# RSS Feed Parser — Convert Any RSS or Atom Feed to Clean JSON (`eliai/rss-feed-parser`) Actor

RSS feed parser for developers and AI agents: pass any RSS or Atom feed URL as input and get back clean, structured JSON items (title, link, date, and other feed fields). $0.02 per feed parsed — cost scales with feeds, nothing hidden.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/eliai/rss-feed-parser.md
- **Developed by:** [Broke to Built](https://apify.com/eliai) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, SEO tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $16.00 / 1,000 parsed feeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## RSS & Atom Feed Parser

Turn any RSS or Atom feed into clean, normalized JSON — no XML headaches.

Live on the Apify Store — run it instantly or call it as an agent tool via Apify MCP.

### What you get

- Works with **RSS 2.0, RDF, and Atom** feeds — auto-detected.
- Every item normalized to the same shape: `title`, `link`, `guid`, `publishedAt` (ISO 8601), `author`, `categories`, `summary`, `content`, `enclosure`.
- Items **sorted newest-first**; cap how many you want per feed.
- **Bulk mode** — pass an array of feed URLs and get one result object per feed.
- Handles CDATA, `content:encoded`, `dc:creator`, `media:content`, and enclosures.

### Input

```json
{
  "url": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

Or parse many feeds at once:

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
    "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/.rss"
  ],
  "maxItems": 25
}
```

### Output

One dataset record per feed:

```json
{
  "feedUrl": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
  "feedTitle": "Hacker News: Front Page",
  "itemCount": 30,
  "items": [
    {
      "title": "Show HN: A tiny RSS parser",
      "link": "https://example.com/post",
      "guid": "https://example.com/post",
      "publishedAt": "2026-06-24T18:12:03.000Z",
      "author": "jane",
      "categories": ["programming"],
      "summary": "A short description…",
      "content": "<p>Full HTML content…</p>",
      "enclosure": null
    }
  ]
}
```

### Pricing

Pay-per-event: **$0.02 per feed parsed**. No subscription, no surprises.

### FAQ

**How do I convert an RSS feed to JSON?** Pass the feed URL — every item comes back normalized to the same shape (`title`, `link`, `guid`, ISO-8601 `publishedAt`, `author`, `categories`, `summary`, `content`, `enclosure`), newest first, no XML handling on your side.

**Does it work with Atom feeds too?** Yes — RSS 2.0, RDF, and Atom are auto-detected and normalized into one identical item shape, so your code never branches on feed format.

**How does it handle CDATA and namespaced fields?** CDATA blocks, `content:encoded`, `dc:creator`, `media:content`, and enclosures are all parsed into the normalized fields — the messy 20% of real-world feeds that break naive XML parsing.

**Can I parse several feeds in one run?** Yes — pass an array in `urls`, one result object per feed, `maxItems` capping items per feed. $0.02 per feed parsed.

**How is this different from the RSS Change Monitor?** This parser returns the current items every time — stateless. If you want *only what changed since last run* on a schedule, that's our [RSS Change Monitor](https://apify.com/eliai/rss-change-monitor), which keeps a baseline between runs.

### For AI agents

This Actor is built to be called by software, not just by people.

- **Mount it directly as an MCP tool** — no Store search, no ranking, just this one tool:
  `https://mcp.apify.com/?actors=eliai/rss-feed-parser`
- **Or call it over HTTP** and get the results in the same request:
  `POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/eliai~rss-feed-parser/run-sync-get-dataset-items`
- **Pay with x402, without an Apify account.** This Actor is whitelisted for agentic payments, so an agent holding USDC on Base can buy a prepaid token and spend it here. The minimum purchase is $1, the token balance is an absolute spending cap, and it expires 14 days after purchase.
- **Costs are predictable before you call.** Pricing is pay-per-event (see Pricing above), so an agent can budget a run in advance instead of discovering the bill afterwards.
- **Send only the field you mean.** If you pass the bulk field, it is used on its own; the single-value field is a fallback, never merged into your request. You are charged for the items you sent and nothing else.

# Actor input Schema

## `url` (type: `string`):

A single RSS or Atom feed URL to parse.

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

Multiple RSS/Atom feed URLs to parse in one run (up to 25). When you set this, it is used on its own and the single-value field above is ignored, so you are only charged for the items you sent.

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

Maximum number of items to return per feed, sorted newest first.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "url": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
  "urls": [
    "https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
  ],
  "maxItems": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Every item this run produced, as JSON.

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

The same items as a spreadsheet-ready CSV.

# 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 = {
    "url": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
    "urls": [
        "https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("eliai/rss-feed-parser").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 = {
    "url": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
    "urls": ["https://hnrss.org/frontpage"],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("eliai/rss-feed-parser").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 '{
  "url": "https://hnrss.org/frontpage",
  "urls": [
    "https://hnrss.org/frontpage"
  ]
}' |
apify call eliai/rss-feed-parser --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/HkAfaai4EIkyvnM63/builds/fmRKGre8ctd4Wh3RF/openapi.json