# RSS Feed Reader (`automation-lab/rss-feed-reader`) Actor This actor fetches and parses RSS 2.0, Atom, and RSS 1.0 (RDF) feeds into clean, structured JSON data. It extracts article titles, links, publication dates, authors, categories, descriptions, and full content. Use it to monitor news sources, aggregate blog posts, or build content pipelines. - **URL**: https://apify.com/automation-lab/rss-feed-reader.md - **Developed by:** [Stas Persiianenko](https://apify.com/automation-lab) (community) - **Categories:** News, Marketing - **Stats:** 67 total users, 28 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing Pay per event This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## RSS Feed Reader Parse RSS and Atom feeds into structured data. Extract titles, links, dates, authors, categories, and content from any feed URL. ### What does RSS Feed Reader do? This actor fetches and parses **RSS 2.0**, **Atom**, and **RSS 1.0 (RDF)** feeds into clean, structured JSON data. It extracts article titles, links, publication dates, authors, categories, descriptions, and full content from any number of feed URLs. Use it to monitor news sources, aggregate blog posts, build content pipelines, or track competitor updates across the web. ### Who is it for? - 📝 **Content marketers** — monitoring competitor blogs and industry news feeds - 📊 **Media analysts** — aggregating news from multiple RSS sources for trend analysis - 💻 **Developers** — building automated content pipelines from RSS feed data - 📰 **Journalists** — tracking breaking news across multiple publication feeds - 🏢 **Business intelligence teams** — monitoring industry publications for competitive insights ### Use cases - **Content marketer** aggregating blog posts and news articles from industry sources for a daily digest or newsletter - **Competitive analyst** monitoring competitor blogs, press releases, and product announcements via their RSS feeds - **Data engineer** building a content pipeline that ingests articles from multiple news sources into a data warehouse - **Community manager** tracking subreddit feeds, Hacker News, or forum RSS feeds for brand mentions and trending topics - **Researcher** collecting academic publication feeds or government announcement feeds for analysis ### Why use RSS Feed Reader? - **Multiple feed formats** -- supports RSS 2.0, Atom, and RSS 1.0 (RDF) feeds out of the box - **Batch processing** -- parse dozens of feed URLs in a single run instead of fetching them one at a time - **Rich metadata extraction** -- gets title, link, description, full content, author, categories, publication date, GUID, and image URL for each item - **Configurable item limits** -- set `maxItemsPerFeed` from 1 to 1,000 to control how many items you extract per feed - **Structured JSON output** -- every feed item is a clean JSON object ready for downstream processing, storage, or integration - **Pay-per-event pricing** -- only $0.001 per feed item extracted, plus a one-time start fee ### Input parameters | Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description | |-----------|------|----------|---------|-------------| | `feeds` | string[] | Yes | -- | List of RSS or Atom feed URLs to parse | | `maxItemsPerFeed` | integer | No | 50 | Maximum items to extract per feed (1--1000) | ```json { "feeds": [ "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml", "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/.rss" ], "maxItemsPerFeed": 50 } ```` ### Saved input for repeat feed monitoring RSS feeds are ideal for scheduled runs. Save your feed list and run it hourly for breaking news, daily for blogs, or weekly for low-volume sources. Use `guid`, `link`, or `publishedAt` in your downstream workflow to deduplicate items already seen in previous runs. Example hourly monitoring input: ```json { "feeds": [ "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml", "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/.rss" ], "maxItemsPerFeed": 20 } ``` Pair scheduled runs with webhooks or the Google Sheets integration to build a continuously updated news, competitor, or content-monitoring dashboard. ### Output example Each feed item produces a result object with the following fields: | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `feedUrl` | string | The source feed URL | | `feedTitle` | string | Title of the feed channel | | `feedType` | string | Feed format: `rss`, `atom`, or `rdf` | | `title` | string | Article or item title | | `link` | string | URL to the full article | | `description` | string | Short summary or excerpt | | `content` | string | Full article content (if available) | | `author` | string | Author name | | `publishedAt` | string | Publication date in ISO 8601 format | | `updatedAt` | string | Last updated date (if available) | | `categories` | array | List of category or tag strings | | `guid` | string | Unique identifier for the item | | `imageUrl` | string | URL of the associated image (if available) | | `error` | string | Error message if the feed could not be fetched or parsed | | `fetchedAt` | string | Timestamp when the feed was fetched | ```json { "feedUrl": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "feedTitle": "Hacker News: Front Page", "feedType": "atom", "title": "Show HN: An open-source