> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://vaquill.ai/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Corpus types > The 22 corpusType tokens, how they scope a search, and how source narrows one further `corpusType` chooses which body of law a search runs against. It is the single most important filter in the API: it decides whether you get a statute, a regulation, a court rule, agency guidance or a decided case. ```json theme={"theme":"github-dark"} { "query": "security deposit return", "corpusType": "STATE", "state": "ca" } ``` Pass one token or a list. This page is the **query vocabulary**: what each token means and how to scope it. For how much data sits behind each one and what is deliberately excluded, see [API Coverage](/docs/api-guide/coverage). ## Scoping rules ```json theme={"theme":"github-dark"} {"query": "civil rights under color of law", "corpusType": "USC"} ``` Omit `state` on a state-scoped token and the search spans every jurisdiction that has that corpus ingested, which is rarely what you want and always costs the same. ```json theme={"theme":"github-dark"} {"query": "security deposit return", "corpusType": "STATE", "state": "ca"} ``` `state` also accepts a **list**, so one call can cover several jurisdictions. ```json theme={"theme":"github-dark"} {"query": "tip credit", "corpusType": "AGENCY_GUIDANCE", "source": "whd_foh"} ``` `titleNumber` is only valid alongside `corpusType` `USC` or `CFR`. Sending it with any other token returns a `422`. ## The 22 tokens Sizes are distinct sections. Federal rows were measured 2026-09-07 (federal local court rules 2026-10-08) and state rows 2026-10-08, except state agency guidance and AG opinions, which were measured 2026-09-11 and have grown since. Call `GET /us/statutes/coverage` for a live figure and for which tokens have data in which jurisdiction. The OpenAPI enum also accepts `USC_ANNUAL`, GPO's retired annual edition of the US Code, which is kept only so a past date can be answered from a printed edition. It is not a token to search. ### Federal-scoped | Token | Contains | Sections | | - | - | -: | | `USC` | United States Code, the codified federal statutes | 60,494 | | `SESSION_LAW` | Statutes at Large: public and private laws **as enacted**, 1789-2026 | 425,427 | | `STATUTE_COMPILATION` | An act's own text **as amended through** a stated later public law | 80,232 | | `CFR` | Code of Federal Regulations, the continuously refreshed current compilation | 222,365 | | `CFR_ANNUAL` | GPO's published **annual editions** of the CFR, 31 editions, 1996-2026 | 312,132 | | `FEDERAL_REGISTER` | Federal Register agency rules, final and proposed | 196,237 | | `FEDERAL_REGISTER_NOTICE` | A **curated slice** of Federal Register notices, those acting on a rulemaking | 17,616 | | `EXECUTIVE_ACTION` | Presidential documents: executive orders, proclamations, memoranda | 3,649 | | `AGENCY_GUIDANCE` | Sub-regulatory guidance from 53 named sources across 26 agencies | 86,900 | | `AGENCY_ADJUDICATION` | Federal matters decided by an agency, seven bodies | 100,920 | | `US_TAX_TREATY` | Bilateral income tax treaties, Treasury explanations, the Senate treaty record | 1,649 | | `SENTENCING_GUIDELINES` | US Sentencing Guidelines, current sections plus former text in Appendix B | 1,281 | | `FEDERAL_RULES` | Federal Rules of Civil, Criminal, Appellate and Bankruptcy Procedure, Evidence, and Supreme Court Rules | 589 | | `FEDERAL_LOCAL_RULES` | A federal court's **own** rules: the courts of appeals, habeas rules, national courts and 32 district-court rule sets | 6,234 | | `CONSTITUTION` | US Constitution, Articles and Amendments | 74 | ### State-scoped Each of these requires `state`, or spans every jurisdiction holding that corpus. | Token | Contains | Sections | Jurisdictions | | - | - | -: | - | | `STATE` | State statutory codes | 2,010,030 | 56 | | `REGULATION` | State administrative codes | 1,496,499 | 56 | | `STATE_RULES` | State court rules: civil, criminal, appellate, evidence, professional conduct, and the local rules of 38 trial courts | 71,880 | 56 | | `STATE_AGENCY_GUIDANCE` | State regulator guidance, almost all insurance bulletins | 13,359 | 49 | | `STATE_AG_OPINION` | State Attorney General opinions. **Persuasive authority, not binding law** | 104,572 | 43 | | `STATE_CONSTITUTION` | State constitutions | 13,016 | 53 | | `STATE_REGISTER` | State register **notices**: proposed, adopted and emergency rules as printed. **Not codified law** | 144,876 | 24 | State session laws have no `corpusType`. They are served by [`/us/session-laws`](/docs/api-guide/session-laws), not `/us/statutes`. `SESSION_LAW` is the federal Statutes at Large only. ### `STATE_REGISTER` in particular A state's official register prints each proposed, adopted or emergency rule as a notice on a date. `STATE_REGISTER` holds those notices, one document per printed item, cited by register volume and page (`36 Pa. Bull. 510`). **A register notice is not the law.