Website Page to RSS Feed

Convert public article-list pages into RSS 2.0 XML snapshots. This RSS feed generator reads semantic article cards on supplied pages, collects titles and canonical-looking links, and includes dates and summaries when the page supplies them. Each output row includes the entire XML document and the key of a stored XML file. It does not manufacture a continuous live feed or discover every article across a website.

Who is this for?

Newsletter editors can capture posts from an article-list page. Researchers can subscribe to a page without manually copying every article link. Automation teams can schedule an Actor run and reuse a named feed store so a subscriber can retrieve the latest snapshot at a stable key.

Why use this Actor?

Unlike a reader for existing RSS or Atom feeds, this Actor starts with HTML. Unlike a general web crawler, it creates an RSS document directly, with each article link as a stable RSS GUID. The optional named key-value store overwrites the same source's XML key on every scheduled run.

What is extracted?

Field	Meaning
sourceUrl	Final article-list page URL after redirects
title	HTML page title, used as feed title
entries	Article title, same-origin URL, optional RFC 822 date and summary
rssXml	Complete RSS 2.0 XML snapshot
feedStoreId, feedKey, feedUrl	Store ID, deterministic XML key, and optional public RSS link on named cloud stores
itemCount, scrapedAt	Number of included articles and snapshot timestamp

Getting started

1. Supply one or more public article-list pages, not individual article pages.
2. Set maxItems to the desired maximum per page (1–200).
3. Run the Actor and inspect the default dataset's overview view.
4. Download XML from the run key-value store using feedStoreId and feedKey, or read rssXml directly from the dataset.
5. For recurring refreshes, set feedStoreName and schedule identical Actor input. The same page resolves to the same XML key within that store. On Apify cloud, providing a store name automatically makes the entire named store readable by anyone with its ID; use a unique, dedicated store name and share feedUrl only when its content is suitable for publication. An existing private store containing records is rejected without changing access.

Input example

{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://blog.python.org/"}],"maxItems":4,"feedStoreName":"python-blog-rss"}

Output example

A local run on https://blog.python.org/ produced four entries; one had title The Python documentation is now available in Persian, link https://blog.python.org/2026/09/the-python-documentation-is-now-available-in-persian, and date Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT. The row also includes rssXml, feedKey, and feedStoreId.

How much does it cost to generate RSS feeds from article pages?

Pay per event: a one-time start event and one item event per non-empty RSS feed snapshot, not per article. Article counts inside a feed do not add a separate event charge. The BRONZE tier currently charges $0.00005 to start plus $0.0016 per produced feed snapshot: the total for N feeds in one run is the one-time start price plus N times the per-feed price. For example, a two-feed run includes one start and two feed events. FREE is $0.00184/feed, SILVER $0.001248/feed, and GOLD/PLATINUM/DIAMOND $0.00096/feed; tier eligibility depends on account-wide Store spend. Check the live pricing panel before scheduling; estimates can change with platform policy. Failed or unsupported pages yield no feed event. Prices shown are estimates, not guaranteed invoices or payouts; refunds, fraud, disputes, taxes, corrections and contractual clawbacks can affect final platform settlement.

Scheduling a stable feed

Apify Schedules can invoke this Actor repeatedly with the same input. Set feedStoreName to reuse a named key-value store. The feedKey is based on the final source URL; a changed redirect destination changes the key. On Apify cloud, the Actor grants anyone with the store ID read access to a named store and returns feedUrl for token-free subscription. Use a dedicated, unique store name: all records in this store are publicly readable by anyone with its ID. An existing private populated store is rejected before writing or changing access; a new or empty private store can be used, and subsequent scheduled refreshes reuse the public store. Never put private data in a named feed store. A run-scoped store is not made public.

Integration workflows

Use the dataset in Make or Zapier to forward new snapshots to a downstream feed host or compare GUIDs between scheduled runs. Use feedUrl from a named cloud run directly in a feed reader, or an authenticated API client for a run-scoped snapshot. This Actor itself does not schedule runs, send alerts, deduplicate across runs, host a domain, or create a feed-reader subscription.

Supported pages and limits

Supports anonymously accessible HTML article-list pages with <article>, schema.org Article, post-card, or article-card containers and links inside them. Links must be on the same origin as the page. It does not render JavaScript, pass login challenges, parse RSS/Atom as input, crawl pagination, scrape article bodies, or fall back to arbitrary navigation links. Missing source dates and summaries are omitted, not invented. One source page can contribute up to 200 articles; one run accepts up to ten pages.

Failures and troubleshooting

A page with no usable semantic cards logs a warning and produces no row; if all sources are empty, the run fails. If your blog returns a JavaScript shell, use a server-rendered listing or another tool. If a URL redirects to a private network destination or a page is not HTML, the run fails rather than fetching it. Confirm that the URL represents a listing and that its HTML contains article containers before retrying.

API usage

Use the normal Apify Actor run API with automation-lab/website-page-to-rss-feed and JSON input. For example:

$curl -X POST 'https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~website-page-to-rss-feed/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"startUrls":[{"url":"https://blog.python.org/"}],"maxItems":4}'

In JavaScript, call the Actor with the Apify client:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/website-page-to-rss-feed').call({ startUrls: [{ url: 'https://blog.python.org/' }], maxItems: 4 });
console.log(await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems());

In Python, use the ApifyClient:

from apify_client import ApifyClient
import os
client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/website-page-to-rss-feed').call(run_input={'startUrls': [{'url': 'https://blog.python.org/'}], 'maxItems': 4})
print(client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items)

Retrieve the run's dataset or read the XML record in the key-value store.

MCP use

For Claude Code, configure claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/website-page-to-rss-feed". For Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code supporting JSON MCP configuration, add { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/website-page-to-rss-feed" } } }. Authenticate with your Apify account in your MCP client. Example prompts: “Generate an RSS snapshot from the Python blog listing and show its XML key”; “Refresh the Cloudflare blog feed into my named store and tell me the number of articles.”

Legality and responsible use

Only request public pages you are authorized to access. Respect site terms and load; schedule at a reasonable interval. RSS titles and summaries are source content. Check copyright and redistribution rules before republishing a full feed.

FAQ

Does it create a native RSS feed on the source site? No. It writes a point-in-time XML file to Apify storage. A schedule can refresh that file.

Why is the feed empty? The listing likely lacks semantic article/card containers or same-origin article links. An empty source is not a valid proof of extraction.

Can a feed reader use the named store? Yes: a named cloud store returns feedUrl, a token-free XML URL. This opts the whole named store into anyone-with-ID read access. Run-scoped storage remains private.

Related Actors

RSS & Atom Feed Parser parses feeds that already exist. Website Content Crawler crawls page text rather than producing RSS XML. Choose the reader for an existing feed and this Actor for a supported HTML article-list page.