# RSS & Atom Feed Reader with Auto-Discovery (`shawndunn/rss-feed-reader`) Actor

Turn any website or feed into clean JSON items: title, link, date, author, summary, categories, enclosures. Paste a homepage and the feed is discovered automatically. Keyword and published-since filters for news monitoring.

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

## Pricing

$1.00 / 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 & Atom Feed Reader with Auto-Discovery

Turn any website or feed into clean JSON items: title, link, date, author, summary, categories, enclosures. Paste a homepage and the feed is discovered automatically. Keyword and published-since filters for news monitoring.

### Why this actor

- Auto-discovery from a homepage (most competitors need the exact feed URL), no start fee, built-in keyword/date filters.
- Pay only for results: **$1.00 per 1,000 feed items**, no start fee, failed lookups are free.
- Robust: automatic retries with exponential backoff, respects `Retry-After`, per-item error rows instead of crashed runs.
- Clean, flat JSON/CSV/Excel output ready for Google Sheets, Make, Zapier, n8n, Clay, or the Apify API.

### Use cases

- News & brand monitoring pipelines (Make, Zapier, n8n)
- Feeding AI agents/newsletters with fresh articles
- Podcast episode tracking via enclosures
- Competitor blog monitoring

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `urls` | array | RSS/Atom feed URLs, or any website URL (the feed is auto-discovered). |
| `publishedSince` | string | Only items published on/after this date. |
| `keywords` | array | Keep items whose title/summary contains any of these. |
| `maxItemsPerFeed` | integer | Cap per feed. |
| `includeContent` | boolean | When the feed provides it. |
| `allDiscoveredFeeds` | boolean | If a site advertises several feeds, read up to 10 of them. |
| `maxItems` | integer | 0 = no limit. |

Example input:

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/rss.xml",
    "https://www.theverge.com",
    "https://blog.python.org",
    "https://example.com"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 10
}
```

### Output

Each dataset item looks like this (real sample from a test run, long fields trimmed):

```json
{
  "title": "Python 3.16.0 alpha 1 is now available",
  "link": "https://blog.python.org/2026/10/python-3160-alpha-1-is-now-available/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-10-13T07:00:00+00:00",
  "author": "Savannah Ostrowski",
  "summary": "The first developer preview of Python 3.16 is ready for testing.",
  "contentHtml": null,
  "categories": [
    "releases"
  ],
  "guid": "https://blog.python.org/2026/10/python-3160-alpha-1-is-now-available/",
  "enclosureUrl": null,
  "feedTitle": "Python Insider",
  "feedUrl": "https://blog.python.org/rss.xml",
  "source": "https://blog.python.org",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-14T05:58:22+00:00"
}
```

Rows that could not be processed contain an `error` field and are **not charged**.

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: **$0.001** per feed item (= $1.00 / 1,000). Use **Max results** to cap spend. Apify's free plan credit covers thousands of results per month.

### Integrations & API

Run on a schedule in Apify Console, call via the Apify API / Python & JS clients, or connect to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets, Slack and webhooks. Works as a tool for AI agents via Apify MCP.

### FAQ

**Is it legal?** The actor only reads publicly available data from public endpoints, without logins, and does not bypass paywalls or access controls. You are responsible for using the data in line with applicable laws (e.g. GDPR) and the source sites' terms.

**Something broke?** Open an issue in the Issues tab; we typically respond within 24 hours and ship fixes fast.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

RSS/Atom feed URLs, or any website URL (the feed is auto-discovered).

## `publishedSince` (type: `string`):

Only items published on/after this date.

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

Keep items whose title/summary contains any of these.

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

Cap per feed.

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

When the feed provides it.

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

If a site advertises several feeds, read up to 10 of them.

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

0 = no limit.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://github.blog/feed/",
    "https://blog.apify.com"
  ],
  "maxItemsPerFeed": 100,
  "includeContent": false,
  "allDiscoveredFeeds": false,
  "maxItems": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `overview` (type: `string`):

No description

## `results` (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 = {
    "urls": [
        "https://github.blog/feed/",
        "https://blog.apify.com"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("shawndunn/rss-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 = { "urls": [
        "https://github.blog/feed/",
        "https://blog.apify.com",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("shawndunn/rss-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 '{
  "urls": [
    "https://github.blog/feed/",
    "https://blog.apify.com"
  ]
}' |
apify call shawndunn/rss-feed-reader --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,shawndunn/rss-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/NGoyLHrbNFohibNxr/builds/u3iTs9DgFicR7A5Kt/openapi.json