# RSS Feed Reader API — Parse RSS, Atom & JSON Feeds (`fetchbase/rss-feed-reader`) Actor

Parse any RSS, Atom or JSON feed into clean, normalized items with one schema — title, link, author, date, categories, media enclosures, and content as HTML, Markdown or text. Auto-detects format. Incremental polling via sinceDate. Charged per feed — no startup fee.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/fetchbase/rss-feed-reader.md
- **Developed by:** [Fetchbase](https://apify.com/fetchbase) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, AI
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 feed parseds

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — 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, Atom & JSON Feed Reader — Normalized Feed Parser

Turn any **RSS, Atom, RDF, or JSON feed** into clean, **normalized JSON items**
— one consistent schema no matter the feed format. Content comes back as
**Markdown, HTML, or plain text**, your choice.

**Charged per feed.** All the items in a feed are included. No startup fee;
failed feeds cost $0.

### Quick start

```json
{
  "feedUrls": ["https://news.ycombinator.com/rss", "https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml"]
}
```

→ one row per item, same shape for every feed:

```json
{
  "feedTitle": "The Verge",
  "title": "…",
  "link": "https://www.theverge.com/…",
  "author": "…",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-11T14:03:00.000Z",
  "summary": "Short plain-text summary…",
  "categories": ["Tech", "AI"],
  "guid": "…",
  "media": { "url": "https://…/image.jpg", "type": "image/jpeg" },
  "content": "## Full article content as clean Markdown…"
}
```

### Features

| | |
|---|---|
| **Any format** | RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 (RDF), Atom, and JSON Feed — auto-detected |
| **One schema** | Same normalized fields across every feed you pass |
| **Content your way** | `markdown` (LLM-ready), `html` (as published), `text`, or `none` (summary only) |
| **Incremental polling** | `sinceDate` returns only items published on/after a date — perfect for schedules |
| **Media** | Enclosures / attachments (podcast audio, images) surfaced as `media` |
| **Bulk** | Pass many feeds in one run |

### Use cases

- **News & content monitoring:** watch dozens of sources; poll on a **Schedule**
  with `sinceDate` to get only what's new.
- **Aggregators & newsletters:** one normalized stream from many feeds.
- **AI agents & RAG:** Markdown content ready to summarize or embed.
- **Podcast tooling:** episode lists with audio enclosures.

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/fetchbase~rss-feed-reader/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"feedUrls": ["https://hnrss.org/frontpage"], "contentFormat": "markdown"}'
```

### Pricing

A small fixed price **per feed processed** (all its items included), plus minimal
Apify platform usage — no browser, so it's fast and cheap. Failed feeds aren't
billed.

### FAQ

**Is this responsible to run?** Yes — feeds are published specifically so readers
and aggregators consume them. This is the intended use; no scraping, no personal
data.

**Item content is empty for some feeds?** Many feeds only publish a summary, not
full content. Set `contentFormat` accordingly, or the `summary` field always has
the short version.

***

Need OPML import, deduplication across feeds, or full-text fetching of
summary-only items? **Open an issue.** A ⭐ review helps others find it.

### More tools by Fetchbase

Part of a suite of fast, no-nonsense web utilities — all pay-per-result, charged only on success, no startup fee:

- [Website Screenshot API](https://apify.com/fetchbase/web-screenshot-pro) — full-page PNG / JPEG / WebP / PDF
- [Website to Markdown](https://apify.com/fetchbase/website-to-markdown) — clean Markdown for LLMs & RAG
- [PDF & DOCX to Markdown](https://apify.com/fetchbase/document-to-markdown) — documents → Markdown for RAG
- [SEO Audit + Core Web Vitals](https://apify.com/fetchbase/website-seo-audit) — scored on-page audit with fixes
- [Website Performance Audit](https://apify.com/fetchbase/website-performance-audit) — bulk Core Web Vitals & page speed
- [Tech Stack Detector](https://apify.com/fetchbase/tech-stack-detector) — CMS, frameworks, analytics, hosting
- [Domain, DNS & WHOIS Lookup](https://apify.com/fetchbase/domain-dns-intelligence) — records, registration, SSL
- [RSS Feed Reader](https://apify.com/fetchbase/rss-feed-reader) — RSS / Atom / JSON → normalized JSON
- [Job Postings API](https://apify.com/fetchbase/job-postings-scraper) — Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby & more

### Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor is callable by AI agents through the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com/). Agents in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, LangGraph, CrewAI and others can discover it via `search-actors` and run it as a tool — its inputs and outputs are fully described in the schema for reliable agent use.

***

#### Was this Actor useful?

If it saved you time, please consider leaving an honest review. Reviews are the main way
independent Actors get discovered on Apify — a single one makes a real difference, and
critical feedback is just as welcome as praise.

Something missing or broken? Open an issue instead and it will get fixed.

# Actor input Schema

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

URLs of RSS, Atom or JSON feeds. Each feed is one billable event; its items become dataset rows.

## `maxItemsPerFeed` (type: `integer`):

Cap the number of items returned per feed (most recent first as published by the feed).

## `contentFormat` (type: `string`):

How to return each item's full content: markdown (clean, for LLMs), html (as published), or text (stripped). Set to 'none' to omit full content and keep only the short summary.

## `sinceDate` (type: `string`):

Optional. Only return items published on or after this date, e.g. 2026-01-01. Great for incremental polling on a schedule.

## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Max time to download each feed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss",
    "https://www.theverge.com/rss/index.xml"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 100,
  "contentFormat": "markdown",
  "timeoutSecs": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "feedUrls": [
        "https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("fetchbase/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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "feedUrls": ["https://hnrss.org/frontpage"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("fetchbase/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 '{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
  ]
}' |
apify call fetchbase/rss-feed-reader --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetchbase/rss-feed-reader",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/KlE2xNoYcdstByDrx/builds/S3cbn9N5FfGQhjei3/openapi.json