# Release Note Monitor (`yearly_register/release-note-monitor`) Actor

Monitor public release-note pages for new versions and product updates, with structured results for scheduled alerts and downstream workflows.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/yearly\_register/release-note-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Automation Tech](https://apify.com/yearly_register) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.50 / 1,000 page checkeds

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

## Release Note Monitor

Release Note Monitor extracts stable GitHub release and release-note records from public Atom feeds for version and product-update monitoring. It is useful when you want a predictable feed of software releases without polling repository pages manually.

### What it does

The Actor reads public GitHub release Atom feeds, validates and parses the feed, normalizes release metadata, and writes stable records to the default Apify dataset. It can include normalized release-note text and supports filtering controls intended for recurring monitoring.

Typical use cases include:

- tracking releases from important open-source projects;
- monitoring dependency or vendor updates;
- detecting new versions for internal engineering workflows;
- collecting release notes for changelog or research pipelines;
- scheduling release checks through Apify.

### Quick start

1. Add one or more supported public GitHub release feed URLs to the Actor input.
2. Keep the default limits for a small first run.
3. Configure optional tag-prefix, prerelease, and release-body settings if needed.
4. Run the Actor and inspect the default dataset.
5. Confirm that release names, tags, links, timestamps, and body information match the source feed.
6. Once verified, schedule recurring runs or call the Actor through the Apify API.

The Input tab also provides request limits, retries, concurrency, timeout, proxy configuration, and maximum releases/body-size controls.

### Output

Each dataset item represents a normalized GitHub release with stable source metadata. Depending on the configured input, records can include repository information, release identifiers, URLs, names, tags, publication/update timestamps, author data, prerelease status, normalized body text, and a SHA-256 body fingerprint. The dataset schema defines the exact output contract.

Results can be exported as JSON, CSV, or Excel or consumed directly through the Apify dataset API.

### Scheduling and integrations

Use Apify schedules for periodic version monitoring. Dataset records can trigger webhooks or feed Make, Zapier, internal services, databases, notification systems, or other Actors.

### Limitations

The Actor depends on GitHub's public Atom feed format and the releases exposed by that feed. It does not access private repositories or authenticated GitHub APIs. Upstream feed behavior can change, and release bodies may be truncated according to your configured output limit.

### Pricing

See the Actor's Apify Store **Pricing** tab for the active pricing model and rates. Platform usage depends mainly on feed count, run frequency, and requested release/body volume. A small test run is the best way to estimate real cost before enabling recurring monitoring.

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

List of URLs to start scraping from

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of results to scrape

## `maxRequests` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of requests to process

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of concurrent requests

## `maxRequestRetries` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of retries for failed requests

## `maxRequestsPerMinute` (type: `integer`):

Maximum requests per minute

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Request timeout in seconds

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

Proxy configuration for requests

## `debug` (type: `boolean`):

Enable debug logging

## `maxReleasesPerFeed` (type: `integer`):

Maximum valid releases emitted after filtering.

## `includeBody` (type: `boolean`):

Include normalized release notes. Hashes always use the full body.

## `maxBodyLength` (type: `integer`):

Maximum body characters emitted; zero omits body text.

## `tagPrefixes` (type: `array`):

Optional case-sensitive tag prefixes; empty accepts every release.

## `includePrereleases` (type: `boolean`):

Include releases with explicit prerelease markers in their tag or title.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [],
  "maxResults": 1000,
  "maxRequests": 10000,
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "maxRequestRetries": 3,
  "maxRequestsPerMinute": 60,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  },
  "debug": false,
  "maxReleasesPerFeed": 20,
  "includeBody": true,
  "maxBodyLength": 20000,
  "tagPrefixes": [],
  "includePrereleases": true
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `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 = {
    "proxyConfiguration": {
        "useApifyProxy": false
    }
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("yearly_register/release-note-monitor").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 = { "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": False } }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("yearly_register/release-note-monitor").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 '{
  "proxyConfiguration": {
    "useApifyProxy": false
  }
}' |
apify call yearly_register/release-note-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,yearly_register/release-note-monitor"
        }
    }
}
```

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/OlawlPAlhKd2klwON/builds/09lihLfeI4wEPC6Tc/openapi.json