US federal rules taking effect
Which published US federal rules take effect between two dates, and which CFR parts they amend?
Should I use this
Quality & Safety
A
Based on automated analysis of tool definitions and protocol compliance.
Context Cost
~2,567Tokens (tool definitions)
~4.9 KBTypical response size
Significant attention impact (2.01% of 128k context)
This is the approximate number of tokens consumed each time the server's tools are loaded into a model's context. Higher counts reduce the attention available for other tasks.
Install
One-Click Install
Add this to your `claude_desktop_config.json` file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"referencesource-rules": {
"url": "https://referencesource.org/mcp/rules"
}
}
}Remote endpoints
https://referencesource.org/mcp/rulesstreamable-httpWhat it can do
Tool inventory
Tools (5)
🟢 Read-only🟡 Write🔴 Delete⚪ Unknown
🟢list_rules_taking_effect(from, to, agency, limit)
What lands on me, and when? Lists already-published US federal final rules whose effective date falls between two dates, soonest first, optionally from one agency. Each with the rule title, the agency, the CFR parts amended, the document number, the rule's own DATES paragraph and a verbatim quote of the Federal Register record. This is the compliance-calendar question — use it for "what takes effect in Q4", not for searching the Federal Register by topic.
Input Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"from": {
"type": "string",
"description": "ISO start date, inclusive, e.g. \"2026-10-01\"."
},
"to": {
"type": "string",
"description": "ISO end date, inclusive, e.g. \"2026-12-31\"."
},
"agency": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional agency filter, matched case-insensitively as a substring of the agency name (\"Coast Guard\", \"aviation\"). Call list_agencies for the names as the Federal Register writes them."
},
"limit": {
"type": "integer",
"description": "How many to return, 1–20. Default 20."
}
},
"required": [
"from",
"to"
]
}Output Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"from": {
"type": "string"
},
"to": {
"type": "string"
},
"rules_matched": {
"type": "integer"
},
"rules_returned": {
"type": "integer"
},
"rules": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"record_id": {
"type": "string"
},
"document_number": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Federal Register document number, e.g. \"2026-13685\"."
},
"rule_title": {
"type": "string"
},
"agency": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The issuing agency as the Federal Register names it."
},
"effective_date": {
"type": "string",
"description": "ISO date the rule takes effect, from the Federal Register's structured effective_on field. Read dates_paragraph before acting on it."
},
"cfr_parts": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The CFR title and part references, e.g. \"49 CFR 171, 49 CFR 173\". Assembled here from the record's structured cfr_references list, so it is our formatting of the source's values, not a printed string."
},
"publication_date": {
"type": "string"
},
"dates_paragraph": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The rule's own DATES paragraph, verbatim. The authority on when it bites."
},
"record_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "This record's own page on referencesource.org."
},
"source_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The page the value was read from."
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Verbatim text from that page containing the value."
},
"also_reported": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Values for this record reported by a SECOND source, each with its own source_url and source_quote. Cite these to the page they name, never to the record's primary source.",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"field": {
"type": "string"
},
"value": {},
"source_url": {
"type": "string"
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string"
},
"as_of": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"coverage": {
"type": "string"
},
"register": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"required": [
"from",
"to",
"rules_matched",
"rules",
"coverage"
]
}🟢get_rule(document_number)
Everything this register holds for one final rule: title, agency, effective date, the rule's own DATES paragraph, the CFR parts it amends, its publication date, a link to the rule on federalregister.gov, and a verbatim quote of the Federal Register API record it was read from. Document numbers look like "2026-13685" and appear in every other tool's results.
Input Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"document_number": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Federal Register document number, e.g. \"2026-13685\"."
}
},
"required": [
"document_number"
]
}Output Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"rule": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"federal_register_url": {
"type": "string"
},
"record_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "This record's own page on referencesource.org."
},
"source_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The page the value was read from."
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Verbatim text from that page containing the value."
},
"also_reported": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Values for this record reported by a SECOND source, each with its own source_url and source_quote. Cite these to the page they name, never to the record's primary source.",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"field": {
"type": "string"
},
"value": {},
"source_url": {
"type": "string"
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string"
},
"as_of": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
}
}
},
"register": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"required": [
"rule"
]
}🟢list_agencies(query)
Which agencies have rules coming? Returns each agency in this register with how many rules it has taking effect, the soonest and latest of those dates. Call it to get an agency name exactly as the Federal Register writes it before filtering with list_rules_taking_effect — "Federal Aviation Administration", not "FAA".
Input Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"query": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional case-insensitive substring filter on the agency name."
