# US Federal Register Search (Free) (`fit_melon/us-federal-register-search`) Actor

Search official US Federal Register documents (rules, notices, presidential docs) by keyword. Returns title, agency, abstract, dates and PDF links. Free, no API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/fit\_melon/us-federal-register-search.md
- **Developed by:** [D N](https://apify.com/fit_melon) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 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

## US Federal Register Search (Free)

**Free Apify actor.** Search the **official US Federal Register** — federal rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents — by keyword, using the government [Federal Register API](https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/documentation/api/v1). Reliable, authoritative open data.

### What it does

For each keyword, it returns matching Federal Register documents with title, document type, issuing agencies, abstract, publication date and links to the official HTML page and PDF — ideal for regulatory monitoring, legal research and compliance workflows.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `queries` | array | Keywords to search (one search each). |
| `maxResults` | integer | Documents per query (1-100, default 20). |
| `order` | string | `newest`, `oldest` or `relevance`. |

### Output (one item per document)

```json
{
  "query": "tariff",
  "status": "found",
  "document_number": "2026-14602",
  "title": "Lamb Meat; Institution of Investigation...",
  "type": "Notice",
  "abstract": "Following receipt of a request from the USTR...",
  "publication_date": "2026-07-20",
  "agencies": "International Trade Commission",
  "html_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/...",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/....pdf"
}
```

Every input yields at least one item, with `status`: `found`, `not_found`, or `error`.

### Use cases

- Monitor new regulations and notices on topics you track.
- Build regulatory / compliance alerting pipelines.
- Research agency rulemaking and presidential documents.
- Feed authoritative government data into dashboards.

### Limitations & fair use

Data is public-domain US government data from the Federal Register API. Full-text term search matches the document body; use precise keywords for best relevance.

### More actors by this developer

See all free tools on the [author profile](https://apify.com/vigilant_jasmine).

# Actor input Schema

## `queries` (type: `array`):

Keywords to search Federal Register documents (one search each).

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Number of documents per query (1-100).

## `order` (type: `string`):

Sort results by 'newest', 'oldest', or 'relevance'.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "queries": [
    "tariff",
    "artificial intelligence"
  ],
  "maxResults": 20,
  "order": "newest"
}
```

# 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 = {
    "queries": [
        "tariff",
        "artificial intelligence"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("fit_melon/us-federal-register-search").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 = { "queries": [
        "tariff",
        "artificial intelligence",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("fit_melon/us-federal-register-search").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "tariff",
    "artificial intelligence"
  ]
}' |
apify call fit_melon/us-federal-register-search --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fit_melon/us-federal-register-search",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/RvBDSu7V8Db6mh1zz/builds/6qwcEUJTIIrsuNRs0/openapi.json