eCFR US Federal Regulations Scraper

eCFR US Federal Regulations Scraper

Scrape the full text of US federal regulations from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, by keyword search or by browsing any of the 50 titles. Each regulation comes with its section number, title, chapter, and the complete regulatory text. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) is the daily-updated codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government. Reading it title by title on the website is slow, and there is no bulk download for a filtered set of sections. This actor reads the public eCFR content directly, letting you pull the exact regulations you need by a free-text query or by browsing the 50 titles, and returns each matching section in a consistent, flat schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape eCFR for
Compliance officers	Monitor specific regulatory sections for changes that affect company policy.
Legal researchers	Gather all regulations mentioning a specific term or topic for case preparation.
Policy analysts	Track the current text of regulations across multiple agencies for a research report.
Software developers	Build a structured, searchable database of federal regulations for an application.

What it does

This Actor collects US federal regulations from the eCFR by full-text search or by browsing titles, and returns each regulation section as a flat row with its full text and metadata.

• 🔎 Full-text search: Enter a keyword or phrase like 'privacy' or 'endangered species' to find every regulation section that mentions it across all 50 titles.
• 📚 Browse by title: Scrape all sections from one or more of the 50 CFR titles, such as Title 21 (Food and Drugs) or Title 40 (Protection of Environment).
• 📄 Complete regulatory text: Each result includes the full, unabridged text of the regulation section, not a snippet or summary.
• 🏷️ Structured metadata: Every row returns the title number, chapter, part, section number, and section name alongside the text.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with eCFR data

📋 Build a compliance checklist.

A compliance officer searches for 'recordkeeping requirements' to pull every relevant section, then maps them to internal processes for an audit.

⚖️ Support a legal argument.

A legal researcher scrapes all regulations containing 'joint employer' to gather the current regulatory text for a labor law brief.

📊 Analyze regulatory burden.

A policy analyst browses Title 40 (Protection of Environment) to collect all sections, then counts word frequency to quantify reporting obligations.

🔔 Monitor regulatory change.

A developer schedules a daily run for a specific search query, comparing the new dataset to the previous day's to detect any revisions or new rules.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key required	Accesses the public eCFR website directly, so there is no registration, no OAuth, and no rate-limit negotiation.
Full text, not snippets	Returns the complete regulatory text of each section, unlike a search engine results page that shows only a fragment.
Fixed, flat schema	Every regulation section is returned in the same predictable format, making it ready for databases, spreadsheets, or analysis tools.
Up-to-date data	The eCFR is updated daily. Run the actor on a schedule to keep your local copy in sync with the live regulations.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets eCFR the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	eCFR US Federal Regulations Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When eCFR changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with a free-text search query or by selecting specific CFR titles to browse, and set a maximum number of regulations to collect per run. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "mode": "search",
 "query": "privacy",
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "mode": "search",
 "query": "privacy",
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0432 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$4.32
1,000 results	$43.20
10,000 results	$432.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the eCFR US Federal Regulations Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to eCFR through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/ecfr-code-federal-regulations-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results for my search query?

Try a broader or shorter keyword. The eCFR uses specific legal and regulatory terminology. A term like 'privacy' will return results, but a very niche or colloquial phrase might not appear in the regulatory text.

The actor is running very slowly.

The eCFR website can be large. If you are browsing entire titles, set a lower 'Maximum regulations' number for a test run first. A full-text search for a common word across all titles will also take time to complete.

The output is missing some sections I expected.

Check that your search query is spelled correctly and that the sections you expect contain that exact term. If browsing by title, ensure you selected the correct title number. The eCFR is organized by title, chapter, part, and section.

I get an error when trying to browse a specific title.

Ensure you are entering a valid title number between 1 and 50. Some titles are very large and may require a longer timeout. Try increasing the run timeout in the actor's advanced settings.

The text in my output has strange formatting or line breaks.

The actor preserves the original text structure from the eCFR, which includes paragraphs and lists. This is the authentic formatting of the regulation. You can use simple text processing in your code to clean it if needed.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is the difference between the eCFR and the Federal Register?	The Federal Register publishes proposed and final rules, notices, and presidential documents daily. The eCFR is the codified, currently-in-effect version of those final rules, updated daily. This actor scrapes the eCFR.
Can I scrape a single title of the regulations?	Yes. Set the mode to 'Browse CFR titles' and specify the title number you want. You can scrape one title or all 50 titles in a single run.
Does this actor return the full text of each regulation?	Yes. Each row in the output contains the complete text of the regulation section, not a truncated preview or summary.
How many regulations can I scrape in one run?	You can set the maximum up to 1,000,000 items per run. The actual number collected will depend on your search query or the titles you browse.
Is the data from the eCFR official and authoritative?	The data is sourced directly from the official eCFR website published by the U.S. Government Publishing Office. However, for legal purposes, you should always verify against the official source.
Can I search for a specific phrase or keywords?	You can enter any free-text query, including multi-word phrases. The search runs against the full text of all regulations across all titles.
What output formats are supported?	You can export your dataset in CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML format from the Apify platform.
Do I need an API key or to register an application?	No. This actor reads the public eCFR website directly. You only need an Apify account to run it.
How often is the eCFR data updated?	The eCFR website is updated daily with new and amended regulations. You can schedule this actor to run daily to keep your dataset current.
Can I filter by agency?	The search covers the full text of all regulations. To target a specific agency, include the agency name in your search query, as the text of the regulations will contain references to the issuing agency.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by U.S. Government Publishing Office. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.