}
}
}Output Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"agencies_total": {
"type": "integer"
},
"agencies": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"agency": {
"type": "string"
},
"rules": {
"type": "integer"
},
"next_effective_date": {
"type": "string"
},
"last_effective_date": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
},
"coverage": {
"type": "string"
},
"register": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"required": [
"agencies_total",
"agencies",
"coverage"
]
}🟢list_rules_amending_cfr_part(cfr_part, from, limit)
Is anything changing in the part of the CFR I am subject to? Give a CFR title and part — "49 CFR 192", "40 CFR 52", "21 CFR 1308" — and get the already-published final rules that amend it, soonest effective date first, with each rule's DATES paragraph and a verbatim quote. The part is matched whole, so "40 CFR 5" never returns rules about 40 CFR 52.
Input Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"cfr_part": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The CFR title and part together, e.g. \"49 CFR 192\". A bare part number is refused: it is ambiguous across the fifty CFR titles."
},
"from": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional ISO date; only rules taking effect on or after it."
},
"limit": {
"type": "integer",
"description": "How many to return, 1–20. Default 20."
}
},
"required": [
"cfr_part"
]
}Output Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"cfr_part": {
"type": "string"
},
"rules_matched": {
"type": "integer"
},
"rules_returned": {
"type": "integer"
},
"rules": {
"type": "array",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"record_id": {
"type": "string"
},
"document_number": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Federal Register document number, e.g. \"2026-13685\"."
},
"rule_title": {
"type": "string"
},
"agency": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The issuing agency as the Federal Register names it."
},
"effective_date": {
"type": "string",
"description": "ISO date the rule takes effect, from the Federal Register's structured effective_on field. Read dates_paragraph before acting on it."
},
"cfr_parts": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The CFR title and part references, e.g. \"49 CFR 171, 49 CFR 173\". Assembled here from the record's structured cfr_references list, so it is our formatting of the source's values, not a printed string."
},
"publication_date": {
"type": "string"
},
"dates_paragraph": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The rule's own DATES paragraph, verbatim. The authority on when it bites."
},
"record_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "This record's own page on referencesource.org."
},
"source_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The page the value was read from."
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Verbatim text from that page containing the value."
},
"also_reported": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Values for this record reported by a SECOND source, each with its own source_url and source_quote. Cite these to the page they name, never to the record's primary source.",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"field": {
"type": "string"
},
"value": {},
"source_url": {
"type": "string"
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string"
},
"as_of": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"coverage": {
"type": "string"
},
"register": {
"type": "object"
}
},
"required": [
"cfr_part",
"rules_matched",
"rules",
"coverage"
]
}🟢verify_quote(claimed_value, field, document_number)
Is this right? Check a claim about a final rule — its effective date, its agency, the CFR parts it amends — against the Federal Register record instead of trusting it. Says whether the claim matches a stored value, appears only in the verbatim quote, or differs (and then what the record says instead). Effective dates are exactly where a confident wrong answer costs money.
Input Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"claimed_value": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The value to check, exactly as claimed, e.g. \"Terminated\" or \"2026-10-29\"."
},
"field": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Which field the claim is about, if you know it. Without it, every stored field of the record is checked."
},
"document_number": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Federal Register document number of the rule the claim is about, e.g. \"2026-13685\"."
}
},
"required": [
"claimed_value",
"document_number"
]
}Output Schema
{
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"verdict": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"matches_record",
"matches_quote",
"differs",
"not_found"
],
"description": "matches_record: the claim equals a stored value (match.match_type says how exactly). matches_quote: it appears in the verbatim source quote but is not a stored value. differs: the record was found and says something else — stored_values shows what. not_found: the record was not located, which says nothing about whether the claim is true."
},
"claimed_value": {
"type": "string"
},
"match": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"field": {
"type": "string"
},
"stored_value": {},
"match_type": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"exact",
"case_insensitive",
"normalised",
"normalised_number",
"within_stored_value"
]
},
"reported_by": {
"type": "string"
},
"source_url": {
"type": "string"
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string"
}
}
},
"in_source_quote": {
"type": "boolean"
},
"quote_source": {
"type": "string"
},
"stored_values": {
"type": "object"
},
"record": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"id": {
"type": "string"
},
"record_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "This record's own page on referencesource.org."
},
"source_url": {
"type": "string",
"description": "The page the value was read from."
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string",
"description": "Verbatim text from that page containing the value."
},
"also_reported": {
"type": "array",
"description": "Values for this record reported by a SECOND source, each with its own source_url and source_quote. Cite these to the page they name, never to the record's primary source.",
"items": {
"type": "object",
"properties": {
"field": {
"type": "string"
},
"value": {},
"source_url": {
"type": "string"
},
"source_quote": {
"type": "string"
},
"as_of": {
"type": "string"
}
}
}
}
}
},
"attestation": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"required": [
"verdict",
"claimed_value",
"attestation"
]
}Community
Evidence
Recent observations
verifiedversion not recorded5 tools