# RSS / Atom Feed Scraper (`devilscrapes/rss-feed-scraper`) Actor

Parse any RSS or Atom feed into a clean structured dataset — title, link, author, published date, summary, full content (HTML), tags, GUID. Handles RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0, and the common content:encoded / dc:creator extensions.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/devilscrapes/rss-feed-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [DevilScrapes](https://apify.com/devilscrapes) (community)
- **Categories:** Automation, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, NaN bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

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

<div align="center">
  <img src=".actor/icon.svg" width="160" alt="Devil Scrapes mark" />

## RSS / Atom Feed Scraper

**💰 $1.00 / 1 000 results** &nbsp;·&nbsp; pay only for results &nbsp;·&nbsp; no credit card to try

_We do the dirty work so your dataset stays clean._ 😈

Parse any RSS or Atom feed into a clean structured dataset — title, link, author, published date, summary, full content (HTML), tags, GUID. Handles RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0, and the common content:encoded / dc:creator extensions.

</div>

---

### 🎯 What this scrapes

RSS and Atom are still the most reliable way to subscribe to a publication. This Actor parses any feed URL — news site, blog, podcast, GitHub release feed, Reddit, Substack, Medium per-user — and writes one row per item. Output is normalised across RSS and Atom dialects so downstream code doesn't need to care which it was.

### 🔥 What we handle for you

- 🛡️ **Browser fingerprint rotation** — `curl-cffi` impersonates real Chrome / Firefox / Safari TLS handshakes so the target sees a browser, not Python.
- 🌐 **Residential proxy rotation** via Apify Proxy — fresh session and exit IP on every block.
- 🔁 **Retries with exponential backoff** on `408 / 429 / 5xx` — up to 5 attempts per page, `Retry-After` honoured.
- 🧱 **Rate-limit-aware pacing** — when the target pushes back, we slow down instead of getting banned.
- 🧊 **Clean, typed dataset rows** — Pydantic-validated, ISO-8601 timestamps, stable IDs, JSON / CSV / Excel export straight from the Apify Console.
- 💰 **Pay-Per-Event pricing** — you only pay for results that hit your dataset. No data, no charge.

### 💡 Use cases

- **News dashboard** — aggregate 20 publications into one stream, pipe to Slack.
- **Brand monitoring** — track every Google Alerts RSS feed for your competitors.
- **Content automation** — feed company-blog RSS into a translation pipeline.
- **Podcast metadata** — RSS podcast feeds parse cleanly here (we surface `link` per episode).

### ⚙️ How to use it

1. Click **Try for free** at the top of the page.
2. Fill in the input form — most fields have sensible defaults.
3. Click **Start**. Output streams into the run's dataset.
4. Export from **Storage → Dataset** as JSON, CSV, or Excel — or fetch via the API.

### 📥 Input

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Notes |
|---|---|:--:|---|---|
| `feedUrls` | `array` | **yes** | ['https://news.ycombinator.com/rss'] | List of RSS / Atom feed URLs. One URL per line. Each becomes one or more dataset rows. |
| `maxItemsPerFeed` | `integer` | no | 50 | Cap on items pulled from a single feed. |
| `includeContent` | `boolean` | no | True | When true, include the full HTML body (RSS `content:encoded` / Atom `content`). When false, only the summary. |
| `userAgent` | `string` | no | 'DevilScrapesBot/1.0 (+https://apify.com/DevilScrapes)' | Custom UA string. Default identifies as Devil Scrapes RSS reader. |
| `proxyConfiguration` | `object` | no | {'useApifyProxy': False} | Some publishers gate scrapers. Apify Proxy helps with sticky sessions. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 3,
  "includeContent": false,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
````

### 📤 Output

Every row is one dataset item.

| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| `feed_url` | `string` | Source feed URL. |
| `feed_title` | `['string', 'null']` | Feed title (the channel title). |
| `feed_format` | `string` | `rss` or `atom`. |
| `item_id` | `['string', 'null']` | Item GUID / Atom id. |
| `title` | `string` | Item title. |
| `link` | `string` | Item permalink URL. |
| `author` | `['string', 'null']` | Item author (dc:creator or atom:author/name). |
| `summary` | `['string', 'null']` | Short summary (description / atom:summary). |
| `content_html` | `['string', 'null']` | Full HTML body when available. |
| `categories` | `array` | Item categories / tags. |
| `published` | `['string', 'null']` | Publish timestamp (ISO-8601 if parseable). |
| `updated` | `['string', 'null']` | Updated timestamp. |
| `scraped_at` | `string` | When this row was recorded. |

#### Example output

