Federal Register Rule & Notice Watch Scraper

Use this actor to monitor Federal Register rules, proposed rules, notices, agencies, and watch-term matches from the official API. Input agency slugs, document types, lookback windows, and watch terms; get source-linked digest rows for policy and regulatory monitoring. FederalRegister.gov provides an API view of Federal Register documents; verify important records with the linked official source before relying on them.

Store Quickstart

Run this actor with your target input. Results appear in the Apify Dataset and can be piped to webhooks for real-time delivery. Use dryRun to validate before committing to a schedule.

Key Features

• 🏛️ Government-sourced — Pulls directly from official agency feeds — no third-party aggregators
• ⏱️ Timely digests — Daily/weekly rollups of new filings, rulings, or actions
• 🔍 Keyword watchlists — Flag items matching your compliance/legal watch terms
• 📊 Structured metadata — Agency, date, docket, document type, link — all dataset-ready
• 📡 Webhook alerts — Push to legal/compliance teams the moment new items match watchlist

Use Cases

Who	Why
Developers	Automate recurring data fetches without building custom scrapers
Data teams	Pipe structured output into analytics warehouses
Ops teams	Monitor changes via webhook alerts
Product managers	Track competitor/market signals without engineering time

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
feeds	array	required	One entry per agency/topic watch target. Each feed produces one summary digest row. Set agencySlug and documentTypes to
watchTerms	string	—	Keywords, company names, or regulatory topics to flag in document titles and abstracts. Matching documents receive a wat
lookbackDays	integer	7	Fetch documents published within this many days. Use 7–14 for recurring scheduled runs; widen to 30+ for initial discove
maxDocsPerFeed	integer	50	Upper bound on documents fetched per feed per run. Increase for broad discovery; keep low (50) for fast recurring digest
maxPagesPerFeed	integer	5	Hard page cap per feed to prevent runaway pagination. Each page fetches up to 100 documents.
delivery	string	"dataset"	dataset stores results in the Apify dataset. webhook posts the digest JSON to webhookUrl.
webhookUrl	string	—	POST target for the digest payload. Leave empty for dataset delivery.
datasetMode	string	"all"	all emits every feed digest row. action_needed emits only feeds with watch-term hits. new_only emits only feeds with doc

Input Example

{
  "lookbackDays": 7,
  "maxDocsPerFeed": 50,
  "maxPagesPerFeed": 5,
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "all",
  "snapshotKey": "federal-register-digest-state",
  "federalRegisterApiUrl": "https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json",
  "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30,
  "notifyOnNoNew": true,
  "dryRun": false
}

Input Examples

Example: Single-target audit

{
  "targets": [
    "example-target-1"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerTarget": 30
}

Example: Bulk portfolio

{
  "targets": [
    "target-1",
    "target-2",
    "target-3"
  ],
  "maxResultsPerTarget": 50,
  "snapshotKey": "federal-register-digest-state"
}

Example: Recurring delta watch

{
  "targets": [
    "target-1"
  ],
  "snapshotKey": "federal-register-digest-state",
  "emitChangedOnly": true
}

Output

Field	Type	Description
meta	object
errors	array
digests	array
digests[].feedId	string
digests[].feedName	string
digests[].agencySlugs	array
digests[].documentTypes	array
digests[].checkedAt	timestamp
digests[].status	string
digests[].newDocCount	number
digests[].totalDocCount	number
digests[].changedSinceLastRun	boolean
digests[].actionNeeded	boolean
digests[].recommendedAction	string
digests[].signalTags	array
digests[].watchTermHits	array
digests[].topDocTypes	object
digests[].documents	array
digests[].error	null

Output Example

{
  "meta": {
    "generatedAt": "2024-02-15T09:00:00.000Z",
    "now": "2024-02-15T09:00:00.000Z",
    "lookbackDays": 7,
    "feedCount": 2,
    "totalDocs": 5,
    "newDocs": 4,
    "watchTermHitCount": 2,
    "actionNeededCount": 1,
    "snapshot": {
      "key": "federal-register-digest-sample",
      "loadedFrom": "local",
      "savedTo": "local"
    },
    "warnings": [],
    "executiveSummary": {
      "overallStatus": "action_needed",
      "brief": "1 feed(s) have watch-term hits requiring review.",
      "watchTermHits": [
        {
          "term": "climate",
          "docNumber": "2024-02974",
          "title": "National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter",
          "docType": "RULE",
          "primaryAgency": "Environmental Protection Agency",
          "publicationDate": "2024-02-07T00:00:00.000Z",
          "htmlUrl": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/02/07/2024-02974/national-ambient-air-quality-standards"
        },
        {
          "term": "greenhouse",
          "docNumber": "2024-02345",
          "title": "Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Additions and Revisions",
          "docType": "PRORULE",
          "primaryAgency": "Environmental Protection Agency",
          "publicationDate": "2024-02-12T00:00:00.000Z",
          "htmlUrl": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/02/12/2024-02345/greenhouse-gas-reporting"
        }
      ],
      "actionItems": [

