# RSS to Agentic Summary Digest (`constant_quadruped/rss-to-agentic-summary-digest`) Actor

Fetches RSS feeds, analyzes content with AI summaries, and generates a structured digest.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/constant\_quadruped/rss-to-agentic-summary-digest.md
- **Developed by:** [CQ](https://apify.com/constant_quadruped) (community)
- **Categories:** News, AI, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## 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 to Summary Digest

Fetches one or more RSS / Atom feeds, extracts each item, and produces a concise
summary per item as a structured dataset.

### How it works

1. Fetches each feed URL (follows redirects, 30s default timeout, browser-like
   User-Agent).
2. Parses RSS 2.0, Atom, and RDF feeds with a tolerant XML parser.
3. For each item it produces a summary using one of two methods:
   - **Extractive (default, free):** a deterministic, dependency-free summarizer
     that selects the leading sentences of the item content. No API key and no
     paid LLM calls — the only network requests are the RSS/Atom feed fetches
     themselves.
   - **LLM (optional):** if you supply an OpenAI-compatible API key, summaries are
     generated by a chat model (default `gpt-4o-mini`).

The default run requires **no API key** and makes **no paid LLM calls** — it
returns real summaries from the built-in extractive summarizer (the actor still
fetches the RSS feeds you provide over the network).

### Usage example

Minimal input (free extractive mode, no API key):

```json
{
  "rssUrls": ["https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml"],
  "summaryLength": "medium",
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 10
}
````

With LLM summaries (supply an OpenAI-compatible key as a secret input, or set
the `OPENAI_API_KEY` environment variable):

```json
{
  "rssUrls": ["https://feeds.arstechnica.com/arstechnica/index"],
  "summaryLength": "short",
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 5,
  "openaiApiKey": "sk-...",
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "openaiBaseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1"
}
```

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Notes |
|-------|------|---------|-------|
| `rssUrls` | string\[] | NYT Technology feed | RSS/Atom feed URLs (http/https). |
| `summaryLength` | enum | `medium` | `short` (1 sentence), `medium` (3), `long` (6). |
| `maxItemsPerFeed` | integer | `10` | Cap per feed (1–100). Controls cost/time. |
| `openaiApiKey` | string (secret) | — | Optional. Enables LLM summaries. Can also use the `OPENAI_API_KEY` env var. |
| `model` | string | `gpt-4o-mini` | LLM model (when key is set). |
| `openaiBaseUrl` | string | `https://api.openai.com/v1` | OpenAI-compatible base URL. |
| `requestTimeoutSecs` | integer | `30` | Per-request timeout (1–120). |

### Output

Each dataset record:

```json
{
  "feedUrl": "https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml",
  "feedTitle": "NYT > Technology",
  "title": "Article title",
  "link": "https://www.nytimes.com/...",
  "pubDate": "Fri, 20 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000",
  "summary": "Concise summary text.",
  "summaryLength": "medium",
  "summaryMethod": "extractive",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-20T12:00:00.000Z"
}
```

`summaryMethod` is one of `extractive`, `llm:<model>`, or
`extractive (llm-fallback)` (used when an LLM call fails so the run still
produces output).

### Cost & reliability notes

- Without an API key there is **no LLM cost**.
- With an API key, cost scales with `feeds × maxItemsPerFeed`. Keep
  `maxItemsPerFeed` low to bound spend.
- Feeds that fail to fetch, are empty, or are malformed are skipped with a
  warning; the run continues with the remaining feeds.
- If an LLM call fails (rate limit, bad key, timeout) the item falls back to the
  extractive summary instead of crashing the run.

### Limitations

- The extractive summarizer selects the leading sentence(s) of each item's
  content; it does not paraphrase or abstract. Summary quality depends on the
  feed providing usable `content:encoded`/`description` text (some feeds give
  only titles, in which case the summary is derived from the title).
- LLM summaries require your own OpenAI-compatible API key; cost and rate limits
  are governed by your provider, not this actor.
- If every supplied feed fails to fetch/parse or has no items, the run reports a
  warning and pushes 0 records. If no valid `http(s)` feed URL is supplied at
  all, the run fails cleanly with an explanatory message.
- `maxItemsPerFeed` is capped at 100 and `requestTimeoutSecs` at 120,
  regardless of higher values passed.

