startup Funding Rounds Tracker](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/form-d-funding-rounds) |
| Who is this company in an official register, and who owns it? | [Company Registry Search](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/open-company-registries), [GLEIF Ownership Change Monitor](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/gleif-ownership-change-monitor-api) |
| Is this company hiring, and for which roles? | [Career Page Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/live-career-page-jobs-api) |
| Which open access journals and articles cover a topic? | [DOAJ API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/doaj-open-access-api) |
| What are the citation details of a paper or DOI? | [Crossref Works Search](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/crossref-works-search) |
| Which new preprints match a topic? | [Preprint Papers API](https://apify.com/conserving_celerytop/preprint-papers-api) |

### FAQ

**Is it legal to reuse this data?** The Federal Register is a work of the U.S. Government. Works of the U.S. Government are not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. 105). The developer pages on federalregister.gov say that no API key is needed and ask republishers not to use the official NARA or OFR logos or seals. This Actor uses neither. This is not legal advice.

**Is this the official legal text?** No. federalregister.gov says it is not an official legal edition of the Federal Register. For legal research, check the official edition (PDF on govinfo.gov). The `pdf_url` field links to it.

**Is it affiliated with the government?** No. This is an unofficial Actor, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Office of the Federal Register, the National Archives or the U.S. Government Publishing Office. I built it and run it.

**How many documents can one search return?** The API returns up to 10,000 documents for one search. For more, split the search into date ranges.

**How fast is it?** About 1,000 documents per page request. The Actor sends one request at a time with a pause of at least half a second, and it slows down if the site asks it to. Some requests get a temporary block from the site's firewall. The Actor waits and retries, and if the block stays it ends the run with a free `access_blocked` row.

**Why is `significant` empty?** The Federal Register only gives this value for some rules and proposed rules. Use **Significant rules only** to keep the ones marked significant under Executive Order 12866.

**How current is the data?** Documents appear on the day they are published. Public inspection documents appear when agencies file them, usually a day or more before publication.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Search documents by keyword, agency, type and date; get documents by their document numbers; list public inspection documents (filed and due to be published soon); or return only documents that are new since the last run of the same monitor.

## `searchTerm` (type: `string`):

Words to find in the full text of documents, for example "artificial intelligence" or tariff. Put a phrase in double quotes. Used by Search, Public inspection and Monitor. Leave empty to filter only by the fields below.

## `agencies` (type: `array`):

One agency per line, as the agency slug from the Federal Register agency list (federalregister.gov/agencies), for example environmental-protection-agency or securities-and-exchange-commission. A full name such as "Environmental Protection Agency" also works. Leave empty for all agencies.

## `documentTypes` (type: `array`):

Keep only these kinds of documents. Rule is a final rule, Proposed Rule is a rulemaking that is open for comment, Notice covers meetings, applications and other agency notices, Presidential Document covers executive orders and proclamations. Leave empty for all types.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

Keep documents published on or after this date. Use a date as YYYY-MM-DD, for example 2026-09-01, or a period such as 7 days or 3 months, counted back from the start of the run. In Monitor mode this sets only where the first run starts (default 7 days); later runs continue from the saved state. Not used for Public inspection.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Keep documents published on or before this date, as YYYY-MM-DD or a period such as 30 days (counted back from the start of the run). Leave empty for no end date. Not used in Monitor or Public inspection mode.

## `significantOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Keep only documents that the Federal Register marks as significant under Executive Order 12866. This applies to rules and proposed rules, not to notices. Not used for Public inspection.

## `documentNumbers` (type: `array`):

One Federal Register document number per line, for example 2026-19071. You can also paste the full document link. Used only by "Documents by number".

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many documents. The API returns up to 10,000 documents per search, so split a larger search into date ranges. In Monitor mode the oldest new documents come first and the rest wait for the next run.

## `monitorName` (type: `string`):

Monitor mode only. Use one name per monitor, for example epa-rules. The Actor saves what it has already returned under this name in a key-value store named federal-register-monitor in your account, so each scheduled run returns only new documents. Letters, numbers, dash and underscore.

## `resetState` (type: `boolean`):

Monitor mode only. Forget the saved state of this monitor name and treat the run as the first run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchTerm": "tariff",
  "documentTypes": [
    "RULE"
  ],
  "dateFrom": "7 days",
  "significantOnly": false,
  "documentNumbers": [
    "2026-19071"
  ],
  "maxResults": 25,
  "monitorName": "epa-rules",
  "resetState": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `documents` (type: `string`):

Documents

## `deadlines` (type: `string`):

Comment deadlines and effective dates

## `all` (type: `string`):

Every row with every field.

## `stats` (type: `string`):

Results, free rows, requests and time.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "documentTypes": [
        "RULE"
    ],
    "dateFrom": "7 days",
    "maxResults": 25
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("conserving_celerytop/federal-register-api").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "mode": "search",
    "documentTypes": ["RULE"],
    "dateFrom": "7 days",
    "maxResults": 25,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("conserving_celerytop/federal-register-api").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "mode": "search",
  "documentTypes": [
    "RULE"
  ],
  "dateFrom": "7 days",
  "maxResults": 25
}' |
apify call conserving_celerytop/federal-register-api --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,conserving_celerytop/federal-register-api"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/5gZfIpqZfGt30UPDi/builds/sOcXhqFQuqpwpJqWw/openapi.json