# RSS & Atom Feed Reader - Normalised Items from Any Feed (`ennobling_spray/feed-reader`) Actor

Read RSS, Atom and JSON feeds (or let it find the feed from a website URL) and get clean, normalised items: title, link, date, author, summary, categories, media. Filter by keyword and date. Pay only per item returned.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ennobling_spray/feed-reader.md
- **Developed by:** [Conor Wilson](https://apify.com/ennobling_spray) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Automation, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.30 / 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.

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 & Atom Feed Reader

Read **RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0, Atom and JSON Feed** and get clean, normalised items: title, link, published date, author, summary, categories, image and enclosure. Give it a website instead of a feed and it finds the feed automatically.

**$0.30 per 1,000 items.** Feeds that fail are reported and **never charged**.

### Why this one

- **One schema for every feed format.** No more juggling `pubDate`, `published`, `dc:date`, `content:encoded`, `media:thumbnail` and JSON Feed fields.
- **Auto-discovery** from a website's `<link rel="alternate">`.
- **Filters that save money:** keywords and a published-since date are applied before charging.
- **Newest first,** with a per-feed cap.
- **Built for schedules.** Run it hourly or daily and send new items to Slack, Google Sheets, email or a webhook with Apify integrations.

### Quick start

```json
{
    "feeds": [{ "url": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml" }, { "url": "https://github.blog" }],
    "keywords": ["AI", "security"],
    "since": "2026-10-01",
    "maxItemsPerFeed": 50
}
```

### Use cases

- News and brand monitoring across dozens of sources
- Content curation and newsletter building
- Competitor blog and changelog tracking
- Podcast episode lists (enclosure URLs included)
- Feeding articles into an AI summariser

### Output

| Field | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `title`, `link`, `id` | Item identity |
| `published`, `updated` | ISO dates |
| `author`, `categories` | As published |
| `summary` | Plain-text summary, up to 1,500 characters |
| `content` | Full HTML content, if `includeContent` is on |
| `imageUrl`, `enclosureUrl` | Media |
| `feedTitle`, `feedUrl`, `source` | Which feed it came from |
| `ok`, `error` | A per-feed error row appears if a feed can't be read (free) |

### Input options

| Option | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `feeds` | required | Feed URLs or website URLs |
| `keywords` | `[]` | Keep items whose title or summary contains any of these |
| `since` | - | `YYYY-MM-DD` |
| `maxItemsPerFeed` | `100` | Newest first |
| `includeContent` | `false` | Include full HTML content |

### Good use

Feeds are published for syndication. The actor obeys robots.txt for its user agent `WilsDataTools` and returns items as the publisher provides them. Republishing full articles may need the publisher's permission; headlines, links and summaries are what feeds are designed to share.

### Pricing

Pay per event: one event per item saved after your filters.

# Actor input Schema

## `feeds` (type: `array`):

RSS/Atom/JSON feed URLs, or website URLs (the feed is auto-discovered from <link rel=alternate>).

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Keep items whose title or summary contains any of these.

## `since` (type: `string`):

Keep items published on or after this date.

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

Newest first.

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

Include the item's full HTML content when the feed provides it.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feeds": [
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.blog"
    }
  ],
  "keywords": [],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 100,
  "includeContent": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Read RSS, Atom and JSON feeds (or let it find the feed from a website URL) and get clean, normalised items: title, link, date, author, summary, categories, media.

# 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 = {
    "feeds": [
        {
            "url": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://github.blog"
        }
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ennobling_spray/feed-reader").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 = { "feeds": [
        { "url": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml" },
        { "url": "https://github.blog" },
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ennobling_spray/feed-reader").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 '{
  "feeds": [
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://github.blog"
    }
  ]
}' |
apify call ennobling_spray/feed-reader --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/zMQEabUBbyU6o6PT6/builds/MdYRrtxrapBoC5e2s/openapi.json