# Rss Feed Monitor (`datawinder/rss-feed-monitor`) Actor

Monitors RSS and Atom feeds for outages, broken structure, content drift, and unexpected changes. Generates health scores, severity-based alerts, and structured events you can send to Slack, email, or any webhook. Built for teams that rely on feeds and need to know the moment something breaks.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/datawinder/rss-feed-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Datawinder](https://apify.com/datawinder) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.01 / result

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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 Monitor

When an RSS feed breaks, it usually breaks quietly.

Articles get edited. Items disappear. Publishing slows down. Structure changes.
Most monitors won’t tell you — because the feed is still “up.”

RSS Feed Monitor tracks feed behavior over time and alerts you when something isn’t right.

Built for systems that depend on RSS in production.

---

### What It Watches For

This actor doesn’t just check availability. It compares feed snapshots across runs and detects:

- Feed unreachable or timing out
- Publishing stalls (no new items within threshold)
- Mass content drift
- Bulk item removal
- Individual content edits
- Metadata or GUID instability

Every run produces structured events and updates a health score that reflects long-term stability.

---

### How It Works

1. Fetch the feed.
2. Normalize and fingerprint items.
3. Compare with the previous snapshot.
4. Emit events for meaningful changes.
5. Update the feed’s health score.
6. Store state for the next run.

The result is a continuous integrity check — not a one-time scrape.

---

### Input
```json
{
  "feedUrl": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
  "feedId": "optional-id",
  "pubDateStallThresholdHours": 48,
  "massContentDriftThresholdPercent": 30,
  "bulkRemovalThresholdPercent": 40,
  "maxStoredFingerprints": 200,
  "requestTimeoutMs": 15000
}
````

Only `feedUrl` is required.

You can adjust thresholds based on how volatile or stable your feed normally is.

***

### Output (Webhook Payload)

Each run returns a structured `run_summary` object:

```json
{
  "type": "run_summary",
  "feedId": "string",
  "feedUrl": "string",
  "runId": "string",
  "timestamp": "ISO date",
  "summary": {
    "totalEvents": 0,
    "critical": 0,
    "warning": 0,
    "info": 0
  },
  "health": {
    "previous": 100,
    "current": 100,
    "delta": 0
  },
  "events": [],
  "metrics": {
    "previousItemCount": 0,
    "currentItemCount": 0,
    "overlapCount": 0,
    "processingTimeMs": 0
  }
}
```

The structure is stable and designed for automation.

***

### How To Use The Output

Most systems only need a few fields:

- `summary.critical > 0` → trigger an alert
- `health.delta < 0` → degradation detected
- `health.current < threshold` → sustained instability
- Specific `eventType` → route to the right team

You can integrate this into alert pipelines, dashboards, logging systems, or automated workflows.

***

### Slack Webhook Example

You can send alerts directly to Slack.

#### Step 1: Create Slack Incoming Webhook

Go to Slack → Apps → Incoming Webhooks

Create a webhook URL

#### Step 2: Create Apify Webhook

Event: `ACTOR.RUN.SUCCEEDED`

Target URL: your Slack webhook URL

#### Step 3: Use This Payload Template

```json
{
  "text": "*RSS Feed Monitor*",
  "blocks": [
    {
      "type": "section",
      "text": {
        "type": "mrkdwn",
        "text": "*Feed:* {{feedUrl}}\n*Health:* {{health.current}} (Δ {{health.delta}})"
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "section",
      "text": {
        "type": "mrkdwn",
        "text": "*Critical:* {{summary.critical}}\n*Warnings:* {{summary.warning}}"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

You can choose to only notify Slack when critical events occur.

***

### Health Score

Health ranges from 0 to 100.

- Drops when warnings or critical events occur
- Recovers gradually during stable periods
- Recovery is time-based, not run-count based
- Always clamped within bounds

It gives you a simple signal for long-term feed reliability.

***

### Scheduling

For most feeds, run every 30–60 minutes.

Higher-frequency publishers may need shorter intervals.
Low-volume blogs can run less often.

Recovery is time-aware, so running it more frequently does not artificially inflate health.

***

### Who This Is For

- News aggregators
- Feed resellers
- Data ingestion systems
- SEO monitoring teams
- Compliance workflows
- Platforms relying on third-party RSS

If your system depends on consistent feed behavior, this gives you early warning before problems escalate.

***

### In Short

Uptime checks tell you if a feed is reachable.

RSS Feed Monitor tells you if it’s healthy.

# Actor input Schema

## `feedUrl` (type: `string`):

Full URL of the RSS feed to monitor.

## `feedId` (type: `string`):

Optional stable identifier for the feed. Defaults to hash of feedUrl.

## `pubDateStallThresholdHours` (type: `integer`):

Hours without new items before triggering a staleness warning.

## `massContentDriftThresholdPercent` (type: `integer`):

Percentage of changed items required to trigger a mass drift critical alert.

## `bulkRemovalThresholdPercent` (type: `integer`):

Percentage of removed items required to trigger a bulk removal critical alert.

## `maxStoredFingerprints` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of event fingerprints to store for deduplication.

## `requestTimeoutMs` (type: `integer`):

Timeout for fetching the RSS feed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feedUrl": "http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml",
  "pubDateStallThresholdHours": 48,
  "massContentDriftThresholdPercent": 30,
  "bulkRemovalThresholdPercent": 40,
  "maxStoredFingerprints": 200,
  "requestTimeoutMs": 15000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `runSummaryDataset` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("datawinder/rss-feed-monitor").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("datawinder/rss-feed-monitor").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 '{}' |
apify call datawinder/rss-feed-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "Rss Feed Monitor",
        "description": "Monitors RSS and Atom feeds for outages, broken structure, content drift, and unexpected changes. Generates health scores, severity-based alerts, and structured events you can send to Slack, email, or any webhook. Built for teams that rely on feeds and need to know the moment something breaks.",
        "version": "1.0",
        "x-build-id": "ayWlgQpDg1xT2TA3j"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/datawinder~rss-feed-monitor/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-datawinder-rss-feed-monitor",
                "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": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/datawinder~rss-feed-monitor/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-datawinder-rss-feed-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/datawinder~rss-feed-monitor/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-datawinder-rss-feed-monitor",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": [
                    "feedUrl"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "feedUrl": {
                        "title": "Feed URL",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Full URL of the RSS feed to monitor.",
                        "default": "http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml"
                    },
                    "feedId": {
                        "title": "Feed ID",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Optional stable identifier for the feed. Defaults to hash of feedUrl."
                    },
                    "pubDateStallThresholdHours": {
                        "title": "PubDate Stall Threshold (Hours)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Hours without new items before triggering a staleness warning.",
                        "default": 48
                    },
                    "massContentDriftThresholdPercent": {
                        "title": "Mass Content Drift Threshold (%)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 100,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Percentage of changed items required to trigger a mass drift critical alert.",
                        "default": 30
                    },
                    "bulkRemovalThresholdPercent": {
                        "title": "Bulk Removal Threshold (%)",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 100,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Percentage of removed items required to trigger a bulk removal critical alert.",
                        "default": 40
                    },
                    "maxStoredFingerprints": {
                        "title": "Max Stored Fingerprints",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Maximum number of event fingerprints to store for deduplication.",
                        "default": 200
                    },
                    "requestTimeoutMs": {
                        "title": "Request Timeout (ms)",
                        "minimum": 1000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Timeout for fetching the RSS feed.",
                        "default": 15000
                    }
                }
            },
            "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
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```