# RSS Feed Monitor (`davidcastellanos/rss-feed-monitor`) Actor

Read any RSS, Atom or JSON Feed, or just give a website URL and the feed is found for you. Turn on 'only new items' to get just what appeared since your last run. Keyword and date filters, podcast enclosures, respects robots.txt.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/davidcastellanos/rss-feed-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [David Castellanos Cordova](https://apify.com/davidcastellanos) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Developer tools
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.30 / 1,000 feed items

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/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## RSS Feed Monitor: only new items, RSS / Atom / JSON Feed

Read any news, blog or podcast feed as clean JSON. Give a feed URL **or just a website URL**: the feed is found for you. Turn on **Only new items** and schedule the Actor: each run returns only what was published since the previous run, ready for Slack, e-mail, Google Sheets, n8n, Make, Zapier or an AI agent.

### What it does

- **All formats:** RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 (RDF), Atom 1.0 and JSON Feed 1.x. Gzip is supported.
- **Feed auto-discovery:** from `<link rel="alternate">` tags, then common paths (`/feed`, `/rss.xml`, `/atom.xml`, `/index.xml`, `/feed.json`, `/blog/rss.xml`…).
- **Only new items:** remembers the items it already returned (per feed, in a named key-value store in *your* account). Use `stateKey` to keep separate memories per schedule.
- **Filters:** include/exclude keywords (title, summary, categories) and `publishedAfter` (a date or "24 hours", "7 days").
- **Clean output:** plain-text summary (HTML removed, length you choose), absolute links, ISO dates, categories, and podcast/media enclosures.
- **Polite:** plain HTTP (no browser), respects robots.txt on every request and redirect, refuses private network addresses.
- **Privacy:** author names are not returned, and e-mail addresses in summaries are removed.

### Input example

```json
{
  "startUrls": ["https://github.blog/feed/", "https://crawlee.dev"],
  "onlyNewItems": true,
  "stateKey": "my-daily-digest",
  "includeKeywords": ["security", "release"],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 20
}
```

### Output example

```json
{
  "title": "Example post title",
  "link": "https://example.com/blog/post",
  "guid": "https://example.com/?p=123",
  "published": "2026-11-02T14:00:00.000Z",
  "updated": null,
  "summary": "First characters of the post as plain text…",
  "categories": ["News"],
  "enclosure": null,
  "itemId": "3f1c…",
  "feedUrl": "https://example.com/feed/",
  "feedTitle": "Example Blog",
  "feedFormat": "rss-2.0",
  "input": "example.com",
  "fetchedAt": "2026-11-03T22:00:00.000Z"
}
```

(The values above are illustrative.) A per-feed summary (how the feed was found, items in the feed, items returned, errors) is saved in the key-value store record `RUN_REPORT`.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **US$ 0.30 per 1,000 items returned** (US$ 0.0003 per item) plus a tiny start fee (US$ 0.00005 per run). Items removed by filters, duplicates, already-seen items and errors are **free**. The Actor stops cleanly when your spending limit is reached.

### Tips

- For alerts, schedule it every hour or day with **Only new items** on, and connect an integration (webhook, Slack, e-mail).
- The first run with a new `stateKey` returns the latest items (up to `maxItemsPerFeed`); after that, only new ones.
- If a site lists several feeds (posts, comments…), turn on **Read all feeds found on a website**.

### Limits

- Up to 15 MB per feed. Feeds behind a login or blocked by robots.txt are skipped and reported in `RUN_REPORT`.
- Item dates come from the feed itself; if the feed has no date, the field is `null` (never invented).

Questions or a missing feature? Open an issue on the Actor page.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

A feed URL (RSS, Atom, RDF or JSON Feed) or a normal website URL: the feed is discovered from its <link rel="alternate"> tags or common paths like /feed and /rss.xml.

## `onlyNewItems` (type: `boolean`):

Remembers which items were already seen (per feed, in a named key-value store in your account) and returns only new ones. The first run returns the latest items. Ideal for schedules and alerts.

## `stateKey` (type: `string`):

Use a different name to keep separate memories, e.g. one per schedule or per client.

## `includeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Keep items whose title, summary or categories contain at least one of these words (case-insensitive).

## `excludeKeywords` (type: `array`):

Optional. Drop items whose title, summary or categories contain any of these words.

## `publishedAfter` (type: `string`):

Optional. A date (2026-11-01) or a relative period: "24 hours", "7 days", "2 weeks". Items without a date are kept.

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

Newest items first.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Stop after this many items across all feeds (you are only charged for items returned).

## `maxSummaryChars` (type: `integer`):

Plain-text summary length. 0 = no summary.

## `allDiscoveredFeeds` (type: `boolean`):

When a website lists several feeds (e.g. RSS and Atom, or posts and comments), read all of them instead of only the first.

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

How long to wait for each feed or page.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://github.blog/feed/",
    "https://www.jsonfeed.org/feed.json"
  ],
  "onlyNewItems": false,
  "stateKey": "default",
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 10,
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "maxSummaryChars": 500,
  "allDiscoveredFeeds": false,
  "timeoutSecs": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

## `report` (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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://github.blog/feed/",
        "https://www.jsonfeed.org/feed.json"
    ],
    "maxItemsPerFeed": 10
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("davidcastellanos/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 = {
    "startUrls": [
        "https://github.blog/feed/",
        "https://www.jsonfeed.org/feed.json",
    ],
    "maxItemsPerFeed": 10,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("davidcastellanos/rss-feed-monitor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "startUrls": [
    "https://github.blog/feed/",
    "https://www.jsonfeed.org/feed.json"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 10
}' |
apify call davidcastellanos/rss-feed-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,davidcastellanos/rss-feed-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/IxdJwZhpwtamRaZ6a/builds/0G0ayDtY5VQ9Ln0He/openapi.json