Regulations.gov Dockets, Rules & Public Comments

Search the official Regulations.gov API for federal rules, proposed rules and notices, find comment deadlines that are still open, and export the public comments on any docket. Every row is flat and ready for a spreadsheet, database or AI pipeline.

Built by Open Docket Data, a trade name of Lincoln & Main Commerce LLC. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Regulations.gov, GSA or any federal agency.

What you can do

• Track new rules by topic or agency. For example, every EPA proposed rule that mentions "PFAS" this year.
• Never miss a comment deadline. Turn on Only documents still open for comment and sort by deadline.
• Export public comments. Pull every comment on a docket, optionally with the full comment text, the submitter's organization and location, and the attachment count.
• List dockets. Find rulemaking dockets by agency or keyword.

Who uses it

• Compliance and regulatory teams watching for new rules that affect their industry.
• Trade associations and advocacy groups tracking open comment periods so members can respond on time.
• Law firms and consultants pulling every public comment on a docket for analysis.
• Journalists and researchers following how agencies write rules and who weighs in.
• AI agents and data pipelines that need clean, structured federal rulemaking data.

What it costs

You pay only for results: $1.50 per 1,000 records. A run that returns 50 open proposed rules costs about $0.08. Pulling 1,000 comments on a docket costs $1.50. Apify's free plan includes monthly platform credit, so you can try it without paying anything up front.

Use it from an AI agent

This Actor works as a tool for AI assistants through the Apify MCP server. Add opendocketdata/regulations-gov-dockets-comments as a tool in the Apify MCP server, and your agent can ask things like "Which EPA proposed rules close for comment this month?" or "Export the comments on docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317." Every row comes back flat, with plain field names, so agents can read it directly.

Input

Field	What it does
What to collect	Documents, Comments or Dockets
Search term	Free-text search, for example overtime
Agencies	Agency acronyms, for example EPA, FDA, DOL
Document types	Proposed Rule, Rule, Notice, Supporting & Related Material, Other
Only documents still open for comment	Comment period ends today or later
Comment deadline on or before	Find deadlines coming up soon
Docket ID / Document ID	Needed for comments mode
Include full comment text	One extra request per comment
Posted from / to	Date range
Maximum results	Up to 5,000 per run (the API's limit for one search)
Your api.data.gov key	Free from api.data.gov/signup. Without one, the shared DEMO_KEY allows only a few requests an hour.

Example: open EPA proposed rules

{
  "mode": "documents",
  "agencyIds": ["EPA"],
  "documentTypes": ["Proposed Rule"],
  "openForCommentOnly": true,
  "sort": "commentEndDate",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: comments on a docket, with text

{
  "mode": "comments",
  "docketId": "EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0317",
  "includeCommentText": true,
  "maxItems": 200
}

Output

Documents mode returns one row per document:

Field	Description
documentId	Regulations.gov document ID
title	Document title
documentType	Proposed Rule, Rule, Notice, and so on
agencyId / docketId	Agency and docket
postedDate	Date posted
commentStartDate / commentEndDate	Comment period
openForComment	Whether comments are being accepted
frDocNum	Federal Register document number
url / docketUrl / commentUrl	Links to Regulations.gov

Comments mode returns commentId, title, postedDate, docketId, url and, with full text on, comment, organization, submitterCity, submitterState, submitterCountry, receiveDate and attachmentCount.

Limits worth knowing

• Regulations.gov returns at most 20 pages of 250 results (5,000) for one search. For more, split the run by date range.
• Your api.data.gov key has its own hourly limit. The Actor waits and retries automatically when the limit is reached.
• Some agencies post comments days or weeks after they're received, so very recent comments may not appear yet.

Data source and use

Data comes from the public Regulations.gov API. Comments are public submissions; follow applicable law and the source's terms when you reuse them, especially personal details submitters chose to include.

FAQ

Do I need an API key? It works without one, but the shared DEMO_KEY allows only a few requests an hour. A free key from api.data.gov takes a minute and removes that limit for normal use.

Can I run it on a schedule? Yes. Use Apify's Schedules to run it daily or weekly, for example to catch new proposed rules from one agency, and send results to email, Google Drive, Slack or a webhook through Apify integrations.

How current is the data? Each run queries Regulations.gov live, so you get what the site shows at that moment.

Support

Questions or a field you need? Open an issue on this Actor's Issues tab. We usually answer within one business day.