** The codified rule under `REGULATION` is the operative text, and a register page often prints a rule that was later withdrawn, amended or never adopted. Every item is served with `goodLawStatus: "unknown"`, `year` is the year of the issue it was printed in, and it is never given the priority that binding law gets in search ranking. Name the token when you want register notices, and do not read one as the rule in force. Cite a register item by its register citation; see [Register citations](/docs/api-guide/concepts/citation-formats#register-citations). The states loaded are listed on [State and territory coverage](/docs/api-guide/coverage/states#state-administrative-registers). ### `STATE_AG_OPINION` in particular A formal written opinion in which a state's chief legal officer construes that state's own statutes, constitution and regulations for a state officer, legislator or local government who asked. **An AG opinion is persuasive authority, not binding law.** Officials follow them in practice, and an AG opinion is very often the only interpretive authority that exists for a provision no court has reached -- which is the reason to hold the corpus at all. But it does not bind a court, and it must not be read as the rule. Every section in this corpus is served with `goodLawStatus: "unknown"`. That is by construction, not an omission: only three of the 52 jurisdictions publish any supersession signal at all, so we will not certify an opinion as still standing. See [Status and currency](/docs/api-guide/concepts/status-and-currency). Where a jurisdiction runs more than one series, the `series` field carries the publisher's own label, so you can filter Washington's formal `AGO` apart from its `AGLO` letter opinions, or Georgia's Official from its Unofficial opinions. The series is also part of the `actId`, which is what makes the field trustworthy rather than derived from a title. ## Choosing between tokens that look alike Five pairs are routinely confused, and picking the wrong one returns a confident answer to a different question. | You want | Use | Not | | - | - | - | | What federal law says **today** | `USC` | `SESSION_LAW`, which is law as enacted and never updated | | The text of an act Congress passed | `SESSION_LAW` | `USC`, which rearranges it by subject | | An act that was never codified | `STATUTE_COMPILATION` | `USC`, which has no address for it | | A regulation as it reads **now** | `CFR` | `CFR_ANNUAL`, which is a past published edition | | What a regulation said in 2004 | `CFR_ANNUAL` | `CFR` with `asOf`, which reconstructs rather than reproduces | | What an agency **thinks** a rule means | `AGENCY_GUIDANCE` | `AGENCY_ADJUDICATION`, which is decided cases | | How an agency **decided** a case | `AGENCY_ADJUDICATION` | `AGENCY_GUIDANCE` | For asking any corpus what it said on a past date, see [Point-in-time law](/docs/api-guide/point-in-time). `SESSION_LAW` and `STATUTE_COMPILATION` both carry `goodLawStatus: "unknown"` by design: they are historical records, not statements of current law. ## Filtering to one named source `AGENCY_GUIDANCE`, `AGENCY_ADJUDICATION`, `FEDERAL_RULES`, `CFR`, `US_TAX_TREATY` and `STATE_AGENCY_GUIDANCE` each fold several independently filterable bodies into one token. Every result carries a `source` field naming which one it came from; pass that value back as the `source` filter to scope to it. ```json theme={"theme":"github-dark"} { "query": "petition for writ of certiorari", "corpusType": "FEDERAL_RULES", "source": "sct" } ``` `source` accepts a single value or a list, so `source: ["frcp", "sct"]` searches both in one call. An unrecognized value is rejected with `422` and the error names every valid code, so the API itself is the authoritative list. | Token | Sources | | - | - | | `FEDERAL_RULES` | `frcp`, `frcrp`, `fre`, `frap`, `frbp`, `sct` | | `CFR` | `far` (48 C.F.R. ch. 1), `dfars` (ch. 2). Every other CFR result has a null `source`. | | `AGENCY_GUIDANCE` | 53 codes. See the [source registry](/docs/api-guide/coverage/agency-guidance). | | `AGENCY_ADJUDICATION` | 7 bodies. See [Federal coverage](/docs/api-guide/coverage/federal). | | `US_TAX_TREATY` | `us_tax_treaty`, `us_tax_treaty_technical_explanation`, `senate_treaty`, `senate_treaty_resolution`, `senate_treaty_document` | | `STATE_AGENCY_GUIDANCE` | `state_insurance_bulletin`, `state_financial_bulletin` | | `STATE_AG_OPINION` | `state_ag_opinion` | The `far` and `dfars` sources split **existing** Title 48 data by chapter. They are not a separate ingest and do not add sections to the `CFR` total. ## Related How much sits behind each token, and what each corpus deliberately excludes. The 56 jurisdictions and how to discover live coverage. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.