API Usage

Run this actor programmatically using the Apify API. Replace YOUR_API_TOKEN with your token from Apify Console → Settings → Integrations.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/taroyamada~federal-register-digest/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "lookbackDays": 7, "maxDocsPerFeed": 50, "maxPagesPerFeed": 5, "delivery": "dataset", "datasetMode": "all", "snapshotKey": "federal-register-digest-state", "federalRegisterApiUrl": "https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json", "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30, "notifyOnNoNew": true, "dryRun": false }'

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("taroyamada/federal-register-digest").call(run_input={
  "lookbackDays": 7,
  "maxDocsPerFeed": 50,
  "maxPagesPerFeed": 5,
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "all",
  "snapshotKey": "federal-register-digest-state",
  "federalRegisterApiUrl": "https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json",
  "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30,
  "notifyOnNoNew": true,
  "dryRun": false
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

JavaScript / Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('taroyamada/federal-register-digest').call({
  "lookbackDays": 7,
  "maxDocsPerFeed": 50,
  "maxPagesPerFeed": 5,
  "delivery": "dataset",
  "datasetMode": "all",
  "snapshotKey": "federal-register-digest-state",
  "federalRegisterApiUrl": "https://www.federalregister.gov/api/v1/documents.json",
  "requestTimeoutSeconds": 30,
  "notifyOnNoNew": true,
  "dryRun": false
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Tips & Limitations

• Run daily for active watchlists; weekly for passive monitoring.
• Webhook delivery works well for compliance team Slack channels — include docket URL for 1-click access.
• Use watchKeywords generously — false positives are cheap to triage, false negatives miss filings.
• Pair with regulatory-change-monitor for cross-agency coverage.
• Archive Dataset rows weekly for long-term compliance evidence retention.

FAQ

How far back does history go?

This actor monitors forward-only — new items since first run. For historical data, use the agency's own search tool.

What timezones are used?

All timestamps are UTC. Use your downstream pipeline to convert to agency-local time if needed.

Does it translate non-English content?

No — original language is preserved. Use downstream translation services if needed.

Is the data official?

Yes — sourced directly from official government websites and feeds. Not a third-party aggregator.

Can I use this for legal research?

For alerting and monitoring, yes. For litigation research, cross-verify with primary sources (agency websites) — this actor is a monitoring tool, not a legal database.

Related Actors

Government & Regulatory cluster — explore related Apify tools:

• EPA Enforcement Digest | ECHO Compliance Risk Monitor — Monitor EPA ECHO all-media facility search, corporate compliance screener, and enforcement case feeds with one summary-first digest row per watched company, facility, or case feed.
• FDA Warning Letters Digest | Summary-First Feed — Monitor public FDA warning letters with one summary-first digest row per configured feed.
• Government Contract Award Monitor | Award & Competitor Watch — Monitor public-sector contract award notices for new wins, notable awardees, incumbent recompetes, and competitor signals — one digest row per configured feed without brittle broad crawling.
• Grants.gov Funding Digest | Opportunity Watch & Signal Digest — Monitor Grants.
• NHTSA Vehicle Recall Digest | Recalls + Complaints Watch — Monitor official NHTSA vehicle recall and complaint endpoints for watched model-family, VIN, and manufacturer feeds.
• Product Safety Recall Digest | CPSC + openFDA Alerts — Monitor CPSC saferproducts.
• Regulatory Change Monitor API — Monitor official regulator update feeds, government bulletin pages, and public compliance notices with one action-oriented digest row per monitored source.
• OFAC Sanctions Change Digest | SDN List Monitor — Monitor the OFAC SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) sanctions list for additions and removals.
• Tariff Trade Change Digest | Federal Register + HTS Monitor — Monitor U.
• Treasury Fiscal Data Digest | Debt, Rates & Budget Monitor — Monitor the U.
• USPTO Patent Monitor API | JSON + Webhook — Search and monitor US patent filings with multi-source fallback.
• Campaign Finance & Lobbying Digest | FEC + LDA Watch — Monitor official FEC OpenFEC committee reports and LDA.

Cost

Pay Per Event:

• actor-start: $0.01 (flat fee per run)
• dataset-item: $0.003 per output item

Example: 1,000 items = $0.01 + (1,000 × $0.003) = $3.01

No subscription required — you only pay for what you use.

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Compliance Guardrails

This actor is independently operated and has no source-agency affiliation, sponsorship, or approval. It uses public data from FederalRegister.gov API (https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/documentation/api/v1). Results are informational only and may be delayed, incomplete, amended, withdrawn, or superseded by the source. Verify all records with the linked official source before relying on them.

• Use the documented API, not UI scraping.
• Treat results as informational monitoring; link users to official document URLs/PDFs for verification.
• Do not imply agency endorsement or legal advice.