canonical: https://jentic.com/apis/regbase.com/regbase

# Regbase API (v1)

The Regbase API serves a warehouse of regulatory entities, with resource types such as legislation and person, along with a change feed that records updates to them. Entities can be listed or searched with GFFS qualifiers on fields like jurisdiction, authority, status, and displayDate, and free-text search ranks the remaining terms with a fusion of full-text and semantic vector search. Each entity carries Public Text IDs with downloadable renditions, so the source document can be fetched as PDF, HTML, or plain text. Responses follow JSON:API, and merged entities resolve to their surviving canonical id.

## For AI agents

Search and list legislation and other regulatory entities by jurisdiction, authority, and status, follow the entity change feed, and download the source document renditions.

## Scope

Does not file regulatory submissions, give legal advice, or edit legislative records. Use for searching and monitoring regulatory entities and downloading their source documents only.

## Capabilities

- Search regulatory entities with a GFFS query such as jurisdiction:US.CA "clean energy" via GET `/v1/search`, blending full-text and semantic vector ranking
- List canonical entities filtered by type, jurisdiction, authority, status, or displayDate with GET `/v1/entities` and cursor paging
- Follow changes to tracked entities through GET `/v1/entities/changes`, reading changeType, changedKeys, mergedInto, and recordedAt
- Read a single entity by id, with merged entities followed to the surviving canonical id
- Download a document rendition by its rnd_ Public Rendition ID as PDF, HTML, or plain text

## Use cases

### Regulatory research agent through Jentic

A compliance analyst's agent answers questions like 'what new clean energy rules apply in California' without a developer wiring JSON:API paging and the GFFS query syntax by hand. Through Jentic the agent searches for 'search legislation by jurisdiction', loads GET `/v1/search`, and sends q with a jurisdiction qualifier plus free text. It then reads each hit with GET `/v1/entities/{id}` and downloads the source rendition so its answer cites the actual document.

Example prompt: Call GET `/v1/search` with q 'jurisdiction:US.CA "clean energy"', take the top three entity ids, read each with GET `/v1/entities/{id}`, and download a text rendition for the first

### Change monitoring for tracked regulations

Compliance teams need to know when a rule they depend on moves. GET `/v1/entities/changes` returns entity-change resources with changeType, changedKeys, mergedInto, and recordedAt, filtered by GFFS on the post-change snapshot such as a jurisdiction or authority. The meta.cursor advances even when a filtered page is empty, so a scheduled poller resumes where it stopped without rescanning.

Example prompt: Poll GET `/v1/entities/changes` with filter 'jurisdiction:US.NY' and page[after] set to the stored cursor, then report each change's changeType and changedKeys

### Source document retrieval

Summaries need the primary text behind them. Entity responses include texts with Public Text IDs and renditions, and GET `/v1/entities/{id}/renditions/{renditionId}.{extension}` returns the raw bytes with a Content-Type matching the rendition's mime, such as application/pdf, text/html, or text/plain.

Example prompt: Read GET `/v1/entities/{id}`, pick the rendition whose mime is text/plain, and download it from GET `/v1/entities/{id}/renditions/{renditionId}.{extension}`

## Key endpoints

| Method | Path | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| GET | `/v1/search` | Search entities with GFFS and hybrid ranking |
| GET | `/v1/entities` | List canonical entities |
| GET | `/v1/entities/{id}` | Get an entity by id |
| GET | `/v1/entities/changes` | List entity changes |
| GET | `/v1/entities/{id}/renditions/{renditionId}.{extension}` | Download a document rendition |

## Key resources

- **Entities** — Canonical regulatory entities such as legislation or person, listable and filterable with GFFS qualifiers
- **Entity changes** — Change feed of entity-change resources with changeType, changedKeys, mergedInto, and recordedAt
- **Search** — GFFS qualifiers plus hybrid full-text and semantic vector ranking
- **Renditions** — Downloadable document renditions referenced by Public Rendition ID

## AI readiness

This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.

- **Score:** 64 / 100
- **Maturity:** AI-Aware
- **Dimensions:**
  - Foundational Compliance: 100 / 100
  - Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility: 64 / 100
  - AI-Readiness & Agent Experience: 44 / 100
  - Agent Usability: 94 / 100
  - Security: 60 / 100
  - AI Discoverability: 68 / 100
- **View full report:** https://jentic.com/apis/regbase.com/regbase/scorecard
- **How the score is calculated:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/overview/
- **More about the dimensions:** https://docs.jentic.com/reference/api-readiness-framework/specification/#dimensional-model-overview

### Score it yourself

Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.

- **Score your own API:** https://jentic.com/scorecard.md
- **Scoring CLI agent skill:** https://github.com/jentic/jentic-api-scorecard/blob/main/skills/jentic-api-scorecard/SKILL.md

```sh
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>
```

## Why Jentic

- **Setup:** Wiring Regbase by hand means sending the organization key as a bearer token, parsing JSON:API resources, writing GFFS queries, and tracking meta.cursor across pages of the change feed. Through Jentic you install once, import Regbase from the API Directory, store the key once, and your agent calls it.
- **Permission scoping:** Regbase is read-only and puts the entity id in the URL path (`/v1/entities/{id}`), so a rule can pin your agent to one entity, its renditions, and the operations you pick. You choose the operations it may call, so broader reads like full search or bulk listing are not included unless you add them.
- **Credential handling:** Your Regbase API key is stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and injected at execution time. It never enters the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
- **Discovery method:** Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search legislation by jurisdiction' or 'list regulation changes', and Jentic returns the matching Regbase operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without browsing the reference docs.

## Related APIs

- **Congress.gov API** — Official US federal bill, amendment, and member data from the Library of Congress
- **Open States API** — US state legislatures' bills, votes, and legislators
- **GovInfo API** — US Government Publishing Office documents such as the Federal Register and US Code

## FAQ

### What authentication does the Regbase API use?

Per its OpenAPI spec, the Regbase API uses an organization API key sent as a bearer token in the Authorization header, in the form Authorization: Bearer rb_live_ followed by the key. Keys are created in your Regbase account settings. Through Jentic, the key is stored encrypted by your own Jentic One instance and injected at call time, so it never enters the agent's context.

### Which fields can I filter on with the Regbase API?

GFFS filters and returned attributes are limited to type, title, name, displayDate, jurisdiction, localIdentifier, localType, authority, and status. Operators include equality and multi-value OR, ~ for contains, comparisons, .. ranges, and leading - for negation. On the change feed, change metadata such as changeType and recordedAt is not filterable.

### What are the rate limits for the Regbase API?

The OpenAPI spec does not specify rate limits; it caps page size at 100 results per page. Check the Regbase documentation at https://regbase.com and your account settings for current limits.

### Is there a Regbase MCP server?

You don't need an MCP server to give your agent Regbase. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it, store your API key once, and your agent calls the search and change-feed operations it needs, discovered on demand rather than loaded into its context up front.

### How do I search legislation by jurisdiction through Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'search legislation by jurisdiction', load GET `/v1/search`, and pass q as a GFFS query such as jurisdiction:US.CA "clean energy". Qualifiers filter first and the remaining text is ranked with full-text and semantic vector search. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.

### Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the Regbase API?

Yes. For a monitoring job, write a rule that allows only the entity change feed and single-entity reads, and the agent can watch for updates and look up what changed but cannot run open-ended searches or bulk-download renditions. Every call it makes is logged.