Federal Register Scraper

Federal Register Scraper

Scrape Federal Register documents by keyword, agency, type, or date, up to a million per run. Each row is one rule, proposed rule, notice, or presidential document with its agency, dates, and full metadata. No API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The Federal Register is the daily journal of the United States government, publishing every new rule, proposed rule, notice, and presidential document. This Actor reads the public search results directly, so you can collect exactly the documents you need without registering for an API key or dealing with rate limits. Filter by keyword, agency, document type, and publication date, and get each match as a flat row in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape Federal Register for
Compliance officers	Monitor new rules that affect their industry
Policy analysts	Track proposed rules and public comment periods
Journalists	Find presidential documents and agency notices
Legal researchers	Build a searchable archive of final rules
Data scientists	Feed regulatory text into NLP pipelines

What it does

This Actor collects Federal Register documents by keyword, agency, document type, or publication date, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🔍 Keyword search: free-text search across document titles and full text, leave empty for newest documents.
• 🏛️ Agency filter: pass one or more agency slugs like environmental-protection-agency or federal-aviation-administration.
• 📄 Document type: choose Final Rule, Proposed Rule, Notice, or Presidential Document.
• 📅 Date range: set published on or after and published on or before, both optional.
• ⚡ Scale: collect up to 1,000,000 documents per run.

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

What you can do with Federal Register data

📈 Monitor regulatory changes.

A compliance team runs the Actor daily with their industry keywords and agency slugs, then reviews new final rules that affect their products.

📝 Track public comment periods.

A policy analyst collects proposed rules with upcoming comment deadlines to prepare stakeholder responses.

🏛️ Watch specific agencies.

A journalist filters by agency slug to get every notice and presidential document from the EPA or FAA.

📚 Build a research archive.

A legal researcher scrapes all final rules from a date range and stores them in a database for citation analysis.

🤖 Feed regulatory data to AI.

A data scientist exports the dataset to train a model that classifies rule types or extracts agency actions.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public Federal Register search directly, no registration or rate limits.
One row per document	Every rule, notice, or presidential document is a flat record with agency, dates, and metadata.
Flexible filters	Combine keyword, agency, type, and date to narrow down to exactly what you need.
Export anywhere	Save to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or push to any Apify integration.

How it compares

This Actor focuses on flexible filtering and high-volume collection from the Federal Register, while competitors add MCP integration or Regulations.gov enrichment.

Feature	ParseForge	Regulatory Change Monitor MCP Server	📜 Federal Register Scraper	Federal Register Scraper: Rules, Notices & Executive Orders
Keyword search	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Not listed
Agency filter	Yes	Not listed	Yes	Yes
Document type filter	Yes	Yes	Not listed	Yes
Date range filter	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Up to 1,000,000 documents per run	Yes	Not listed	Not listed	Not listed
Regulations.gov integration	Not listed	Not listed	Yes	Not listed
MCP server for AI assistants	Not listed	Yes	Not listed	Not listed

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from a keyword, agency slugs, document types, and a publication date range, alone or together, and filters run as each document is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

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 Federal Register 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 Federal Register 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/federalregister-scraper"

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

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your filters. If you set a keyword, agency, or date range that is too narrow, there may be no matching documents. Try removing one filter at a time to see which one is causing the issue.

Why did the run stop before reaching maxItems?

The Actor stops when there are no more documents matching your filters. If you expected more, broaden your search or remove some filters.

How do I find the correct agency slug?

Go to federalregister.gov/agencies and search for the agency. The slug is the last part of the URL, for example environmental-protection-agency.

Why is my date filter not working?

Make sure you use the YYYY-MM-DD format, for example 2024-01-01. Also check that publicationDateGte is not after publicationDateLte.

Can I get the full text of a document?

The Actor returns metadata and summary fields. To get the full text, use the document URL from the output and fetch it with another tool or actor.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need an API key for the Federal Register?	No. This Actor reads the public search results from federalregister.gov, so you do not need to register for an API key or worry about rate limits.
Can I search by keyword?	Yes. Use the searchTerm input to search across document titles and full text. Leave it empty to return the newest documents.
How do I filter by agency?	Pass one or more agency slugs in the agencySlugs input. You can find slugs on federalregister.gov/agencies, for example environmental-protection-agency.
What document types can I filter?	You can filter by Final Rule, Proposed Rule, Notice, or Presidential Document. Leave the documentType input empty to get all types.
Can I set a date range?	Yes. Use publicationDateGte for the earliest date and publicationDateLte for the latest date, both in YYYY-MM-DD format. Both are optional.
How many documents can I collect?	You can set maxItems up to 1,000,000 documents per run. The default is 10.
What format is the output?	Each document is returned as a flat row with fields like title, agency, publication date, document type, and more. You can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Does this include the full text of documents?	The Actor returns the metadata and summary fields available in the search results. For full text, you may need to fetch the document URL separately.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. You can set up a scheduled run in Apify to collect new documents daily or weekly.
Is this legal to scrape?	Federal Register content is public domain as a work of the U.S. government, so you can use it freely. Always check the terms of service for any downstream use.
What is an agency slug?	A slug is a URL-friendly identifier for an agency, like federal-aviation-administration. You can find the full list on federalregister.gov/agencies.
Can I combine filters?	Yes. You can combine keyword, agency, document type, and date range in a single run to narrow down results.

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 National Archives and Records Administration. 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.