🌈 SMALL FORMAT. BIG POSSIBILITIES.

RSS Feeds API

RSS remains a straightforward way to publish a stream of updates. Work with its actual fields and publisher intent before adding your own interpretation.

Read the field guide Find your starting point ↓

RSS Feeds API editorial artwork: RSS IS STILL A GOOD IDEA. FeedsAPI.com.

THREE IDEAS TO BUILD AROUND

Get the foundations right.

Give the important decisions a name before choosing an implementation.

01 / THE OPEN-WEB CLASSIC

Preserve GUIDs as source identifiers

Preserve publisher-supplied item identifiers rather than deriving identity from a headline. Keep the display link separate, and include the source identity to avoid cross-source collisions. Decide on a documented fallback only when an identifier is absent or unusable. An edited title is a useful first fixture for verifying your update behavior.

02 / THE OPEN-WEB CLASSIC

Treat missing dates as missing information

Do not make an undated item look newly published by assigning it the current time. Keep the source value and the observation time separate. Your interface can use a clearly explained fallback ordering for undated entries. Test malformed dates and unexpected future values before using chronology to drive alerts or prominent placement.

03 / THE OPEN-WEB CLASSIC

Separate parsing from safe HTML rendering

A parsed document can still contain content that needs a safe rendering policy. Keep extraction separate from display and prefer plain text when rich markup is unnecessary. Treat attachments as optional metadata rather than assuming they are images. A missing image should not prevent a reader from using the headline and source link.

Test a reader against imperfect items

Create a small fixture collection with a normal item, a missing date, a changed headline, embedded markup, and a non-image attachment. Decide the normalized output and the reader presentation before running the parser. Keep failure handling separate from transport errors. You will have a more useful compatibility suite than a collection of successful downloads from sources that happen to be easy.

FEEDS API LAB · 7 MIN READ

RSS Feeds API Guide: Parse, Normalize, and Keep Item Identity

Read RSS carefully: preserve GUIDs, distinguish summaries from full text, handle dates conservatively, and test malformed source content.

A project to think about: A cross-publication reader that shows updates without duplicating the same article on every refresh.

Open the complete guide

KEEP THE IDEAS CONNECTED

There’s more to the story.

Explore adjacent topics, then return to your own project with a clearer plan.