```json
{
  "feed_url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss",
  "feed_title": "Hacker News",
  "feed_format": "rss",
  "title": "Show HN: \u2026",
  "link": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48000000",
  "published": "2026-05-15T20:00:00+00:00"
}
```

### 💰 Pricing

Pay-Per-Event — you pay only when these events fire:

| Event | USD | What it is |
|---|---:|---|
| `actor-start` | $0.005 | One-off warm-up charge per run |
| `result` | $0.001 | Per dataset item |

Example: 1 000 results at the rates above ≈ **$1.00**. No subscription, no minimum, no card to start — Apify gives every new account $5 of free credit.

### 🚧 Limitations

We don't follow `<link rel="next">` paged feeds — pass each page URL explicitly. We don't render JavaScript-emitted feeds; you'd need a browser-based Actor for those.

### ❓ FAQ

**Does this handle podcasts?**

Yes — podcast RSS is just RSS with `<enclosure>`. The enclosure URL appears in `link` for episode rows.

**What if a feed is malformed?**

feedparser is lenient — it'll parse most malformed feeds and warn rather than fail. The Actor surfaces the items it could extract.

**Why is `content_html` empty?**

Some feeds publish summary-only; the full body is on the publisher's site.

**Atom vs RSS?**

We normalise both. `feed_format` tells you which dialect we parsed.

### 💬 Your feedback

Spotted a bug, hit a weird edge case, or need a new field? Open an
issue on the Actor's **Issues** tab on Apify Console — we ship
fixes weekly and we read every report.

***

<div align="center">

Built by **[Devil Scrapes](https://apify.com/DevilScrapes)** 😈 — a small fleet of
opinionated public-data Actors. Honest pricing, real engineering, zero fine print.

</div>

# Actor input Schema

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

List of RSS / Atom feed URLs. One URL per line. Each becomes one or more dataset rows.

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

Cap on items pulled from a single feed.

## `includeContent` (type: `boolean`):

When true, include the full HTML body (RSS `content:encoded` / Atom `content`). When false, only the summary.

## `userAgent` (type: `string`):

Custom UA string. Default identifies as Devil Scrapes RSS reader.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Some publishers gate scrapers. Apify Proxy helps with sticky sessions.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 50,
  "includeContent": true,
  "userAgent": "DevilScrapesBot/1.0 (+https://apify.com/DevilScrapes)",
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `datasetItems` (type: `string`):

All dataset items as JSON.

## `datasetItemsCsv` (type: `string`):

Same data exported to CSV.

## `datasetView` (type: `string`):

Open the run dataset in the Console.

# 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 = {
    "feedUrls": [
        "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss"
    ],
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("devilscrapes/rss-feed-scraper").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 = {
    "feedUrls": ["https://news.ycombinator.com/rss"],
    "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False },
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("devilscrapes/rss-feed-scraper").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 '{
  "feedUrls": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss"
  ],
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call devilscrapes/rss-feed-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "RSS / Atom Feed Scraper",
        "description": "Parse any RSS or Atom feed into a clean structured dataset — title, link, author, published date, summary, full content (HTML), tags, GUID. Handles RSS 2.0, Atom 1.0, and the common content:encoded / dc:creator extensions.",
        "version": "0.4",
        "x-build-id": "7OR8DU9wkhjY6eWco"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/devilscrapes~rss-feed-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-devilscrapes-rss-feed-scraper",
                "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": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/devilscrapes~rss-feed-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-devilscrapes-rss-feed-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/devilscrapes~rss-feed-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-devilscrapes-rss-feed-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$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": [
                    "feedUrls"
                ],
                "properties": {
                    "feedUrls": {
                        "title": "Feed URLs",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "List of RSS / Atom feed URLs. One URL per line. Each becomes one or more dataset rows.",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "maxItemsPerFeed": {
                        "title": "Max items per feed",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "maximum": 1000,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Cap on items pulled from a single feed.",
                        "default": 50
                    },
                    "includeContent": {
                        "title": "Include full content body",
                        "type": "boolean",
                        "description": "When true, include the full HTML body (RSS `content:encoded` / Atom `content`). When false, only the summary.",
                        "default": true
                    },
                    "userAgent": {
                        "title": "User-Agent override",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Custom UA string. Default identifies as Devil Scrapes RSS reader.",
                        "default": "DevilScrapesBot/1.0 (+https://apify.com/DevilScrapes)"
                    },
                    "proxyConfiguration": {
                        "title": "Proxy configuration",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "Some publishers gate scrapers. Apify Proxy helps with sticky sessions.",
                        "default": {
                            "useApifyProxy": false
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "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
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```