regulations_search_rules
regulations_search_rulesRead-only
Search the Federal Register — the daily journal of US proposed rules, final rules, notices, and presidential documents (1994–present) — filtering by full-text query, document type, agency slug, publication date range, affected CFR title and part, printed docket number, RIN, EO 12866 significance, effective date range, and for presidential documents the executive order number, subtype, president, and signing date range, all combined. A page cite from a CFR source note ("89 FR 49102", with its date) resolves to the documents printed on that page. The primary discovery entry point: results carry the document number (open with regulations_get_document), its citation and page range, each issuing agency with its filterable slug, printed docket numbers, Regulations.gov docket and document IDs, comment count and comment URL, whether the comment period is open, RINs, significance, presidential-document identifiers, and affected CFR parts that chain into the comment and codified-text tools. A query ranks by relevance unless order says otherwise; filter-only browsing lists newest first. The Federal Register caps navigation at 50 pages and the match count at 10,000; when a result set is larger, narrow with published_after/published_before rather than paging deeper.
Tool call template
This tool declares no required parameters. Add optional parameters from the input schema as needed.
{
"id": 1,
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "tools/call",
"params": {
"arguments": {},
"name": "regulations_search_rules"
}
}Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| rin | No | Only documents carrying this Regulation Identifier Number — a regulationIdNumbers entry such as "2040-AG18", which follows one rulemaking from proposal to final rule. Pass the complete RIN: a fragment ("2040") matches every RIN that contains it. | |
| page | No | Page number (1–50, default 1). The Federal Register serves 50 pages, so a query reaches 50 × per_page matches (5,000 at per_page 100); totalPages and nextPage in the response say how far this one goes. To reach past that, narrow with published_after/published_before rather than paging deeper. | |
| type | No | Document types to include. PRORULE=Proposed Rule, RULE=Final Rule, NOTICE=Notice, PRESDOCU=Presidential Document. Omit for all types. | |
| order | No | Result order. Defaults to relevance with a query, newest without one. relevance without a query falls back to newest first; oldest lists the earliest publications first. Ignored with citation, whose matches come in page order. | |
| query | No | Full-text search across document title and body. Omit to browse by filters alone (e.g. all EPA proposed rules in a date range). | |
| agencies | No | Filter to one or more agencies by Federal Register agency slug (e.g. "environmental-protection-agency", "securities-and-exchange-commission") — lowercase kebab-case, not a name or acronym. Every result lists its agencies with their slugs; if unsure, search by query and read agencies[].slug off a result. One unrecognized slug fails the whole request. | |
| cfr_part | No | Only documents whose cfrReferences list this part of cfr_title: a part number ("141") or a range ("140-143"), such as the part regulations_get_cfr_section just read; a "Part" or "pt." prefix is dropped. Requires cfr_title. A part with a letter in it ("1203a") cannot be filtered on. Unlike a query of "40 CFR 141", which matches documents that mention the part, this matches the documents whose CFR references list it. | |
| citation | No | A Federal Register page cite, "89 FR 49102" (volume FR page) — such as one from the source note that ends a regulations_get_cfr_section bodyText. Returns the documents printed on that page, usually one and sometimes a few sharing it, ordered by start page. Requires citation_date and replaces published_after/published_before. Volume 59 (1994) onward. | |
| per_page | No | Results per page (at least 2, default 20, capped at 100 with a notice). The Federal Register API treats exactly 1 as its default page size instead of returning one result. | |
| cfr_title | No | Only documents whose affected CFR parts (cfrReferences) fall in this title (1–50) — such as the title regulations_get_cfr_section just read. Alone it filters to the title; with cfr_part, to that part. | |
| docket_id | No | Only documents carrying this docket number as the Federal Register prints it — a docketIds entry from a result here or from regulations_get_document, with or without a wrapper such as "Docket No.". Lists a docket's Federal Register documents with no REGULATIONS_GOV_API_KEY. A Regulations.gov docket ID matches only where the Federal Register prints it. Pass the complete number: a fragment ("FAA-2026") matches every docket that contains it. | |
| president | No | Only presidential documents issued by this president, by slug: william-j-clinton, george-w-bush, barack-obama, donald-trump, joe-biden (presidential.president.slug on a result). An unknown slug fails the request. | |
| significant | No | true: only documents the Federal Register flags significant under EO 12866. false: only documents flagged not significant. Documents with no determination — every presidential document and most notices — match neither. | |
| signed_after | No | Earliest signing date of a presidential document (YYYY-MM-DD). Signing precedes publication by days to weeks, so this window differs from published_after/published_before. | |
| citation_date | No | The publication date printed beside the cite in the source note (YYYY-MM-DD) — "89 FR 49102, June 11, 2024" is 2024-06-11. Required with citation; its year is the volume + 1935. | |
| signed_before | No | Latest signing date of a presidential document (YYYY-MM-DD). | |
| effective_after | No | Earliest effective date (YYYY-MM-DD) — documents taking effect on or after it. | |
| published_after | No | Earliest publication date, ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD), a real calendar day. Combine with published_before to window large result sets — the FR caps navigation at 50 pages. | |
| effective_before | No | Latest effective date (YYYY-MM-DD). | |
| published_before | No | Latest publication date, ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD), a real calendar day. | |
| executive_order_number | No | Only the executive order with this number (14192), as presidential.number on a result carries it. A full-text query on the number instead matches every document that cites the order. | |
| presidential_document_type | No | Only presidential documents of these subtypes. notice is a presidential notice, not type NOTICE. |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| cap | No | The most matches 50 pages reach at this per_page (50 × per_page); set with truncated. | |
| error | No | Present when the call failed. Absent on success. | |
| shown | No | Results returned on this page. | |
| notice | No | Guidance when per_page was above its ceiling, when nothing matched, when the page is past the end, or when matches lie beyond the last page. | |
| results | No | Matching Federal Register documents (this page). | |
| nextPage | No | Page to request next — present only when a later page holds matches. | |
| truncated | No | True when more documents matched than 50 pages reach at this per_page, so some are on no page — set on every page of such a set. | |
| totalCount | No | Matches before pagination. The Federal Register stops counting at 10,000, so 10,000 means at least that many. | |
| totalPages | No | Pages at this per_page, at most the 50 the Federal Register serves; 0 when nothing matched. |