Follow any bill to track it. PocketVeto checks for changes and notifies you through your
configured channels. Three modes let you tune the signal to your interest level — each
with its own independent set of alert filters.
The standard mode. Default alerts: new bill text, amendments filed, chamber votes,
presidential action, and committee reports.
For bills you oppose and only want to hear about if they gain real traction. Default
alerts: chamber votes and presidential action only — no noise from early committee or
document activity.
For bills you actively support. Default alerts: everything — new text, amendments,
votes, presidential action, committee reports, calendar placement, procedural moves,
and committee referrals. Also adds “Find Your Rep” action buttons to push
notifications.
Adjusting alert filters
The defaults above are starting points. In{" "}
Notifications → Alert Filters,
each mode has its own tab with eight independently toggleable alert types. For example,
a Follow bill where you don't care about committee reports — uncheck it and only
that mode is affected. Hit Load defaults on any tab to revert to the
preset above.
You can also follow members and topics.
When a followed member sponsors a bill, or a new bill matches a followed topic, you'll
receive a Discovery alert. These have their own independent filter set in{" "}
Notifications → Alert Filters → Discovery.
By default, all followed members and topics trigger notifications — you can mute individual
ones without unfollowing them.
{/* Collections */}
A collection is a named, curated group of bills — like a playlist for legislation. Use
collections to track a policy area, build a watchlist for an advocacy campaign, or share
research with colleagues.
Give it a name (e.g. “Healthcare Watch”) and add bills from any bill detail
page using the bookmark icon next to the Follow button.
Every collection has a unique share link. Anyone with the link can view the collection —
no account required.
Public vs. private: Both have share links. Marking a collection public
signals it may appear in a future public directory; private collections are invisible to
anyone without your link.
{/* Notifications */}
PocketVeto delivers alerts through three independent channels — use any combination.
ntfy
{" "}is a free, open-source push notification service. Configure a topic URL in{" "}
Notifications{" "}
and receive real-time alerts on any device with the ntfy app.
Receive alerts as plain-text emails. Add your address in{" "}
Notifications → Email.
Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and your address is never used for
anything other than bill alerts.
A private, tokenized RSS feed of all your bill alerts. Subscribe in any RSS reader
(Feedly, NetNewsWire, etc.). Always real-time, completely independent of the other channels.
Pause push and email notifications during set hours (e.g. 10 PM – 8 AM). Events that
arrive during quiet hours are queued and sent as a batch when the window ends.
Instead of one alert per event, receive a single bundled summary on a daily or weekly
schedule. Your RSS feed is always real-time regardless of this setting.
Member and topic follows generate Discovery alerts — separate from the bills you follow
directly. In{" "}
Alert Filters → Discovery,
you can enable or disable these independently, tune which event types trigger them, and
mute specific members or topics without unfollowing them. Each notification includes a
“why” line so you always know which follow triggered it.
{/* AI Briefs */}
For bills with published official text, PocketVeto generates a plain-English AI brief
automatically — no action needed on your part.
A plain-English summary, key policy points with references to specific bill sections
(§ chips you can expand to see the quoted source text), and a risks section that flags
potential unintended consequences or contested provisions.
Click the share icon in the brief panel to copy a public link. Anyone can read the
brief at that URL — no login required.
Use the Draft Letter panel in the Analysis tab to generate a personalised letter to
your representative based on the brief's key points.
Briefs are only generated for bills where GovInfo has published official text. Bills
without text show a “No text” badge on their card. When a bill is amended,
a new “What Changed” brief is generated automatically alongside the original.
{/* Votes */}
The Votes tab on any bill page shows every recorded roll-call vote for
that bill, fetched directly from official House and Senate XML sources.
Each vote shows the result, chamber, roll number, date, and a visual Yea/Nay bar with
exact counts.
If any of your followed members voted on the bill, their individual Yea/Nay positions
are surfaced directly in the vote row — no need to dig through the full member list.
{/* Alignment */}
The Alignment page
shows how often your followed members vote in line with your stated bill positions.
For every bill you follow with Pocket Boost or Pocket Veto, PocketVeto checks how each
of your followed members voted. A Yea on a boosted bill counts as aligned; a Nay on a
vetoed bill counts as aligned. Not Voting and Present are excluded.
Each followed member gets an alignment percentage based on all overlapping votes. Members
are ranked from most to least aligned with your positions.
Alignment only appears for members who have actually voted on bills you've stanced.
Follow more members and stake positions on more bills to build a fuller picture.
{/* Notes */}
Add a personal note to any bill — visible only to you. Find it in the{" "}
Notes tab on any bill detail page.
Pin a note to float it above the tab bar so it's always visible when you open the
bill, regardless of which tab you're on.
{/* Bills */}
The Bills page lists
all tracked legislation. Use the filters to narrow your search.
Search — matches bill ID, title, and short title.
Chamber — House or Senate.
Topic — AI-tagged policy area (healthcare, defense, etc.).
Has text — show only bills with published official text. On by default.
Each bill page is organised into four tabs: Analysis (AI brief + draft
letter), Timeline (action history), Votes (roll-call
records), and Notes (your personal note).
Topic tags appear just below the tab bar — click any tag to jump to that filtered view.
{/* Members & Topics */}
Browse and follow legislators and policy topics independently of specific bills.
The Members page
lists all current members of Congress. Each member page shows their sponsored bills,
news coverage, voting trend, and — once enough votes are recorded —
an effectiveness score ranking how often their sponsored bills advance.
The Topics page
lists all AI-tagged policy areas. Following a topic sends you a Discovery alert whenever
a new bill is tagged with it — useful for staying on top of a policy area without
tracking individual bills.
{/* Dashboard */}
The Dashboard is your
personalised home view, split into two areas.
Bills from your follows — directly followed bills, bills sponsored by followed members,
and bills matching followed topics — sorted by latest activity.
The top 10 bills by composite trend score, calculated nightly from news article volume
(NewsAPI + Google News) and Google Trends interest. A bill climbing here is getting real
public attention regardless of whether you follow it.