project", "link": "https://example.com/article", "description": "A brief description of the article", "content": null, "author": "username", "publishedAt": "2026-03-01T10:30:00.000Z", "updatedAt": null, "categories": ["technology"], "guid": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12345", "imageUrl": null, "error": null, "fetchedAt": "2026-03-01T12:00:00.000Z" } ``` ### How much does it cost to parse RSS feeds? | Event | Price | Description | |-------|-------|-------------| | Start | $0.035 | One-time per run | | Item parsed | $0.001 | Per feed item extracted | **Example costs:** - 3 feeds x 20 items each = $0.035 + (60 x $0.001) = **$0.095** - 10 feeds x 50 items each = $0.035 + (500 x $0.001) = **$0.535** - 1 feed x 100 items = $0.035 + (100 x $0.001) = **$0.135** ### How to read RSS feeds with Apify 1. Go to the [RSS Feed Reader](https://apify.com/automation-lab/rss-feed-reader) on Apify Store. 2. Enter one or more RSS or Atom feed URLs in the **Feeds** field. 3. Set the **Max items per feed** limit (default is 50). 4. Click **Start** and wait for the run to finish. 5. Download your structured feed data in JSON, CSV, or Excel format. ### API usage You can start RSS Feed Reader programmatically from your own applications using the Apify API. Below are examples in Node.js and Python. #### Node.js ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' }); const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/rss-feed-reader').call({ feeds: ['https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml'], maxItemsPerFeed: 20, }); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); console.log(items); ``` #### Python ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN') run = client.actor('automation-lab/rss-feed-reader').call(run_input={ 'feeds': ['https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml'], 'maxItemsPerFeed': 20, }) items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items print(items) ``` #### cURL ```bash curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~rss-feed-reader/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "feeds": ["https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml"], "maxItemsPerFeed": 20 }' ``` ### Use with Claude AI (MCP) This actor is available as a tool in Claude AI through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Add it to Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, or any MCP-compatible client. #### Setup for Claude Code ```bash claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/rss-feed-reader" ``` #### Setup for Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code Add this to your MCP config file: ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/rss-feed-reader" } } } ``` #### Example prompts - "Parse this RSS feed and get the latest 20 articles: https://hnrss.org/frontpage" - "Monitor these news feeds for new posts: BBC News, TechCrunch, and Hacker News" - "Get the latest articles from https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml and summarize the top 5" Learn more in the [Apify MCP documentation](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp). ### Integrations RSS Feed Reader works with the full Apify integration ecosystem. Connect it to **Make** (formerly Integromat), **Zapier**, **n8n**, or **Slack** to receive notifications when new articles are published. Export results directly to **Google Sheets**, **Amazon S3**, or any webhook endpoint. You can also schedule recurring runs on the Apify platform to poll feeds at regular intervals (e.g., every hour) and build a continuously updated content database. ### Tips and best practices - **Schedule regular runs** -- set up a scheduled run (e.g., hourly or daily) to continuously monitor feeds. Use the `fetchedAt` timestamp to identify new items since your last run. - **Use `maxItemsPerFeed` to control costs** -- if you only need the latest headlines, set this to 10 or 20 instead of the default 50 to reduce the number of billed items. - **Combine multiple source types** -- mix news feeds, blog feeds, Reddit RSS, and Hacker News feeds in a single run to build a comprehensive content aggregation pipeline. - **Check the `error` field** -- if a feed URL is unreachable or returns invalid XML, the error field will contain a descriptive message. Use this to monitor feed health. - **Deduplicate by `guid`** -- when polling feeds on a schedule, use the `guid` field to identify and skip items you have already processed in previous runs. ### Legality This tool analyzes publicly accessible web content. Automated analysis of public web resources is standard practice in SEO and web development. Always respect robots.txt directives and rate limits when analyzing third-party websites. For personal data processing, ensure compliance with applicable privacy regulations. ### FAQ **What feed formats are supported?** The actor supports RSS 2.0, Atom (1.0), and RSS 1.0 (RDF) feeds. These cover the vast majority of feeds on the web. JSON Feed format is not currently supported. **Can I parse password-protected or authenticated feeds?** The actor fetches feeds over HTTP/HTTPS without authentication. If your feed requires login credentials or API keys, it will not be accessible. Consider using a proxy or pre-fetching the feed content. **How often should I schedule runs for monitoring?