Regulations Get

Status: stable Category: regulations Added: 2026-07-01 Last reviewed: 2026-07-01

Summary

Returns one item's complete text from the Code of Federal Regulations corpus or the OSHA recordkeeping guidance corpus. Look up a regulation by the numeric id from a search result or directly by section number (?section=1904.5); guidance items are fetched by id only. The response carries the full section text plus the official source_url citation.

Endpoint

Field	Value
Method	`GET`
Path	`/api/regulations/get`
Full URL	`https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get`
Authentication	API key (required)
Request body	none
Response body	`application/json`
Idempotent	Yes
Rate-limited	Yes

Authentication

Send a valid API key in the apikey header. See authentication.md.

Request

Headers

Header	Required	Description
`apikey`	Yes	Consumer API key.
`X-Request-ID`	No	Optional correlation ID, up to 128 characters. Echoed in the response body's `request_id` and the `X-Request-ID` response header.

Path parameters

None.

Query parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
`id`	`int`	One of `id`/`section`	—	Numeric ID from a search result.
`section`	`string`	One of `id`/`section`	—	CFR section number, e.g. `1904.5`. Paragraph references like `1904.7(b)(5)` resolve to the containing section; a leading `§` and spaces are tolerated. Regulation lookup only.
`title`	`int`	Sometimes	—	CFR title number, `1`–`50`. Required when the requested section number exists in more than one CFR title — the `400` response lists the candidate titles.
`type`	`string`	No	`regulation`	One of `regulation`, `guidance`. Guidance items are fetched by `id` only.

Provide exactly one of id and section — neither, or both, is a 400.

Body

None.

Response

Success — `200 OK`

The full_text below is truncated for readability; the API returns the complete section text.

{
  "type": "regulation",
  "id": 102442,
  "cfr_title": 29,
  "part": "1904",
  "subpart": "C",
  "section": "1904.5",
  "heading": "Determination of work-relatedness.",
  "full_text": "(a) Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment, unless an exception in § 1904.5(b)(2) specifically applies.\n(b) Implementation. (1) What is the “work environment”? OSHA defines the work environment as “the establishment and other locations where one or more employees are working or are present as a condition of their employment. The work environment includes not only physical locations, but also the equipment or materials used by the employee during the course of his or her work.”\n(2) Are there situations where an injury or illness occurs in the work environment and is not considered work-related? [remainder of section text omitted from this example]",
  "content_type": "regulation",
  "source_url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/section-1904.5",
  "effective_date": "2026-06-30",
  "request_id": "d9a02f99-fb73-413e-be12-9da281fd4e0a",
  "timestamp": "2026-07-02T00:42:48.555Z"
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Always present	Description
`type`	`string`	Yes	`regulation` or `guidance`, matching the requested `?type=`.
`id`	`integer`	Yes	Stable numeric ID for this item. Usable in later `?id=` lookups.
`cfr_title`	`integer`	Yes	CFR title number, `1`–`50`.
`part`	`string`	Yes	CFR part (e.g. `"1904"`). Treat as opaque text — some parts carry a letter suffix.
`subpart`	`string \| null`	Yes	Subpart letter (e.g. `"C"`), or `null` for items outside a subpart.
`section`	`string \| null`	Yes	Section number (e.g. `"1904.5"`), or an appendix label for appendix items.
`heading`	`string`	Yes	Official section heading.
`full_text`	`string`	Yes	The complete section text, with `\n` line breaks. Can run to many thousands of characters.
`content_type`	`string`	Yes	`regulation` for section text, `appendix` for appendix material.
`source_url`	`string`	Yes	Official citation URL for this section. Quote it alongside any displayed text.
`effective_date`	`string` (ISO 8601 date)	Yes	Date of the CFR edition the text reflects.
`request_id`	`string`	Yes	Correlation ID. Quote in support tickets.
`timestamp`	`string` (ISO 8601 UTC)	Yes	Server time when the response was emitted.

A guidance fetch (?type=guidance&id=...) returns the guidance shape instead: type, id, source_type (faq | interpretation | preamble), sections, identifier, subject, full_text, issue_date, and source_url, plus request_id and timestamp.

The content is public-domain U.S. federal text served as an unofficial compilation — the official text lives at the source_url. This endpoint is a reference lookup, not legal advice.

Status codes

Code	Meaning	When
`200`	OK	Item found.
`400`	`ValidationError`	Neither or both of `id` and `section` provided, a malformed `id`/`section`/`title`, a guidance fetch without `id`, or a section number that exists in more than one CFR title (add `?title=`).
`401`	`Unauthenticated`	Missing or invalid API key.
`404`	`NotFound`	No item matches the requested `id` or `section`.
`429`	`RateLimited`	Per-consumer rate limit exceeded.
`500`	`InternalError`	Unexpected failure. Quote `request_id` in the ticket.

