Changelog / Docs Monitor API

Extract recent product, documentation, changelog, RSS, sitemap, and GitHub release updates from public sources.

What this Actor does

Changelog / Docs Monitor API reads public update sources, extracts recent items, detects change-related keywords, classifies likely update types, and saves structured records to the Apify Dataset.

It supports GitHub releases URLs, RSS/Atom feeds, sitemap XML, changelog pages, docs pages, and HTML fallback links.

Use cases

• Monitor competitor changelogs.
• Track docs and API updates.
• Watch GitHub releases.
• Build release-note datasets.
• Surface possible breaking, security, deprecation, pricing, or API changes.

Who this is for

Product teams, developer relations teams, competitive intelligence teams, agencies, platform teams, and AI agents that need recent public product changes.

Input

• sources - Public changelog URLs, docs URLs, RSS/Atom feeds, GitHub releases URLs, or sitemap URLs. Required, 1-50 items.
• daysBack - Filter dated items to this recent window. Default: 30, maximum: 365.
• maxItemsPerSource - Maximum updates returned for each source. Default: 100, maximum: 500.
• includeChangeKeywords - Return important change keywords such as breaking, deprecated, API, and security. Default: true.

Example input

{
  "sources": ["https://github.com/apify/crawlee/releases", "https://docs.apify.com/changelog"],
  "daysBack": 30,
  "maxItemsPerSource": 50,
  "includeChangeKeywords": true
}

Output

The Actor saves one Dataset item per detected update.

• sourceUrl - Source URL from the input.
• itemUrl - URL for the detected update.
• title - Update title when available.
• publishedDate, modifiedDate - Dates from the source when available.
• category - Feed category when available.
• tags - Feed tags or release tags.
• excerpt - Short update excerpt.
• detectedUpdateType - Heuristic type such as github_release, breaking_change, security_update, deprecation_notice, api_docs_update, changelog_entry, docs_page, or unknown.
• importantKeywords - Matched change keywords when enabled.
• breakingChangePossible, apiChangePossible, securityChangePossible - Boolean flags inferred from keywords and type.
• scrapedAt - ISO timestamp for the run.
• discoveredFrom - Discovery method such as github_releases_api, rss_atom, sitemap, or html_page.
• extractionStatus - succeeded or failed.
• errorMessage - Failure reason when no updates are found or a source request fails.

Example output

{
  "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/apify/crawlee/releases",
  "itemUrl": "https://github.com/apify/crawlee/releases/tag/v1.0.0",
  "title": "v1.0.0",
  "publishedDate": "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z",
  "modifiedDate": "2026-07-01T00:00:00Z",
  "category": null,
  "tags": ["v1.0.0"],
  "excerpt": "Release notes...",
  "detectedUpdateType": "github_release",
  "importantKeywords": ["release"],
  "breakingChangePossible": false,
  "apiChangePossible": false,
  "securityChangePossible": false,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-07-04T00:00:00.000Z",
  "discoveredFrom": "github_releases_api",
  "extractionStatus": "succeeded",
  "errorMessage": null
}

How it works

• Reads the Actor input.
• Normalizes and deduplicates public sources.
• Uses the GitHub Releases API for GitHub release pages.
• Parses RSS/Atom feeds and sitemap XML when detected.
• Falls back to links found on public HTML pages.
• Filters dated items by daysBack when dates are available.
• Saves structured update records to the Apify Dataset.

Limitations

• Public sources only.
• No login, private data, cookies, CAPTCHA bypass, or restricted content.
• Date filtering only applies when sources expose parseable dates.
• HTML fallback is heuristic and may miss updates on unusual page structures.
• No guaranteed completeness across every docs or changelog system.
• Dynamic sites may need a browser-based upgrade.

Error handling

Invalid or empty sources input fails run validation. Failed requests return a failed Dataset item with extractionStatus: "failed" and errorMessage. Sources with no detected updates return a failed item with No updates found so empty results are visible.

Troubleshooting

• If no updates are found, increase daysBack or confirm the source exposes recent public dates, feed entries, releases, or update links.
• If GitHub releases are missing, use the repository's /releases URL.
• If RSS or Atom results are incomplete, confirm the feed is public and valid XML.
• If docs-page results are broad, provide a more specific changelog, release, sitemap, or feed URL.

API usage

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/USERNAME~changelog-docs-monitor-api/runs?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sources": ["https://github.com/apify/crawlee/releases"],
    "daysBack": 30,
    "maxItemsPerSource": 50,
    "includeChangeKeywords": true
  }'

Integration ideas

• Schedule weekly release monitoring.
• Send possible breaking or security updates to Slack.
• Feed update records into a product intelligence dashboard.
• Pair with Sitemap Intelligence API to discover docs or changelog URLs.

SEO keywords

changelog API, docs monitor, GitHub releases API, RSS monitor, release notes scraper, product updates, API change monitor, deprecation monitor, security updates, Apify changelog actor

Ethical use

This Actor is designed for public data and user-provided URLs only. Do not use it to access private, login-protected, or restricted content.