Regulation Reader in Pi

Questions it answers

Read a CFR or eCFR section, or search US federal regulations and the Federal Register. Ask "what does 21 CFR 11.10 say?", "which regulations mention respirator fit testing?" or "what has the FDA proposed on food dyes this year?".

Regulation Reader reads two official United States sources directly: the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) for the current text of any section of the Code of Federal Regulations, and the Federal Register for the rules, proposed rules, notices and presidential documents the agencies publish each day. It is an independent tool, not a government service.

A section lookup returns the citation, heading, full text, statutory authority and amendment history of the section, with the date the eCFR is up to date as of and a link to the section. A very long section is cut and says so. A search returns the matching sections or documents with the agency, the publication date, the comment deadline and effective date where there is one, and the CFR parts a document changes.

This is general information, not legal advice. The eCFR is an unofficial edition kept up to date by the Office of the Federal Register; the legal text is the Federal Register and the annual CFR. A rule applies differently to each situation, so check the current official text and ask a qualified lawyer before you rely on it.

It covers United States federal regulations only: not state or local law, court decisions, statutes, other countries' rules or guidance documents that are not in the Federal Register.

It stores nothing about you: answers are cached for up to six hours (sections) or an hour (searches), and the only lasting record is a daily count of calls per tool.

Short questions this server answers, each with a direct answer: Look up US federal regulations and Federal Register rules.

What it can do

• Reads the current text of any section of the US Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
• Shows a section's heading, statutory authority and amendment history with a link
• Searches the current regulations by words, in one title or all of them
• Searches the Federal Register for rules, proposed rules, notices and executive orders
• Shows comment deadlines, effective dates and the CFR parts a document changes

Tools

• get_cfr_section, Read a CFR section. Use this when the user asks what a specific US federal regulation says, including an FDA, OSHA, EPA, SEC, FTC or FAA section of the eCFR, for example "what does 21 CFR 11.10 say?", "read 29 CFR 1910.134" or "show me 17 CFR 240.10b-5". Pass the CFR title number and the section number. Returns the current text, heading, statutory authority and amendment history of the section, the date the eCFR is up to date as of and a link to it. A very long section is cut at a paragraph and flagged with nextOffset; call again with that offset to read on. This is general information, not legal advice. Do not use it to find a regulation by topic (use search_cfr), for statutes, state law or court decisions, or to decide whether someone complies.
• search_cfr, Search the CFR. Use this when the user asks which US federal regulations or compliance rules cover a topic, including an OSHA, EPA or FDA rule, for example "which regulations mention respirator fit testing?", "find the rules on electronic signatures in title 21" or "where does the CFR define small business?". Pass 2 to 4 words and, if known, the CFR title to search in. A section must hold every word; when nothing does, the search drops the last words and says which query matched (matchedQuery). Returns the best matching sections with citation, heading, an excerpt, the agency and a link; use get_cfr_section to read one in full. This is general information, not legal advice. Do not use it for recent rulemaking news (use search_federal_register), statutes, state law or court decisions.
• search_federal_register, Search the Federal Register. Use this when the user asks what federal agencies have published, proposed or announced, including a rulemaking, for example "what has the FDA proposed on food dyes?", "find final rules on noncompete agreements" or "which executive orders mention AI this year?". Pass the words to find and optionally the document type (rule, proposed_rule, notice, presidential_document) and a publication date range. Returns each document's title, type, agencies, publication date, abstract, effective date, comment deadline, the CFR parts it changes and a link. This is general information, not legal advice. Do not use it to read the current text of a regulation (use get_cfr_section), or for state law, bills, court decisions or non-US rules.

Add Regulation Reader in Pi

Pi does not speak MCP on its own. The pi-mcp-adapter extension (these steps match version 2.34.0) loads remote servers and keeps their schemas out of the prompt until you ask. Install it once, then restart Pi:

pi install npm:pi-mcp-adapter

Add the server to a shared MCP file. Use .mcp.json in the project if only that project needs Regulation Reader, or ~/.config/mcp/mcp.json if you want it in every project. Pi also reads ~/.agents/mcp.json. A Pi-only override lives in ~/.pi/agent/mcp.json or .pi/mcp.json and wins over the shared file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rules": {
      "url": "https://rules.openkrill.app/mcp",
      "lifecycle": "eager"
    }
  }
}

The url is enough. Do not set command: that field is for a local process. No API key header. lifecycle is eager so Pi connects at startup and can search tool names before the first call. A config that omits it still works: the first call connects. After restart, run /mcp and confirm the server is listed. Ask: What does 21 CFR 11.10 say about electronic records controls? The adapter should offer get_cfr_section, search_cfr, search_federal_register.

Leave directTools off unless you want those schemas in every turn. With a handful of tools the cost is small. The default proxy is the better fit: search for the tool, then call it. /mcp disable rules writes a project override in .pi/mcp.json without editing the shared file. Run /reload after that change.

Pi will not find this server by scanning Cursor or Claude config unless you run /mcp setup and import it. Putting the url in .mcp.json is the direct path and the one this page tests against. The server is the same public endpoint the other clients use, with the same limits and the same privacy rules.

If it does not work

A call checked on 2026-10-17

21 CFR 11.10 is the electronic-records section named in the plugin's starter prompts. The request below was posted to https://rules.openkrill.app/mcp as tools/call. HTTP 200. Source: the Regulation Reader server, read 2026-10-17.

{
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_cfr_section",
    "arguments": {
      "title": 21,
      "section": "11.10"
    }
  }
}

• asOf. 2026-10-15
• source. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR, ecfr.gov), Office of the Federal Register
• heading. Controls for closed systems.
• citation. 21 CFR 11.10
• notice. The eCFR is an unofficial, continuously updated edition of the Code of Federal Regulations. The legal text is the Federal Register and the annual CFR on govinfo.gov. This is general information, not legal advice. Regulat
• url. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/section-11.10

Repeat the call yourself if you need a newer reading. Cached answers expire. A rate limit is not a result: wait and try again. Nothing in the call is a ranking, a filing, or advice.

Using it in production

Nothing to install and nothing to run: no package, no Python or Node.js version and no environment variable. Regulation Reader runs on our servers, and your client only needs the URL https://rules.openkrill.app/mcp.

Use it in other apps

• Regulation Reader in ChatGPT
• Regulation Reader in Claude
• Regulation Reader in Cursor
• Regulation Reader in VS Code

Roles that use Regulation Reader

• Compliance reader guide

Frequently asked questions

Words on this page

• MCP (Model Context Protocol) definition
• Streamable HTTP transport definition
• Tool primitive definition
• Rate limit policy definition

Source: plugin listing for rules in this repository, and a live tools/call on 2026-10-17. As of 2026-10-17.