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POST
Create a board watch

Authorizations

Authorization
string
header
required

API key issued from the developer dashboard. Pass as Authorization: Bearer vq_key_...

Body

application/json
corpusType
string
required

Board's corpus_type (e.g. state, state_regulation, federal_register, agency_guidance). Matched case-insensitively, so the uppercase spelling the statutes endpoints use for the same body of law (USC, CFR) works here too. Call GET /boards for the authoritative, current list -- corpus_type is a growing set as new corpora are added, not a fixed enum, and not every corpus we serve is a watchable board.

Example:

"state"

state
enum<string>

Board's state (2-letter, case-insensitive). For a federal board (USC, eCFR, the Federal Register) pass federal or omit this entirely; the two are equivalent. Must otherwise match the state GET /boards returned for this corpusType -- GET /boards?corpusType=<type> lists exactly those.

Available options:
federal,
al,
ak,
az,
ar,
ca,
co,
ct,
de,
dc,
fl,
ga,
hi,
id,
il,
in,
ia,
ks,
ky,
la,
me,
md,
ma,
mi,
mn,
ms,
mo,
mt,
ne,
nv,
nh,
nj,
nm,
ny,
nc,
nd,
oh,
ok,
or,
pa,
pr,
ri,
sc,
sd,
tn,
tx,
ut,
vt,
va,
wa,
wv,
wi,
wy
Example:

"wa"

channel
enum<string>
default:webhook
Available options:
webhook,
email,
both
webhookUrl
string | null

Required when channel is webhook or both.

webhookSecret
string | null

Optional signing secret, stored encrypted and never returned. When set, every delivery carries an X-Vaquill-Signature: sha256=<hex> header: HMAC-SHA256 of the raw request body bytes, keyed with this secret. To verify, compute the same HMAC over the raw body you received (before parsing JSON) and compare it, constant-time, to the hex digest after sha256=.

emailAddress
string | null

Required when channel is email or both.

scope
Scope · object | null

Optional narrowing so this alert covers one citation instead of an entire source. Four mutually exclusive forms.

Hierarchy prefix -- keys title, chapter, part, section, e.g. {"title": "21", "part": "314"} for 21 CFR part 314. Every level you set must match, so each one narrows further. title is required whenever any narrower level is set, and section also needs chapter or part: a bare part number matches across unrelated titles. Only sources whose documents carry a title/chapter/part hierarchy accept this form; the rest return 400.

Exact section -- {"actId": "CFR_T21_P314_S314_50"}, using the actId returned by search results and change events. Case-sensitive, and validated at create time against the corpus: an act_id we do not hold, or one belonging to a different source, is a 400 rather than a watch that could never fire. This form works on EVERY source, including flat ones with no hierarchy, so it is the only way to follow a single Federal Register document.

Named source -- {"source": "fdic_fil"}, for the corpora that fold several independent bodies of law behind one corpusType. The agency_guidance board alone carries 47 named sources across 24 agencies, so an unscoped watch on it delivers FDIC letters, IRS notices, OFAC FAQs and DOE appliance standards together. Accepted on agency_adjudication, agency_guidance, agency_manuals, cfr, federal_rules; anything else returns 400. The pickable values for a given board are on that board's sources array in GET /boards -- deliberately narrower than the source filter published on POST /us/statutes/search, because agency_guidance and agency_manuals are two boards reading one corpusType and each emits only its own half.

Publishing agency -- {"agency": "irs"}, covering every source that agency issues on the board. source is the unit we ingest and it is finer than the unit most callers think in: the IRS alone publishes 5 named series, so following it by source means one watch per series and a gap if you miss one. An agency scope is expanded WHEN AN EVENT IS MATCHED rather than when the watch is created, so a source registered after your watch is covered by it automatically, with no action from you. Accepted on agency_adjudication, agency_guidance, agency_manuals; the pickable values are on that board's agencies array in GET /boards.

Omit entirely to watch the whole source, which is the default and the pre-existing behavior.

Example:
webhookAuth
WebhookAuthRequest · object | null

Optional outbound credential sent on every delivery, so your gateway can authenticate us with the header it already reads. Independent of webhookSecret: set neither, either, or both. Only valid on a webhook or both channel watch.

Response

The created watch.

Last modified on September 18, 2026