Code of Federal Regulations Scraper — eCFR Full-Text Data

Scrapes the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) from eCFR, the federal government's official, continuously updated codification of U.S. regulations. Returns full section-level text, hierarchy, statutory authority, and citation data for all 50 CFR titles — split out by title, chapter, part, subpart, and section.

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eCFR Scraper Features

• Extracts the full text of every regulation section, not just the heading.
• Returns the complete hierarchy — title, chapter, part, subpart, section — pre-assembled, so you don't reconstruct it from a PDF.
• Includes the statutory authority citation and source/amendment note attached to each section.
• Filter down to one or more CFR titles, or leave it open and pull the entire codified body in a single run.
• Snapshot a specific past date to compare against the current codification.
• Every record carries a direct, citable eCFR permalink and a short-form citation like 21 CFR 101.9.

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Who Uses eCFR Regulation Data?

• Compliance teams — watch a specific title or part for changes between two snapshot dates.
• Legal-AI and RAG builders — load full, structured regulatory text without re-deriving the title/chapter/part hierarchy yourself.
• Regulatory affairs staff — pull the authority and source citations next to the text that depends on them, instead of cross-referencing two documents.
• Policy researchers and analysts — compare how different agencies regulate the same subject across titles, without clicking through eCFR's own site one part at a time.
• Compliance software vendors — build obligation trackers off clean section text instead of parsing PDFs.

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How eCFR Scraper Works

1. Pick one or more CFR titles, or leave the field empty to cover all 49 active titles.
2. The scraper walks each title's official hierarchy — chapter, subchapter, part — down to the part level.
3. Every part's codified text is retrieved and split into individual section records.
4. You get one row per section, with the full hierarchy, authority, and citation already attached.

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Input

{
  "titles": ["21"],
  "maxItems": 500
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
titles	array	[]	Limit the crawl to specific CFR titles (e.g., Title 21 - Food and Drugs). Leave empty to crawl all 49 active titles.
asOfDate	string	""	Fetch the codification as of a specific past date (YYYY-MM-DD). Leave blank to use each title's current codification.
maxItems	integer	20	Maximum number of regulation sections to return. Set to 0 for unlimited — crawls every selected title in full.

A run with no titles set starts at Title 1 and works upward — set maxItems: 0 with no title filter for a full, every-title harvest.

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eCFR Scraper Output Fields

{
  "title_number": 21,
  "title_name": "Food and Drugs",
  "chapter": "Chapter I—Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services",
  "part_number": "101",
  "part_heading": "Food Labeling",
  "subpart": "Subpart A—General Provisions",
  "section_number": "101.9",
  "section_heading": "Nutrition labeling of food.",
  "section_text": "(a) Nutrition information relating to food shall be provided for all products intended for human consumption...",
  "hierarchy_path": "Food and Drugs > Chapter I—Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services > Part 101—Food Labeling > Subpart A—General Provisions > § 101.9",
  "authority": "15 U.S.C. 1333, 1453, 1454, 1455, 4402; 21 U.S.C. 321, 331, 342, 343, 348, 371; 42 U.S.C. 243, 264, 271.",
  "source_note": "[58 FR 2175, Jan. 6, 1993]",
  "amendment_date": "2026-10-13",
  "cfr_citation": "21 CFR 101.9",
  "edition_date": "2026-10-13",
  "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/on/2026-10-13/title-21/section-101.9"
}

Field	Type	Description
title_number	number	CFR title number (1-50)
title_name	string	CFR title name (e.g., "Food and Drugs")
chapter	string	Chapter label within the title
part_number	string	Part number within the title (e.g., "101")
part_heading	string	Part heading/description (e.g., "Food Labeling")
subpart	string	Subpart label within the part, where the source defines one
section_number	string	Section number (e.g., "101.9")
section_heading	string	Section heading text
section_text	string	Full codified regulatory text of the section
hierarchy_path	string	Full breadcrumb: Title > Chapter > Part > Subpart > Section
authority	string	Statutory authority citation for the part containing this section
source_note	string	Source/amendment citation for this section, where the source provides one
amendment_date	string	Date this codification is up to date as of
cfr_citation	string	Short-form CFR citation (e.g., "21 CFR 101.9")
edition_date	string	Snapshot date used to fetch this record
url	string	Canonical eCFR URL for this section

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FAQ

How do I scrape the Code of Federal Regulations?

Run eCFR Scraper with no input beyond the defaults and it starts pulling sections from Title 1 onward. Set titles to the CFR titles you care about and maxItems to however many sections you need — there's no account or API key to set up first.

What data can I get from eCFR?

Every data point tied to a regulation section: the full text, its position in the CFR hierarchy, the statutory authority behind it, the source/amendment citation, and a permalink you can hand to someone else. Headings alone won't tell you what a rule actually requires — this returns the text.

Can I filter by CFR title?

Yes. Set titles to an array of title numbers (e.g., ["21", "40"]) to restrict the crawl to Food and Drugs and Protection of Environment. Leave it empty to walk all 49 active titles in order.

Does this return the full regulation text or just summaries?

Full text. section_text is the complete codified body of the section, paragraph breaks intact — not a snippet, not a heading-only index.

Can I pull a past version of the regulations?

Set asOfDate to a YYYY-MM-DD date and every record reflects the codification as it stood then. Leave it blank and you get each title's current, up-to-date text.

Do I need an account or API key for eCFR?

No. eCFR Scraper needs nothing beyond your Apify account to run.

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Need More Features?

Need a different output shape, a new filter, or faster snapshot diffing? File an issue or get in touch.

Why Use eCFR Scraper?

• Full text, not a search wrapper — competing eCFR listings return search results; this returns the actual codified section text, hierarchy, and citations.
• Snapshot-diff friendly — edition_date and amendment_date are built in, so running this on a schedule gives you something to diff against, not just a fresh dump every time.
• Covers all 50 titles — filter down to one title for a narrow compliance watch, or leave it open and get the entire codified body in one run.