Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Regulatory Feed Watcher agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The Regulatory Feed Watcher is an agent skill, a packaged set of instructions that Claude loads when a task matches it. This guide covers what the reg-feed-watcher skill does, how to install it, how to ask for a check in plain language, and what it needs to run. It is written for in-house legal and compliance staff who want a regular digest of regulatory changes and have not used agent skills before.
Regulatory Feed Watcheranthropics/claude-for-legal · Apache-2.0 Download the skill Quick start
- 1Get the ZIP. Download the reg-feed-watcher skill ZIP from this page.
- 2Install the skill. Unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder, or upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills in the Claude apps.
- 3Confirm the config file exists. Check that ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/regulatory-legal/CLAUDE.md contains your watchlist, materiality threshold and feed list.
- 4Ask for a check. Say something like "check the feeds" or "what's new" to start a pull.
- 5Review the digest. Read the items by materiality tier and note any coverage-gap message at the top.
- 6Verify before relying. Check every verify-tagged and secondary-source item against the primary regulator source.
What the reg-feed-watcher skill makes the agent do
When you ask for a check, the agent pulls official regulatory sources for new developments since the last check. It queries the US Federal Register API and any RSS feeds listed in your regulatory plugin configuration. It then filters the results by the materiality threshold you set and sorts what remains into tiers.
The skill also flags comment deadlines, checks whether your configured sources cover your watchlist, and tags every item with where it came from. The tags let you verify weaker sources first.
- Pulls the Federal Register and configured regulator RSS feeds since the last check
- Filters out items below your materiality threshold
- Groups remaining items by materiality tier and flags comment deadlines
- Reports coverage gaps when a watchlist category has few or no configured feeds
- Tags each item with its source, such as [Federal Register] or [web search — verify]
Install the reg-feed-watcher skill
Download the skill ZIP from this page. You can install it in one of two ways.
For Claude Code, unzip the file into your personal skills folder ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available everywhere, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder to limit it to that project.
In the Claude apps, open Settings, go to Capabilities, and upload the ZIP under Skills.
- Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
Set up the configuration file the skill depends on
The skill reads its watchlist, materiality threshold and feed list from a configuration file created by the Claude for Legal regulatory-legal plugin. The path is ~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/regulatory-legal/CLAUDE.md. Without this file the skill has no watchlist or threshold to work from.
If you need to change the setup later, the skill's coverage notice points to /regulatory-legal:cold-start-interview --redo, or you can edit the CLAUDE.md file directly.
- Watchlist: the regulators and topics you care about
- Materiality threshold: the cut-off that decides what gets surfaced
- Feed configuration: the RSS URLs to check in addition to the Federal Register
~/.claude/plugins/config/claude-for-legal/regulatory-legal/CLAUDE.mdTrigger a check with natural requests
You do not need to type a command. The skill is triggered when your request matches its description. Phrases that match include "check the feeds", "what's new", and "regulatory update". The skill also runs from the scheduled agent, and you can paste a regulatory development into the chat for classification and comparison.
The skill's argument hint shows an optional date filter, [--since DATE], which limits the check to items after a given date.
- "Check the feeds"
- "What's new in regulatory updates since Monday?"
- "Regulatory update for our watched agencies"
- Paste a regulatory notice and ask how it classifies against our threshold
/reg-feed-watcher --since DATERead the output and check the source tags
The digest lists what is new, grouped by materiality tier. Final rules are usually always material. Proposed rules are usually review-worthy, and their comment deadlines are logged. Advance notices and requests for information are treated as strategy signals, not compliance requirements.
Check the tags before relying on any item. Items tagged [web search — verify] or [model knowledge — verify] carry higher fabrication risk than tool-retrieved items. Items tagged [secondary source] describe regulator action but are not primary sources, so the digest asks you to trace them to the regulator's own site.
- [Federal Register] and [<regulator> RSS] are retrieved from the source directly
- [secondary source] items should be traced to the regulator before use
- Items marked verify should be checked first
What people use it for
- A weekly digest of Federal Register rules and comment deadlines for a compliance team watching a few agencies
- A scheduled run that only surfaces items above the materiality threshold
- Classifying a regulatory notice a colleague pasted into the chat against the team's watchlist
- Spotting that a watched category, such as EU data protection regulators, has only one configured feed
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the reg-feed-watcher skill?
Download the ZIP from this page. For Claude Code, unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ or a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
What does the reg-feed-watcher skill need to run?
It needs the Claude for Legal regulatory-legal plugin configuration file (CLAUDE.md) with your watchlist, materiality threshold and feed list. It also needs internet access to federalregister.gov and your configured regulator RSS feeds. Paid feed and CourtListener connectors are optional.
Is the reg-feed-watcher skill free?
The source material does not state pricing or licence terms beyond the listed licence, which is Apache-2.0. The optional paid regulatory feed connector requires its own subscription. Check the licence file in the repository for terms.
Does the skill run scripts on my computer?
No. The skill does not run scripts. It does use the network to query federalregister.gov and configured RSS feeds.
Can the skill give me legal advice?
No. The output is a triage digest. Check items against primary sources before anyone relies on them, especially items from secondary or web-search sources, which can be wrong.
What if the skill finds nothing for a regulator I watch?
It reports how many items it found and which regulators it hit, then flags thin coverage. It does not fill the gap from web search or model knowledge unless you choose that option.
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Our verdict
This skill suits in-house legal or compliance staff who already use the Claude for Legal regulatory plugin and want a scheduled, filtered digest with clear source tags. It is a poor fit if you have no configuration file, need coverage of agencies you have not set up, or expect finished legal conclusions rather than a triage list to verify.
Download the skill