# RSS & Atom Structured Feed Extractor (`datamule/rss-structured-feed-extractor`) Actor
Point at ANY RSS or Atom feed (news, blogs, podcasts, GitHub releases, YouTube) and get clean structured rows. Auto-detects RSS 2.0 / RSS 1.0 / Atom and normalizes every entry to one schema: title, link, content, author, categories, ISO-8601 dates, enclosures. Pay per item.
- **URL**: https://apify.com/datamule/rss-structured-feed-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [Datamule](https://apify.com/datamule) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Marketing
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet
## Pricing
from $0.35 / 1,000 items
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/docs.md):
```bash
npm install apify-client
```
In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.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/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 & Atom Structured Feed Extractor
**Point at ANY RSS or Atom feed, get a clean structured dataset.** One actor turns every
feed on the web — RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 (RDF) and Atom 1.0 — into the same normalized rows. No
per-site scraper, no dialect wrangling.
RSS / Atom is *the* universal syndication format. News organizations, blogs, podcasts,
GitHub releases, status pages, government notices, journal tables-of-contents and YouTube
channels (Atom) all publish it. Give this actor a feed URL and it detects the dialect and
flattens every entry into one consistent schema.
### What it does
Fetches the feed, auto-detects the dialect, and normalizes **every** entry to one row
shape regardless of whether the source is RSS or Atom:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| `title`, `link`, `guid` | RSS `` text and Atom `` both resolve to `link`. |
| `summary` | RSS `` / Atom ``. |
| `content`, `contentType` | Full text: RSS `content:encoded` / Atom `` (toggle with `fullContent`). |
| `author`, `authorEmail`, `authorUri` | Includes Dublin Core `dc:creator`. |
| `categories[]` | Merges RSS ``, Atom `` and `dc:subject`. |
| `publishedAt`, `updatedAt` | **Normalized to ISO-8601 UTC** — parsed from RFC-822 (RSS `pubDate`) *and* RFC-3339 (Atom). The raw strings are kept in `publishedRaw` / `updatedRaw`. |
| `enclosures[]` | Podcast / media `{url, type, length}`. |
| `mediaThumbnails[]`, `mediaContent[]` | Media RSS (`media:thumbnail` / `media:content`). |
| `itunes*` | Podcast fields (duration, episode, season, author, explicit, image). |
| `commentsUrl` | RSS ``. |
Every row is also stamped with the **feed-level envelope** — `feedTitle`, `feedLink`,
`feedDescription`, `feedLanguage`, `feedUpdated`, `generator` — plus provenance
(`_feedUrl`, `_dialect` = `rss2` / `rdf` / `atom`, `_rowIndex`) and a lossless `_raw` of
the full parsed entry.
**The parse is the point.** Real feeds omit most optional elements (a plain RSS item may
carry only title + link + date; a GitHub Atom entry has `` but no ``),
so every field is read by node presence and is **nullable** — an absent element is `null`,
never a crash or a shifted column.
### Input
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `feedUrl` | An RSS or Atom feed URL, e.g. `https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml`. Required unless `feedUrls` is given. |
| `feedUrls` | Optional: harvest several feeds in one run. Each row is tagged with its `_feedUrl`. |
| `maxItems` | Optional global cap on rows across all feeds (one billable event per row). |
| `fullContent` | Include the full-text body when present (default `true`). |
| `userAgent` | Optional override. A descriptive User-Agent is sent by default — some feeds 403 a blank / generic UA. |
| `timeoutSecs` | Optional read timeout (default 60s). |
| `bearer` / `extraHeaders` | Optional, for auth-gated feeds. Never required, never logged. |
### Examples
**A single news feed:**
```json
{ "feedUrl": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml" }
````
**Harvest several feeds at once (mixed dialects):**
```json
{
"feedUrls": [
"https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
"https://github.com/apify/apify-sdk-python/releases.atom"
],
"maxItems": 200
}
```
**A YouTube channel (Atom) or a podcast feed** works the same way — just pass the feed URL.
### Resilience
A feed that returns a 4xx/5xx, times out, serves a non-feed body (an HTML error / anti-bot
page) or malformed XML that is not a recognizable feed is **skipped with a warning** and the
batch continues. A run where **every** feed is skipped **fails** so nothing broken ships. A
reachable feed with **0 entries** yields 0 rows and a clean success (unpopular is fine; the
actor never fabricates rows). Feeds are parsed with the `` stripped first, so
external-entity (XXE) and billion-laughs payloads cannot expand.
### Pricing
Pay-per-event: one **item** charge per emitted row.
# Actor input Schema
## `feedUrl` (type: `string`):
The URL of ANY RSS or Atom feed. One actor handles all of them — RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 (RDF) and Atom 1.0 are auto-detected and normalized to one schema. Works on news feeds (https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml), blogs, podcasts, GitHub releases (https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/releases.atom), status pages, YouTube channels (https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel\_id=...), journal tables-of-contents and more. Required unless you use "Feed URLs" below to harvest several at once.
## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):
Optional: harvest MULTIPLE feeds in one run — each output row is tagged with its \_feedUrl. Use this OR the single "Feed URL" above (at least one is required). A feed that is unreachable, auth-gated, returns a non-feed HTML page, or is malformed XML is skipped with a warning and the batch continues.
## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):
A GLOBAL cap on the number of item rows emitted across ALL feeds (each row is one feed entry and one billable event). Reached mid-feed, the run stops deterministically. Leave empty to emit every entry in every feed.