# Actor input Schema

## `rssUrls` (type: `array`):

List of RSS or Atom feed URLs to fetch and summarize. Each must start with http:// or https://.

## `summaryLength` (type: `string`):

Target length of each item summary.

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

Maximum number of items to summarize from each feed (1-100). Caps cost and run time.

## `openaiApiKey` (type: `string`):

Optional. If provided, summaries are generated with an OpenAI-compatible chat model. If left blank, the actor uses a free, built-in extractive summarizer and makes NO external LLM calls (no cost). Can also be supplied via the OPENAI\_API\_KEY environment variable.

## `model` (type: `string`):

Chat model name to use when an API key is provided (OpenAI-compatible).

## `openaiBaseUrl` (type: `string`):

OpenAI-compatible API base URL. Change to use a compatible provider. Only used when an API key is set.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Per-request timeout for both feed fetches and LLM calls (1-120).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "rssUrls": [
    "https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml"
  ],
  "summaryLength": "medium",
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 10,
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "openaiBaseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

Summarized feed items with title, summary, link, publish date, feed, and summary method.

# 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 = {
    "rssUrls": [
        "https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml"
    ],
    "summaryLength": "medium",
    "maxItemsPerFeed": 10,
    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "openaiBaseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("constant_quadruped/rss-to-agentic-summary-digest").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 = {
    "rssUrls": ["https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml"],
    "summaryLength": "medium",
    "maxItemsPerFeed": 10,
    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "openaiBaseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("constant_quadruped/rss-to-agentic-summary-digest").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 '{
  "rssUrls": [
    "https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml"
  ],
  "summaryLength": "medium",
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 10,
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "openaiBaseUrl": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}' |
apify call constant_quadruped/rss-to-agentic-summary-digest --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=constant_quadruped/rss-to-agentic-summary-digest",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "RSS to Agentic Summary Digest",
        "description": "Fetches RSS feeds, analyzes content with AI summaries, and generates a structured digest.",
        "version": "2.0",
        "x-build-id": "n2OUJeLfV1hlyUCZ6"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/constant_quadruped~rss-to-agentic-summary-digest/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-constant_quadruped-rss-to-agentic-summary-digest",
                "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": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/constant_quadruped~rss-to-agentic-summary-digest/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-constant_quadruped-rss-to-agentic-summary-digest",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/constant_quadruped~rss-to-agentic-summary-digest/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-constant_quadruped-rss-to-agentic-summary-digest",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": [
                    "rssUrls"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "rssUrls": {
                        "title": "RSS Feed URLs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "List of RSS or Atom feed URLs to fetch and summarize. Each must start with http:// or https://.",
                        "default": [
                            "https://rss.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Technology.xml"
                        ],
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "summaryLength": {
                        "title": "Summary Length",
                        "enum": [
                            "short",
                            "medium",
                            "long"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Target length of each item summary.",
                        "default": "medium"
                    },
                    "maxItemsPerFeed": {
                        "title": "Max Items Per Feed",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 100,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of items to summarize from each feed (1-100). Caps cost and run time.",
                        "default": 10
                    },
                    "openaiApiKey": {
                        "title": "OpenAI API Key (optional)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional. If provided, summaries are generated with an OpenAI-compatible chat model. If left blank, the actor uses a free, built-in extractive summarizer and makes NO external LLM calls (no cost). Can also be supplied via the OPENAI_API_KEY environment variable."
                    },
                    "model": {
                        "title": "LLM Model",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Chat model name to use when an API key is provided (OpenAI-compatible).",
                        "default": "gpt-4o-mini"
                    },
                    "openaiBaseUrl": {
                        "title": "LLM Base URL",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "OpenAI-compatible API base URL. Change to use a compatible provider. Only used when an API key is set.",
                        "default": "https://api.openai.com/v1"
                    },
                    "requestTimeoutSecs": {
                        "title": "Request Timeout (seconds)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 120,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Per-request timeout for both feed fetches and LLM calls (1-120).",
                        "default": 30
                    }
                }
            },
            "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
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```