Examples

curl — by section

curl -sS "https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get?section=1904.5" \
  -H "apikey: $ENGINE_API_KEY"

curl — by id

curl -sS "https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get?id=102442" \
  -H "apikey: $ENGINE_API_KEY"

curl — paragraph reference

Resolves to the containing section — 1904.7(b)(5) returns all of 1904.7.

curl -sS "https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get?section=1904.7(b)(5)&title=29" \
  -H "apikey: $ENGINE_API_KEY"

Python (`requests`)

# Uses the call() helper from quickstart.md.
item = call("GET", "/api/regulations/get?section=1904.5")
print(f"{item['section']}  {item['heading']}")
print(f"Cite: {item['source_url']} (effective {item['effective_date']})")

Node.js (native `fetch`)

// Uses the call() helper from quickstart.md.
const item = await call("GET", "/api/regulations/get?section=1904.5");
console.log(`${item.section}  ${item.heading}`);
console.log(`Cite: ${item.source_url} (effective ${item.effective_date})`);

TypeScript

interface RegulationItem {
  type: "regulation";
  id: number;
  cfr_title: number;
  part: string;
  subpart: string | null;
  section: string | null;
  heading: string;
  full_text: string;
  content_type: "regulation" | "appendix";
  source_url: string;
  effective_date: string;
  request_id: string;
  timestamp: string;
}

const item = await call<RegulationItem>(
  "GET",
  "/api/regulations/get?section=1904.5",
);

Error scenarios

Ambiguous section number

Section 1904.7 exists in title 29 (OSHA recordkeeping) and title 48 (Federal Acquisition Regulations System), so the lookup needs ?title=.

Send:

curl -sS "https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get?section=1904.7" \
  -H "apikey: $ENGINE_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Request-ID: docs-regulations-get-ambiguous" \
  -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n"

Receive (400):

{
  "timestamp": "2026-07-01T17:32:10.812Z",
  "error": "ValidationError",
  "message": "Section '1904.7' exists in CFR titles 29, 48 -- scope the lookup with ?title=",
  "request_id": "docs-regulations-get-ambiguous",
  "field": "title"
}

Retry with ?section=1904.7&title=29.

Unknown section

Send:

curl -sS "https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get?section=1904.99&title=29" \
  -H "apikey: $ENGINE_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Request-ID: docs-regulations-get-unknown" \
  -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n"

Receive (404):

{
  "timestamp": "2026-07-01T17:32:10.812Z",
  "error": "NotFound",
  "message": "No regulation found for section '1904.99'",
  "request_id": "docs-regulations-get-unknown"
}

Both `id` and `section`

Send:

curl -sS "https://engine.tripod-health.com/api/regulations/get?id=102442&section=1904.5" \
  -H "apikey: $ENGINE_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Request-ID: docs-regulations-get-both" \
  -w "\nHTTP %{http_code}\n"

Receive (400):

{
  "timestamp": "2026-07-01T17:32:10.812Z",
  "error": "ValidationError",
  "message": "Provide 'id' or 'section', not both",
  "request_id": "docs-regulations-get-both",
  "field": "id"
}

Intended use

Pulling authoritative regulation text to display or quote, with its source_url citation and effective_date alongside.
Following up a search hit. Take the id from a /api/regulations/search result and fetch the complete text — including guidance items via ?type=guidance.
Resolving a paragraph citation to its section. Pass ?section=1904.7(b)(5) and receive all of 1904.7, which contains the cited paragraph.

Mistaken use

Do not use this endpoint for discovery. Use /api/regulations/search — ranked matches with snippets, across regulation text or guidance.
Do not fetch section-by-section to render a whole part. Use /api/regulations/tree — one call returns the part's nested subpart/section outline with the id of each leaf.
Do not fetch guidance by section number. Guidance items are fetched by id only; find the id with a ?type=guidance search (optionally filtered by section=).
Do not treat the response as the official publication. It is an unofficial compilation of public-domain federal text; the official text lives at the source_url. Nothing returned is legal advice.

Debugging

Capture request_id. Present in every response body and in the X-Request-ID response header.
400 ValidationError with field: "title". The section number exists in more than one CFR title; the message lists the candidate titles. Add ?title= and retry.
404 NotFound for a section you are sure exists. Check the formatting — the section number belongs in ?section= (1904.5), not split across ?part=-style parameters. Paragraph markers are fine; a title prefix (29 CFR 1904.5) is not.
400 on a guidance fetch by section. Expected — guidance has no section-number lookup. Search with ?type=guidance to get the id.

Rate limits

See rate-limits.md for the current per-consumer limits.

regulations-search.md — ranked search to find the id or section number in the first place.
regulations-tree.md — browse one CFR part as a nested subpart/section outline.
recordability-analyze.md — OSHA recordability analysis grounded in this regulation and guidance content.
authentication.md, errors.md, rate-limits.md, conventions.md — cross-cutting contract rules.

Change history

Date	Change
2026-07-01	Initial publication.

Summary​

Endpoint​

Authentication​

Request​

Headers​

Path parameters​

Query parameters​

Body​

Response​

Success — 200 OK​

Response fields​

Status codes​

Examples​

curl — by section​

curl — by id​

curl — paragraph reference​

Python (requests)​

Node.js (native fetch)​

TypeScript​

Error scenarios​

Ambiguous section number​

Unknown section​

Both id and section​

Intended use​

Mistaken use​

Debugging​

Rate limits​

Related​

Change history​

Summary

Endpoint

Authentication

Request

Headers

Path parameters

Query parameters

Body

Response

Success — `200 OK`

Response fields

Status codes

Examples

curl — by section

curl — by id

curl — paragraph reference

Python (`requests`)

Node.js (native `fetch`)

TypeScript

Error scenarios

Ambiguous section number

Unknown section

Both `id` and `section`

Intended use

Mistaken use

Debugging

Rate limits

Related

Change history