RSS Feed Reader (with MCP)

Read public RSS, Atom and RDF feeds and export their entries as a structured dataset. Keep titles, links, dates and available content together for news monitoring, research or AI ingestion.

🚀 Quick start

1. Add a publisher's feed URL, rather than an article or home page.
2. Start with a small per-feed limit.
3. Run the Actor and export the dataset as CSV, Excel or JSON.

{
  "feedUrls": ["https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml"],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 5,
  "includeContent": true,
  "includeFeedMetadata": true,
  "dedupeBy": "guid",
  "emitErrorItems": true
}

maxItemsPerFeed applies to each feed, not the whole run. Publishers may return fewer entries or omit optional fields.

Ready-to-run examples

Choose an existing public example, then adjust its input for your own collection.

• Read multiple RSS feeds — Combine BBC and NASA entries in one dataset.
• Read an Atom feed with content — Collect Python blog entries with available content and feed metadata.
• Deduplicate entries by link — Collect headline-oriented entries from The Verge using links as comparison keys.

Output

Each normal dataset row represents one feed entry. Optional fields depend on the publisher's XML; includeContent does not download the full linked article.

Fields	What they contain
title, link, guid	Entry title, destination and publisher identifier
description, content	Summary and content when the feed provides them
pubDate, isoDate, author	Published date and available attribution
feedUrl, feedType, feedTitle	Source-feed information
categories, imageUrl, mediaUrls	Available topics and media references
dedupeKey, fetchedAt	Comparison key and collection time

For recurring collection, compare dedupeKey across your saved exports. Deduplication within a run does not maintain a cross-run history or send alerts for you.

Input settings

Setting	How to use it
feedUrls	One or more public RSS, Atom or RDF feed URLs
maxItemsPerFeed	Set an explicit per-feed cap, up to 1,000
includeContent	Include content supplied by the feed
includeFeedMetadata	Include source-feed metadata on entries
dedupeBy	Choose guid, link or titleAndDate
emitErrorItems	Include an error row when an individual feed fails
requestTimeoutSecs	Per-feed request timeout, from 5 to 120 seconds

Pricing and limits

Actor event fees in USD, at the Free-plan rate:

Charge	Price
Start one run	$0.005
1,000 saved feed entries or feed-error rows	$0.0575

A run producing 1,000 charged rows has about $0.06 in Actor event fees. This illustrates the charges; an input limit does not guarantee that many entries. Plan discounts and any additional charges are shown in the Pricing tab.

Only public feed documents are supported. The Actor does not access private feeds or bypass a publisher's login. Feed length and publisher availability limit the results.

API and AI agents

Use the API tab for authenticated integration. Here is a small Node.js run that also retrieves its dataset:

$npm install apify-client

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';
const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('fetch_cat/rss-feed-reader').call({
  feedUrls: ['https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml'],
  maxItemsPerFeed: 5,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Connect through the official Apify plugin. Example request: “Use fetch_cat/rss-feed-reader to read five BBC news feed entries and return their titles and links.” Ask the agent to inspect the schema before running.

Apify walkthrough

This official introduction covers inputs, runs and exports using another Actor. The Console layout may differ.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Why is content missing?

Some feeds publish only summaries. Check the feed itself and enable includeContent; this option cannot create content the publisher omitted.

What happens when one feed fails?

With emitErrorItems enabled, inspect rows containing error. Successful feeds can still produce entries, so a completed run does not mean every feed succeeded.

Can I schedule news monitoring?

Yes, through Apify schedules. Store prior results and compare dedupeKey in your application to identify new entries or trigger alerts.

Related Actors

• Google News Scraper — Search news when you do not have a feed URL.
• Google Trending Searches Scraper — Explore trending search topics.
• Web Page to Markdown Extractor — Extract linked page content for downstream use.
• Website Contact Finder — Find public contact information on websites.
• Hacker News Search Scraper — Research developer stories and discussions.

Support

Found an error or have a request? Open an issue with the run ID, a non-sensitive input example and the expected result. For custom additions, email hello@fetchcat.dev. Feedback and reviews help us improve the Actor.

Made with care for curious people, AI agents and the possibilities in data. ♥