** It depends on how frequently your target feeds update. For major news sites, hourly runs capture most updates. For blogs or low-volume feeds, daily runs are usually sufficient. Use the `publishedAt` field to filter for new items. **What happens if a feed URL is temporarily down?** The actor will attempt to fetch the feed and, if it fails, will produce a result with the `error` field describing the issue (e.g., timeout, HTTP 404, or invalid XML). Other feeds in the same batch will continue processing normally. **The actor returns an error for a feed URL. How do I troubleshoot?** Check that the URL points directly to an RSS or Atom XML file, not an HTML page. Many websites have moved their feed URLs over time. Try appending `/feed`, `/rss`, or `/rss.xml` to the site URL if the original feed link no longer works. Also check that the feed is publicly accessible without authentication. **Why are some fields like `content` or `author` null?** Not all feeds include every field. Some publishers only provide a short `description` and omit full `content`. Similarly, `author` is optional in RSS 2.0 and may not be set by the feed publisher. The actor extracts whatever the feed provides. **Can I get the full article content from feeds?** It depends on the feed. Some feeds include full article content in the `content` or `description` fields, while others only include a short excerpt. The actor extracts whatever the feed provides. For full content, combine this actor with a web scraper to fetch the linked page. ### Related SEO tools - [Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/automation-lab/sitemap-url-extractor) — Extract all URLs from XML sitemaps - [Security.txt Checker](https://apify.com/automation-lab/security-txt-checker) — Check websites for security.txt compliance - [SEO Title & Description Checker](https://apify.com/automation-lab/seo-title-checker) — Validate page titles and meta descriptions - [Broken Link Checker](https://apify.com/automation-lab/broken-link-checker) — Find broken links on any website - [Heading Structure Checker](https://apify.com/automation-lab/heading-structure-checker) — Validate H1-H6 heading hierarchy - [Keyword Density Analyzer](https://apify.com/automation-lab/keyword-density-analyzer) — Analyze keyword usage on web pages # Actor input Schema ## `feeds` (type: `array`): List of RSS or Atom feed URLs to parse. ## `maxItemsPerFeed` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of items to extract per feed. Leave empty for all items. ## Actor input object example ```json { "feeds": [ "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml", "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/.rss" ], "maxItemsPerFeed": 20 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `overview` (type: `string`): No description # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "feeds": [ "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml", "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/.rss" ], "maxItemsPerFeed": 20 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("automation-lab/rss-feed-reader").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "feeds": [ "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml", "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/.rss", ], "maxItemsPerFeed": 20, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("automation-lab/rss-feed-reader").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "feeds": [ "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml", "https://hnrss.org/frontpage", "https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/.rss" ], "maxItemsPerFeed": 20 }' | apify call automation-lab/rss-feed-reader --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/rss-feed-reader", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "RSS Feed Reader", "description": "This actor fetches and parses RSS 2.0, Atom, and RSS 1.0 (RDF) feeds into clean, structured JSON data. It extracts article titles, links, publication dates, authors, categories, descriptions, and full content. Use it to monitor news sources, aggregate blog posts, or build content pipelines.", "version": "0.1", "x-build-id": "bxcoGnAsIJJJ6PTDs" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/automation-lab~rss-feed-reader/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-automation-lab-rss-feed-reader", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/automation-lab~rss-feed-reader/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-automation-lab-rss-feed-reader", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/automation-lab~rss-feed-reader/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-automation-lab-rss-feed-reader", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "feeds" ], "properties": { "feeds": { "title": "Feed URLs", "type": "array", "description": "List of RSS or Atom feed URLs to parse.", "items": { "type": "string" } }, "maxItemsPerFeed": { "title": "Max items per feed", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 1000, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of items to extract per feed. Leave empty for all items.", "default": 50 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```