[Draft documentation]
This repository is a prototype website directory for the U.S. Federal Government. The directory file can be downloaded directly here.
The Federal Website Directory is a comprehensive list of the public-facing websites of the U.S. Federal Government, spanning all three branches and noting which agency and bureau operates the site.
For the purpose of this directory:
- "Public-facing” means intended to be accessed and used by a member of the public or a customer, as opposed to a site which is intended to be accessed and used only by current Federal Government employees or contractors on behalf of an agency.
- “Website” means a group of globally accessible interlinked web pages under a unique host name that is accessible using a web browser.
- The website should be listed (and should load properly) without “www.”
- The website should be listed without any page paths (such as “/program/page1” or "/index.html").
- The website should be listed without a protocol (such as "https://").
- For example, “agency.gov” and “program.agency.gov” are proper acceptable URL structures for websites in this directory.
- Even if a website requires a user to log in, in which sense it is not accessible to the general public, it could still be public-facing if it is intended to be used by general public (such as online accounts for government services or benefits).
- Likewise, even if a website is accessible by the general public, it might not be intended for use by the general public (such as in the case of some beta or staging websites) and thus would not be public-facing.
- A website that is primarily used by federal employees or contractors but that is accessible to the public may be public-facing if the website content is of significant public value (e.g., for transparency purposes). Agencies must make this determination on a case-by-case basis.
- Sites that are mostly behind logins but that are nonetheless public-facing.
- Public-facing websites on the .gov and .mil top level domains only.
- Archived or scheduled-to-be-decommissioned websites, if still public-facing.
- Sites that resolve to a human-readable 'document' (e.g. HTML, TXT, PDF).
- Redirects should not be included; instead, provide the final URL website that the target URL redirects to
- Dead or deprecated websites, including former public-facing websites that now redirect elsewhere
- API endpoints
- Sites that resolve to a machine-readable 'data file' (e.g. XML, JSON, CSV)
- FTP servers
- Mail servers
- Staging or development sites that are not public-facing
- Website assets
- Infrastructure-only domains (e.g. www2.x.gov)
- Admin panels that are not public-facing
- Collaboration sites that are not public-facing
- Software as a service sites (e.g. agency.sharepoint.com)
- Social media websites
This Directory is overseen by the Site Scanning program at GSA. You can contact them anytime at [email protected]
- There is no central catalog of all federal websites that can point to which all websites the government operates for public use. This directory provides that.
- This directory provides another important service, answering not just which agency, but which bureau and subcomponent administers which website. The .gov registry that is published by CISA can only provide that information for an entire base domain and does not have fidelity at the subdomain level.