# Federal Register Scraper (`smorgi_apps/federal-register-scraper`) Actor

- **URL**: https://apify.com/smorgi\_apps/federal-register-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Smorgi Apps](https://apify.com/smorgi_apps) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Business, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 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.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Federal Register Scraper — Pay Per Result

Scrape **Federal Register documents** through the official JSON API (`federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json`). Search, filter by agency and document type, paginate newest-first.

**Store search keywords:** Federal Register scraper · government regulations · FR documents API · federalregister.gov · rulemaking notices

***

### Why this Actor

| Need | What you get |
|------|----------------|
| Regulatory monitoring | Newest documents with title, abstract, agencies, links |
| Targeted pulls | Search term, agency slug, and document type filters |
| Failures that shouldn’t bill | Empty pages / HTTP errors → **not charged** |
| Low cost | HTTP-only (no browser); PPE priced from measured unit economics |

Official public API only. No login required.

***

### Input

```json
{
  "query": "visa bond",
  "agencies": ["state-department"],
  "documentTypes": ["Rule"],
  "maxItems": 100
}
```

Leave `query` empty to fetch the newest documents with optional agency/type filters.

Agency values are Federal Register slugs (e.g. `environmental-protection-agency`, `state-department`).

***

### Output fields

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `documentNumber` | FR document number (e.g. 2026-15726) |
| `title` | Document title |
| `type` | Document type (Rule, Notice, Proposed Rule, …) |
| `abstract` | Summary text when provided |
| `publicationDate` | Publication date (YYYY-MM-DD) |
| `agencies` | Array of issuing agencies (id, name, slug, url) |
| `htmlUrl` | HTML document page on federalregister.gov |
| `pdfUrl` | PDF link (govinfo.gov) |
| `scrapedAt` | ISO timestamp of this run |

***

### Pricing

Pay-per-event for each **delivered** document row.

- Empty result pages and HTTP failures → **not charged**

**~$0.50 / 1,000 documents** on the Store pricing tab (HTTP-only; empty pages free).

***

### Limitations (honest)

- Public API rate limits apply — use `requestDelayMs` for large pulls
- Agency filters expect Federal Register slugs, not arbitrary abbreviations
- Abstract text can be long; full rule text is on the linked HTML/PDF pages
- API `count` is capped; very broad queries may not return the full corpus in one run

***

Issues / feature requests: use the Actor **Issues** tab.

# Actor input Schema

## `query` (type: `string`):

Optional full-text search term (maps to conditions\[term]). Leave empty for newest documents.

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

Optional agency slugs (conditions\[agencies]\[]), e.g. "environmental-protection-agency" or "state-department".

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

Optional document type filters (conditions\[type]\[]). Use API codes NOTICE, RULE, PRORULE, PRESDOCU (aliases like "Notice" / "Proposed Rule" are normalized).

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

Cap total documents across all pages.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Throttle between paginated API calls.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional. Federal Register API is public and usually works without proxies.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "query": "",
  "documentTypes": [
    "NOTICE",
    "RULE"
  ],
  "maxItems": 25,
  "requestDelayMs": 400,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {
    "documentTypes": [
        "NOTICE",
        "RULE"
    ],
    "maxItems": 25
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("smorgi_apps/federal-register-scraper").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 = {
    "documentTypes": [
        "NOTICE",
        "RULE",
    ],
    "maxItems": 25,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("smorgi_apps/federal-register-scraper").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 '{
  "documentTypes": [
    "NOTICE",
    "RULE"
  ],
  "maxItems": 25
}' |
apify call smorgi_apps/federal-register-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/vVfOSK2irqf8ZPn3u/builds/MQo70D8NP6xBOcBQf/openapi.json