## `fullContent` (type: `boolean`):
Include the full-text body of each entry (RSS content:encoded / Atom ) in the content field when the feed provides it. Turn OFF to keep only the short summary / description and produce smaller rows.
## `userAgent` (type: `string`):
Optional override for the request User-Agent. A descriptive User-Agent is sent by default — some feeds return 403 to a blank or generic UA. Only override if a specific feed asks you to identify differently.
## `timeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):
How long to wait for a feed to answer (default 60). A dead connection fails fast regardless.
## `bearer` (type: `string`):
Optional bearer token for an auth-gated feed (sent as Authorization: Bearer ...). NOT required for public feeds. Never logged.
## `extraHeaders` (type: `object`):
Optional extra HTTP headers as a JSON object, e.g. {"X-Api-Key": "..."} or a Cookie for a gated feed. Not required for public feeds. Header values are never logged.
## Actor input object example
```json
{
"feedUrl": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"feedUrls": [
"https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
],
"maxItems": 1000,
"fullContent": true
}
```
# 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 '' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
token: '',
});
// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
"feedUrl": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"feedUrls": [
"https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
],
"maxItems": 1000
};
// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datamule/rss-structured-feed-extractor").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 = {
"feedUrl": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"feedUrls": [
"https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
],
"maxItems": 1000,
}
# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datamule/rss-structured-feed-extractor").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 '{
"feedUrl": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"feedUrls": [
"https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
"https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
],
"maxItems": 1000
}' |
apify call datamule/rss-structured-feed-extractor --silent --output-dataset
```
## MCP server setup
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"apify": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"mcp-remote",
"https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=datamule/rss-structured-feed-extractor",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer "
]
}
}
}
```
## OpenAPI specification
```json
{
"openapi": "3.0.1",
"info": {
"title": "RSS & Atom Structured Feed Extractor",
"description": "Point at ANY RSS or Atom feed (news, blogs, podcasts, GitHub releases, YouTube) and get clean structured rows. Auto-detects RSS 2.0 / RSS 1.0 / Atom and normalizes every entry to one schema: title, link, content, author, categories, ISO-8601 dates, enclosures. Pay per item.",
"version": "0.1",
"x-build-id": "WDFsSu9V7yfyHA0JQ"
},
"servers": [
{
"url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
}
],
"paths": {
"/acts/datamule~rss-structured-feed-extractor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-datamule-rss-structured-feed-extractor",
"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": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
}
}
}
},
"parameters": [
{
"name": "token",
"in": "query",
"required": true,
"schema": {
"type": "string"
},
"description": "Enter your Apify token here"
}
],
"responses": {
"200": {
"description": "OK"
}
}
}
},
"/acts/datamule~rss-structured-feed-extractor/runs": {
"post": {
"operationId": "runs-sync-datamule-rss-structured-feed-extractor",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$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": {
"$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
}
}
}
}
}
}
},
"/acts/datamule~rss-structured-feed-extractor/run-sync": {
"post": {
"operationId": "run-sync-datamule-rss-structured-feed-extractor",
"x-openai-isConsequential": false,
"summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
"tags": [
"Run Actor"
],
"requestBody": {
"required": true,
"content": {
"application/json": {
"schema": {
"$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",
"properties": {
"feedUrl": {
"title": "Feed URL",
"type": "string",
"description": "The URL of ANY RSS or Atom feed. One actor handles all of them — RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 (RDF) and Atom 1.0 are auto-detected and normalized to one schema. Works on news feeds (https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml), blogs, podcasts, GitHub releases (https://github.com/OWNER/REPO/releases.atom), status pages, YouTube channels (https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=...), journal tables-of-contents and more. Required unless you use \"Feed URLs\" below to harvest several at once."
},
"feedUrls": {
"title": "Feed URLs (harvest several at once)",
"type": "array",
"description": "Optional: harvest MULTIPLE feeds in one run — each output row is tagged with its _feedUrl. Use this OR the single \"Feed URL\" above (at least one is required). A feed that is unreachable, auth-gated, returns a non-feed HTML page, or is malformed XML is skipped with a warning and the batch continues.",
"items": {
"type": "string"
}
},
"maxItems": {
"title": "Max items (global cap)",
"minimum": 1,
"type": "integer",
"description": "A GLOBAL cap on the number of item rows emitted across ALL feeds (each row is one feed entry and one billable event). Reached mid-feed, the run stops deterministically. Leave empty to emit every entry in every feed."
},
"fullContent": {
"title": "Include full content",
"type": "boolean",
"description": "Include the full-text body of each entry (RSS content:encoded / Atom ) in the content field when the feed provides it. Turn OFF to keep only the short summary / description and produce smaller rows.",
"default": true
},
"userAgent": {
"title": "User-Agent override",
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional override for the request User-Agent. A descriptive User-Agent is sent by default — some feeds return 403 to a blank or generic UA. Only override if a specific feed asks you to identify differently."
},
"timeoutSecs": {
"title": "Read timeout (seconds)",
"minimum": 1,
"maximum": 600,
"type": "integer",
"description": "How long to wait for a feed to answer (default 60). A dead connection fails fast regardless."
},
"bearer": {
"title": "Bearer token",
"type": "string",
"description": "Optional bearer token for an auth-gated feed (sent as Authorization: Bearer ...). NOT required for public feeds. Never logged."
},
"extraHeaders": {
"title": "Extra request headers",
"type": "object",
"description": "Optional extra HTTP headers as a JSON object, e.g. {\"X-Api-Key\": \"...\"} or a Cookie for a gated feed. Not required for public feeds. Header values are never logged."
}
}
},
"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
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
```