Resolve U.S
Resolve U.S. CFR citations to current regulatory text with provenance, semantic search, and change tracking via MPP pay-per-request.
What it does
GovLaws provides a structured API for AI agents to look up current U.S. federal regulations (Code of Federal Regulations) by citation, perform semantic search over regulatory text, and track recent changes from the Federal Register. The /api/mpp/resolve endpoint accepts a CFR citation string (e.g. "12 CFR 1026.43") and returns the current regulatory text, source metadata, freshness timestamps, and a detailed provenance object indicating whether the data comes from eCFR (unofficial but current) or GovInfo (official edition). Payment is handled via the Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) using Tempo stablecoin settlement — no API key or account is required.
The service ingests data from eCFR and the Federal Register on a 4-hour cycle. Every response includes provenance fields with trust signals (disclaimer_code, citation_suitability) so agents can programmatically decide whether the data is suitable for research, reference, or legal filings. The resolve endpoint costs $0.05 per request via MPP (amount 50000 in pathUSD base units with 6 decimals). Companion MPP endpoints exist for semantic search ($0.03/req) and change detection ($0.03/req).
The OpenAPI spec is comprehensive, covering input schemas, response examples, error codes, and payment metadata. The service also offers an account-based lane with tiered plans (Free at 10 req/mo, Developer at $49/mo for 5,000 req, Pro at $499/mo for 100,000 req) for agents that prefer recurring API-key access with budget controls and webhook subscriptions.
Capabilities
Use cases
- —AI compliance agents resolving specific CFR sections to check regulatory requirements
- —Legal research assistants performing semantic search across federal regulations
- —Monitoring agents tracking regulatory changes by agency or citation prefix
- —Fintech compliance bots verifying current mortgage underwriting rules (e.g. 12 CFR 1026.43)
- —Autonomous agents needing pay-per-request legal data without account setup
Fit
Best for
- —AI agents needing structured, machine-readable U.S. federal regulation text
- —Compliance workflows requiring provenance and trust metadata on legal data
- —Autonomous agents that prefer pay-per-call via MPP without managing API keys
- —Applications tracking regulatory changes from the Federal Register in near-real-time
Not for
- —State or local law lookups (federal CFR only)
- —Official legal filings requiring certified official-edition text (eCFR data is unofficial)
- —Bulk download of entire CFR titles (batch limited to 50 citations per call)
Quick start
curl "https://govlaws.ai/api/mpp/resolve?citation=12+CFR+1026.43"
# Returns 402 with WWW-Authenticate: Payment header
# Pay via Tempo stablecoin, then replay with credential to get the regulatory text.Example
Request
{
"citation": "12 CFR 1026.43"
}Response
{
"text": "(a) Scope...",
"title": "Minimum standards for transactions secured by a dwelling",
"agency": "Consumer Financial Protection Bureau",
"source": {
"url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-12/section-1026.43",
"system": "ecfr",
"retrieved_at": "2026-03-11T08:00:00Z"
},
"citation": "12 CFR 1026.43",
"freshness": {
"status": "current",
"up_to_date_as_of": "2026-03-11T08:00:00Z"
},
"provenance": {
"trust": {
"disclaimer_code": "ECFR_UNOFFICIAL",
"citation_suitability": [
"research",
"reference"
]
},
"disclaimer": "Derived from the eCFR (ecfr.gov), which is not an official legal edition of the CFR.",
"source_system": "ecfr",
"is_official_edition": false
},
"recent_changes": []
}Endpoint
Quality
Comprehensive OpenAPI spec with full schemas, examples, and payment metadata. The probe returned 400 (not 402) on HEAD and GET attempts to the MPP resolve endpoint, likely because the required 'citation' query parameter was missing. The endpoint is probably live but liveness could not be fully confirmed. Documentation and pricing are clear and well-structured.
Warnings
- —Probe did not receive a 402 challenge from /api/mpp/resolve — got 400 instead, likely due to missing required 'citation' parameter during probing. Endpoint is probably live but not confirmed via standard MPP handshake.
- —eCFR-derived data is explicitly not an official legal edition — unsuitable for legal filings without independent verification.
- —Coverage appears limited to select CFR titles (12, 17, 26, 29, 42, 45 per the collections example), not all 50 titles.
Citations
- —MPP resolve costs $0.05 per request (amount 50000 in pathUSD base units)https://govlaws.ai/pricing
- —MPP search and changes cost $0.03 per requesthttps://govlaws.ai/pricing
- —Data is updated every 4 hours from eCFR and Federal Registerhttps://govlaws.ai
- —Developer plan is $49/mo for 5,000 requests; Pro is $499/mo for 100,000 requestshttps://govlaws.ai/pricing
- —Payment method is Tempo stablecoin with intent=chargehttps://govlaws.ai/api/openapi.json
- —CFR title coverage includes titles 12, 17, 26, 29, 42, 45https://govlaws.ai/api/openapi.json