> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.policymate.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Retrieve the legislative and regulatory record PolicyMate maintains, from national parliaments to city councils.

The PolicyMate API gives your system direct access to the legislative and regulatory record PolicyMate maintains. That includes bills and their milestones, documents published by agencies and local governments, the people and organisations those documents name, and the recommendations PolicyMate makes for your workspaces. If you can see it in PolicyMate, you can retrieve it through the API.

The API is a JSON REST API. Requests are authenticated using API keys, lists are paginated using cursors, and every endpoint behaves the same way whether a record comes from a national parliament, a state legislature, or a city council.

> [!NOTE]
>
> The API is currently in beta and versioned as `v0`. During the beta, field names and response shapes may still change, and we will notify API users before any change ships.

## How It Works

Every record in PolicyMate belongs to a jurisdiction, and records are linked to one another. Let's take a quick look at how the pieces fit together:

![Diagram of the API resources: a jurisdiction holds bills and documents, mentions connect documents to the bills, people, and organisations they name, and recommendations come from your workspace](https://mintcdn.com/policy-mate/lz1lhP7SWc8f2yth/images/data-model.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=lz1lhP7SWc8f2yth\&q=85\&s=ff5a9bfbf563a2963ac13dd5de715ddc)

Bills come from legislatures, while documents come from agencies, regulators, and local governments. Mentions connect the two: when a document names a bill, a person, or an organisation, PolicyMate records the mention along with the exact quote. Recommendations sit on top of everything, representing PolicyMate's judgement of which records matter to each of your workspaces.

> [card] [Authentication](https://docs.policymate.io/authentication.md)
>
> Create an API key and make your first request.

> [card] [Bills](https://docs.policymate.io/reference/bills.md)
>
> Search bills, follow their milestones, and read their texts.

> [card] [Documents](https://docs.policymate.io/reference/documents.md)
>
> Retrieve notices, agendas, and minutes from agencies and local governments.

> [card] [Webhooks](https://docs.policymate.io/webhooks.md)
>
> Get notified the moment something changes.


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