# Federal Rulemaking Dockets & Open Comment Periods (`lepidata/federal-rulemaking-dockets`) Actor

Federal proposed rules, rules and notices open for public comment, with deadlines, dockets and comment counts. US government public data. Unofficial.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/lepidata/federal-rulemaking-dockets.md
- **Developed by:** [Lepi Data](https://apify.com/lepidata) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, News
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 document or docket records

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 Rulemaking Dockets & Open Comment Periods

Federal proposed rules, rules and notices open for public comment, with deadlines, dockets and comment counts. US government public data. Unofficial.

**Modes** (`endpoint`)

- `open-comment-periods`: Open comment periods; pages automatically up to Max results
- `documents`: Documents; pages automatically up to Max results
- `document-detail`: Document detail (ids: document IDs)
- `dockets`: Dockets; pages automatically up to Max results
- `docket-detail`: Docket detail (ids: docket IDs)

**Filters** are passed as JSON in `filters`, using the same names as the output's `query` object (e.g. {"agency":"EPA"}).

**Output.** One row per record (`type: "record"`), plus `source_notice` and `removal` on every row. Free status rows (never charged): `invalid-input`, `not-found`, `no-results`, `api-error`, `service-busy`, `run-limit-reached`, `free-plan-limit`, `charge-limit-reached`.

Example row:

```json
{
 "document_id": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2026-4358-0007",
 "docket_id": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2026-4358",
 "agency": "EPA",
 "document_type": "Notice",
 "subtype": "Information Collection Request (ICR)",
 "title": "Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions, and Approvals: Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2023-2025 and Other Changes",
 "posted_date": "2026-09-30",
 "comment_start_date": "2026-09-30",
 "comment_end_date": "2026-10-31",
 "comment_end_datetime": "2026-10-31T03:59:59Z",
 "open_for_comment": true,
 "within_comment_period": true,
 "allow_late_comments": false,
 "withdrawn": false,
 "fr_doc_num": "2026-20053",
 "federal_register_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2026-20053",
 "regulations_gov_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/document/EPA-HQ-OAR-2026-4358-0007",
 "last_modified": "2026-09-30T19:40:12Z"
}
```

**Data source, notices and limits**

- US government public data: federal rulemaking dockets and documents from the Regulations.gov API.
- Unofficial. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by GSA, Regulations.gov or any federal agency.
- Comment periods as published; confirm deadlines in the Federal Register document before relying on them. Not legal advice.
- Uncached lookups are paced to the source's limits and may return busy with a retry time.
- Proposed rules, rules and notices (dockets endpoint: rulemaking dockets only). No public comments, commenter details or attachment text; comment counts only.
- Lists cached up to 1 hour, dockets, documents and comment counts up to 24 hours; retrieved_at shows when.
- Removal requests: support@lepidata.com (handled within 30 days).
- Unofficial data provided as is. Not legal advice.
- Records listed for removal on request are filtered out of every run.
- Source capacity is shared by all users of this tool. When it runs low or the source rate limits, runs stop cleanly with a free `service-busy` row. Hard cap: 200 source calls per run, paced (about one call every 4 s).
- Free-plan accounts get up to 100 results per run.

**Pricing.** Pay per result row, flat on every plan, no start fee. Status rows are free.

Contact: support@lepidata.com

# Actor input Schema

## `endpoint` (type: `string`):

Which data to fetch.

## `ids` (type: `array`):

For modes that need an ID: document-detail: document IDs; docket-detail: docket IDs. Up to 200 per run.

## `filters` (type: `object`):

Query filters for the chosen mode, as JSON (see the README for each mode's filters). Unknown filters return a free invalid-input row.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many paid result rows.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "endpoint": "open-comment-periods",
  "filters": {
    "agency": "EPA"
  },
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

All rows from this run.

# 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 = {
    "endpoint": "open-comment-periods",
    "filters": {
        "agency": "EPA"
    },
    "maxItems": 20
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("lepidata/federal-rulemaking-dockets").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 = {
    "endpoint": "open-comment-periods",
    "filters": { "agency": "EPA" },
    "maxItems": 20,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("lepidata/federal-rulemaking-dockets").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 '{
  "endpoint": "open-comment-periods",
  "filters": {
    "agency": "EPA"
  },
  "maxItems": 20
}' |
apify call lepidata/federal-rulemaking-dockets --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/O4BcDFV4IELH3ZUSR/builds/glhaBuN7QlnbpqdAf/openapi.json