`federal_register`

Federal Register documents

One row per dated Federal Register record, keyed by (document_number, publication_date), ingested from the federalregister.gov REST API by build_federal_register. The authoritative rule-publication record — proposed rules, final rules, and notices — complementary to the regulations.gov dockets/documents view. regulation_id_numbers_json (RIN) and cfr_references_json are the join keys to the Unified Agenda and the CFR. All columns are stored as VARCHAR; array-valued fields are JSON.

Coverage. True range: dated records published from 1994-01-03 on, the whole span the API serves. (measured 2026-09-23)

Data quality. Document numbers are not globally unique: 00-111 names different records on 2000-01-14 and 2000-01-18. Current merging preserves both dates and replaces only the same dated record on a later successful fetch. This code correction does not restore historical records already lost from published files; those require a pinned historical replay and publication. A number-only source reference remains ambiguous when its input generation supplies multiple dated candidates. One RIN, docket and title can cover a rule and its later corrections, effective-date delays and confirmations, all typed Rule since 2008 with subtype NULL, so a RIN or title match picks a document family, not a document; action tells them apart (Final rule; correction.) where the Register states one. The API lists no RIN on a large share of Rule documents every year, some of which state one in the printed text or inside docket_ids_json. A row not read since the Register's regulations.gov link and action were first requested (2026-10-03) is NULL in all nine of those columns, which means not read: test regulations_dot_gov_info_json, which a row read since holds as '{}' at least. The scheduled run re-reads the last 120 days, so a relayed comment count follows the Register's own checks to about the comment period's close.

Parquet file: federal_register.parquet
MCP query_sql support: Configured; requires an available artifact.
Publication status: Not established by this schema page or its measurement date.
Row count: Not stated here; the MCP describe_table reply gives the live count under publication.

Column	Type	Description
`document_number`	`VARCHAR`	The Register's document number, spelled as it serves it (`2017-07442`, unpadded before 2013).
`title`	`VARCHAR`	The document's title.
`abstract`	`VARCHAR`	The agency's abstract of the document; often NULL.
`document_type`	`VARCHAR`	The Register's category as the API states it: `Rule`, `Proposed Rule`, `Notice`, `Presidential Document`, and on older records `Uncategorized Document`, `Correction` (none after 2008-08-08) and `Sunshine Act Document`; NULL on a few records. Since 2008 a correction, an effective-date delay or a confirmation of a rule is itself typed `Rule` and shares the rule's RIN, docket and title; subtype is NULL on recent records, so tell them apart by `action`.
`publication_date`	`VARCHAR`	The date the document was published, canonical YYYY-MM-DD.
`effective_on`	`VARCHAR`	The `effective_on` date the Federal Register API states for the document. On a rule it is usually the effective date; the API also states one on some proposed rules and notices (a comment-period extension can carry the original proposal's date), so a date here does not by itself show that anything took effect. NULL where the API states none, as on most notices.
`comments_close_on`	`VARCHAR`	The public comment deadline, for a document that opens a comment period; often NULL.
`signing_date`	`VARCHAR`	The date a presidential document was signed; NULL for other documents.
`agencies_json`	`VARCHAR`	The issuing agencies as the Register's agency objects, a JSON array.
`agency_slugs`	`VARCHAR`	The issuing agencies' Register slugs, comma-separated; NULL when none.
`docket_ids_json`	`VARCHAR`	The docket labels the document states, a JSON array, as printed (many are agency numbers).
`regulation_id_numbers_json`	`VARCHAR`	The Regulation Identifier Numbers the API lists, a JSON array. `[]` on a large share of Rule documents every year, an API limit: some of those state a RIN in the printed text, and some print it inside docket_ids_json.
`cfr_references_json`	`VARCHAR`	The CFR citations the document affects, a JSON array of `{title, part, chapter, citation_url}`.
`topics_json`	`VARCHAR`	The Register's CFR index terms for the document (`topics`), a JSON array; `[]` when it lists none.
`html_url`	`VARCHAR`	The document's page on federalregister.gov.
`pdf_url`	`VARCHAR`	The document's PDF rendition.
`body_html_url`	`VARCHAR`	The document's full-text HTML body; the XML body the Register also serves carries no boilerplate.
`volume`	`VARCHAR`	The Federal Register volume.
`start_page`	`VARCHAR`	The document's first page.
`end_page`	`VARCHAR`	The document's last page.
`subtype`	`VARCHAR`	The Register's subtype when the API sets it; NULL on recent records, so it does not separate a correction from its rule (`action` does).
`executive_order_number`	`VARCHAR`	The executive order number, for a presidential executive order; NULL otherwise.
`modify_date`	`VARCHAR`	Always NULL: the Register's API states no update instant.
`regulations_dot_gov_info_json`	`VARCHAR`	The Register's own statement of the regulations.gov docket and document it matched this document to (the API's `regulations_dot_gov_info`), a JSON object exactly as stated: `{}` where the Register states nothing, the time of its check alone where it checked and found nothing, otherwise any of the docket, the document, the comment count, the supporting documents and their titles. NULL on a row not read since the field was first requested (2026-10-03).
`regulations_dot_gov_docket_id`	`VARCHAR`	The regulations.gov docket the Register states for this document; NULL where it states none, even where it states a document: a docket is never read off the front of a document id.
`regulations_dot_gov_document_id`	`VARCHAR`	The regulations.gov document the Register states for this document; NULL where it states none.
`regulations_dot_gov_comments_count`	`VARCHAR`	Regulations.gov's comment count for that document as the Register relayed it at regulations_dot_gov_checked_at. The Register stops checking soon after the comment period closes, so the count is as of that check. It can be far higher than the comments regulations.gov posts (IRS-2024-0010-0001: 384,423 against 12 posted, 2026-10-03): a different fact from the posted comment rows this service holds. NULL where the Register states no count.
`regulations_dot_gov_checked_at`	`VARCHAR`	When the Register last checked regulations.gov for this document, as it states it (UTC); NULL where it has not checked.
`action`	`VARCHAR`	The document's action line as the API states it (`Final rule.`, `Final rule; correction.`, `Proposed rule; extension of comment period.`); NULL where it states none, as on many older records. It tells a rule from its later correction, delay or confirmation, which share the rule's type, RIN, docket and title.
`correction_of`	`VARCHAR`	For one of the Register's own editorial corrections (numbered like `C1-2012-1234`), the API address of the document it corrects; NULL otherwise. An agency's correction published as a rule carries no such link; its `action` names it a correction.
`corrections_json`	`VARCHAR`	The API addresses of the corrections the Register links to this document (its own editorial corrections), a JSON array; `[]` where it links none. NULL on a row not read since the field was first requested (2026-10-03).
`significant`	`VARCHAR`	Whether the document was deemed significant under Executive Order 12866, as the API states it: `true` or `false`; NULL where the API states neither, which is common, so NULL does not mean `false`.
`rin`	`VARCHAR`	The host's derived first RIN of `regulation_id_numbers_json`; NULL when it states none.