Federal Register MCP

Federal Register MCP

A Model Context Protocol server that wraps the FederalRegister.gov REST API as deterministic tool calls. Built for federal acquisition policy teams, regulatory affairs analysts, attorneys, FAR Council watchers, and anyone who tracks rulemaking, FAR cases, comment periods, or executive orders.

8 tools covering Federal Register documents from 1994 to today. Hardened across multiple live audit rounds. MIT licensed. No API key required.

What it does

Document Search

• search_documents: search proposed rules, final rules, notices, executive orders, presidential documents
• Filter by agency, CFR part affected, RIN, docket ID, publication date, document type
• Full-text search with Boolean operators
• Returns document number, title, abstract, agencies, action, publication date, effective date

Document Detail

• get_document: full document text and metadata by document number
• get_documents_batch: pull multiple documents in one call (useful for tracking lists)
• Returns CFR parts affected, RIN, agency, publication date, effective date, comment period dates, full body text

Open Comment Periods

• open_comment_periods: list all currently open comment periods
• Filter by agency, CFR part, or topic
• Sorted by closing date so deadlines surface first

Public Inspection

• get_public_inspection: documents posted to public inspection but not yet officially published in the Federal Register
• Get a head start on tomorrow's Federal Register

FAR Case Tracking

• far_case_history: specialized tool for tracking a FAR case through its rulemaking lifecycle
• ANPRM → NPRM → Final Rule → Corrections progression
• Returns associated documents, comment periods, effective dates

Agency Lookups

• list_agencies: every agency that publishes in the Federal Register
• Filter documents by issuing agency

Facet Counts

• get_facet_counts: aggregate counts of documents by agency, CFR part, or document type
• Useful for trend analysis and rulemaking activity dashboards

Use cases

• Track the FAR Council's rulemaking pipeline from ANPRM through Final Rule
• Monitor comment periods that affect ongoing or planned acquisitions
• Track agency-specific FAR supplement rule changes
• Build regulatory change reports for executive briefings or policy memos
• Cross-reference Federal Register notices to current eCFR text (pair with the eCFR MCP)
• Identify executive orders affecting acquisition policy
• Pull historical rule preambles for protest defense or contract interpretation arguments

Compatibility

• Claude Desktop (one-click .mcpb install or Copy JSON)
• Codex (ChatGPT) via TOML config or codex mcp add
• Gemini CLI via ~/.gemini/settings.json
• Copilot via .vscode/mcp.json in VS Code
• Claude Code, Cursor, Cline, Zed, Continue, and any other MCP-compatible client

Install

No API key required. The Federal Register API is fully public.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "federal-register": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--refresh-package", "federal-register-mcp", "--from", "federal-register-mcp", "federal-register-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

TOML config (Codex):

[mcp_servers.federal-register]
command = "uvx"
args = ["--refresh-package", "federal-register-mcp", "--from", "federal-register-mcp", "federal-register-mcp"]

PyPI: pip install federal-register-mcp or uvx federal-register-mcp

Example prompts

• "What rules has the FAR Council published in the last 90 days?"
• "Show me all open comment periods affecting acquisition (FAR or DFARS) and when they close."
• "Pull the full text of FAR Case 2023-006."
• "What executive orders has the President signed this month?"
• "Track every Federal Register document related to FAR Part 12 since 2024."
• "Tomorrow's public inspection: anything from DoD or GSA?"
• "How many proposed rules has the SBA published this fiscal year?"
• "Pull the preamble of the latest CMMC final rule."
• "Compare the final-rule version of FAR Case 2022-005 to its NPRM."

Hardening

Live-audited against the production Federal Register API across multiple rounds. Handles document type variants (proposed rule, final rule, notice, executive order, presidential document, correction), CFR part normalization, comment period date parsing, and pagination for large result sets. Pydantic models use extra="forbid" to surface schema drift. FAR case history tool tested against active and closed cases.

Source

• GitHub: https://github.com/1102tools/federal-contracting-mcps/tree/main/servers/federal-register-mcp
• PyPI: https://pypi.org/project/federal-register-mcp/
• Docs: https://1102tools.com/install
• Part of the 1102tools suite: 8 federal contracting MCPs + 6 Claude Skills
• License: MIT