GovTribe
MCP tools

Search Federal Register documents MCP tool

Searches Federal Register rules, proposed rules, and presidential documents for federal acquisition (48 CFR), small business (13 CFR), and grants (2 CFR), and returns citable records with comment deadlines, effective dates, and amended CFR sections.

Examples

Use this tool when the question is about what is changing in federal acquisition, small business, or grants regulations: final and proposed rules in 48, 13, and 2 CFR, their comment deadlines and effective dates, and the executive orders behind them. Cite results with citation_header, which carries the Federal Register citation, the FR Doc. number, the comment deadline, and whether comments are still open. Link to a result with govtribe_url, its GovTribe page for signed-in users, or source_url, its page on federalregister.gov.

The CFR filters take citations the way people write them, such as FAR Part 19, DFARS 252, 13 CFR 121, or GSAR 552.238-115.

Which FAR Part 19 final rules were published in 2025?

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "cfr_parts": [
      "FAR Part 19"
    ],
    "federal_register_document_types": [
      "rule"
    ],
    "publication_date": {
      "from": "2025-01-01",
      "to": "2025-12-31"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "title",
      "effective_date",
      "cfr_parts",
      "source_url"
    ]
  }
}

Which DFARS proposed rules are open for comment?

comment_period_open is worked out on the day you search: comments close on or after today.

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "regulations": [
      "DFARS"
    ],
    "federal_register_document_types": [
      "proposed_rule"
    ],
    "comment_period_open": true,
    "sort": {
      "key": "comment_close_date",
      "direction": "asc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "title",
      "comment_close_date",
      "comment_url",
      "regulations_dot_gov_docket_id"
    ]
  }
}

Which rules implement Executive Order 14275?

Rules cite the executive order they implement in their text, so search for the order as a keyword query. implemented_executive_order_numbers then lists the orders each result implements.

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "Executive Order 14275",
    "federal_register_document_types": [
      "rule",
      "proposed_rule"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "title",
      "regulations",
      "cfr_parts",
      "implemented_executive_order_numbers"
    ]
  }
}

Show me Executive Order 14275

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "executive_order_numbers": [
      "14275"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "presidential_citation",
      "title",
      "signing_date",
      "source_url"
    ]
  }
}

What is the latest SBA size-standard rule?

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "size standards",
    "cfr_parts": [
      "13 CFR 121"
    ],
    "sort": {
      "key": "publication_date",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "per_page": 1,
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "title",
      "abstract",
      "comment_close_date"
    ]
  }
}

What is the latest size-standard rule for NAICS 541512?

size_standard_naics_codes matches the NAICS codes a rule's size-standard table (13 CFR 121.201) sets or changes, so it finds rules that changed a code's size standard even when the code never appears in the title or summary.

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "size_standard_naics_codes": [
      "541512"
    ],
    "sort": {
      "key": "publication_date",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "per_page": 1,
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "title",
      "effective_date",
      "size_standard_naics_codes",
      "source_url"
    ]
  }
}

Request the link fields to follow a document to the GovTribe agencies, regulation sections and parts, executive orders, corrections, NAICS categories, and contacts it names. The agency, NAICS category, and contact records come back nested; the other links are GovTribe IDs.

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "federal_register_document_numbers": [
      "2026-20317"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "federal_agencies",
      "amended_sections",
      "amended_regulation_section_ids",
      "regulation_part_ids",
      "unresolved_regulation_citations",
      "implemented_executive_order_numbers",
      "implemented_executive_order_govtribe_ids",
      "points_of_contact"
    ]
  }
}

Which documents amend a specific clause?

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "amended_sections": [
      "GSAR 552.238-115"
    ],
    "sort": {
      "key": "publication_date",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "amended_sections",
      "effective_date",
      "source_url"
    ]
  }
}

Was a rule corrected?

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "correction_of_document_numbers": [
      "2025-05430"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "correction_of",
      "action",
      "source_url"
    ]
  }
}

Read a long rule page by page

body holds the summary, dates, supplementary information, and regulatory text, about 40,000 characters a page. Ask for body_page_count and body_sections with the first page, then call again with the next body_page.

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "federal_register_document_numbers": [
      "2026-20317"
    ],
    "body_page": 2,
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "citation_header",
      "body",
      "body_page",
      "body_page_count",
      "body_sections"
    ]
  }
}

Aggregation examples

Set per_page to 0 when the answer needs counts instead of individual documents.

How has rulemaking activity changed month by month?

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "regulations": [
      "FAR"
    ],
    "publication_date": {
      "from": "2025-01-01"
    },
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "publication_date_histogram",
      "top_federal_register_document_types_by_doc_count"
    ]
  }
}

Which agencies and CFR parts are most active?

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Register_Documents",
  "arguments": {
    "cfr_titles": [
      48
    ],
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "top_federal_register_agencies_by_doc_count",
      "top_cfr_parts_by_doc_count",
      "top_regulations_by_doc_count"
    ]
  }
}

Search federal grant sub awards

Searches GovTribe federal grant sub-awards and returns pass-through grant records with amounts, prime recipients, and sub-recipients.

Search federal transactions

Searches federal contract award, IDV, assistance award, and contract/assistance subaward transactions. Use transaction_types to select families; omission includes all five. For prime contract spending select contract_award and contract_idv. NAICS and vendor filters do not establish a family. Statistics and dollar leaderboards sum signed total_value (federal plus non-federal value); dollar sorting uses federal_value. Subaward values are reported downstream amounts. Mixed prime/subaward sums are not unduplicated government spending, and award ceilings are not transaction obligations. Request transactions_by_type, positive_value_stats, and negative_value_stats for family counts/sums and separate signed values; zero and missing amounts enter neither sign group. Aggregations cover all filtered matches, independently of page size and the 10,000 hit-count threshold. Select transaction_type and parent_record to inspect the immediate parent; names and links depend on availability. Use transaction_date_range for transaction-period activity, transaction_effective_date_range for effective dates, and award_date_range for parent award-date cohorts. A 2022 award modified in 2025 belongs in the 2025 transaction period, not the 2025 award cohort.

On this page

ExamplesWhich FAR Part 19 final rules were published in 2025?Which DFARS proposed rules are open for comment?Which rules implement Executive Order 14275?Show me Executive Order 14275What is the latest SBA size-standard rule?What is the latest size-standard rule for NAICS 541512?What does a rule link to?Which documents amend a specific clause?Was a rule corrected?Read a long rule page by pageAggregation examplesHow has rulemaking activity changed month by month?Which agencies and CFR parts are most active?Related articles