# Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder (`technicaldost/website-feed-discovery`) Actor

Find every RSS, Atom and JSON feed a website publishes. Checks declared link tags, on-page links and well-known paths, then fetches each candidate and confirms it really parses - so you only get feeds that work. Returns format, title and item count. No API key.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/technicaldost/website-feed-discovery.md
- **Developed by:** [Technical Dost Solutions](https://apify.com/technicaldost) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, News
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 1,000 site 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

**Find every RSS, Atom and JSON feed a website publishes — and get back only the ones that actually work.**

Guessing `/feed` is easy. This Actor fetches every candidate and **parses it** before returning it, so the output is a list of confirmed, working feed URLs with their format, title and item count. No dead links to filter out afterwards.

### What you get

```json
{
  "siteUrl": "https://overreacted.io",
  "feedsFound": 2,
  "primaryFeedUrl": "https://overreacted.io/atom.xml",
  "primaryFeedFormat": "atom",
  "candidatesChecked": 14,
  "feeds": [
    {
      "url": "https://overreacted.io/atom.xml",
      "format": "atom",
      "title": "overreacted — A blog by Dan Abramov",
      "itemCount": 58,
      "latestItemDate": "2026-07-31T00:00:00.000Z",
      "discoveredVia": "link-tag"
    }
  ]
}
```

### How it finds them

Three routes, tried in order of reliability, then every candidate is validated:

1. **`<link rel="alternate">` tags** — the feed the site declares. Most reliable.
2. **On-page anchors** that look like feeds — catches sites that forgot the link tag.
3. **Well-known paths** — `/feed`, `/rss.xml`, `/atom.xml`, `/index.xml`, `/feed.json` and others.

Results are ranked so a declared feed always beats a guessed path.

### Main use cases

- **Build a monitoring list.** Give it 500 competitor or industry sites and get back the feeds worth watching.
- **Feed-reader onboarding.** Turn a URL a user pastes into a working subscription.
- **Content aggregation** and newsroom monitoring.
- **Migration checks** — confirm feeds survived a replatform.
- **Feeding an RSS pipeline.** Pair with [RSS Feed Scraper](https://apify.com/technicaldost/rss-feed-scraper) to go from a list of websites to a stream of articles.

### Pricing

| Event | Price | When |
|---|---|---|
| **Site checked** | **$0.003** | One website searched, whether or not feeds were found |

A site with no feeds is a real answer and costs the same to determine, so it is charged. Sites that could not be reached at all are **not** charged.

**1,000 websites = $3.00.**

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| `websites` | array | **required** | Bare domains work. Up to 2,000. |
| `checkWellKnownPaths` | boolean | `true` | Probe common paths when nothing is declared. Turn off for speed. |
| `maxFeedsPerSite` | integer | `20` | Cap per site. |
| `concurrency` | integer | `8` | Parallel sites. |

### Limitations

- **No JavaScript rendering.** A feed link injected client-side will only be found if it also sits at a well-known path.
- **Well-known probing costs requests.** With it on, a site with no declared feed triggers up to 14 extra checks. That is why it is a toggle.
- **Podcast feeds are found but not parsed as podcasts** — you get the feed URL, format and item count, not episode metadata.
- Feeds behind authentication or bot protection cannot be validated and are omitted rather than guessed at.

### Related Actors

- **[RSS Feed Scraper](https://apify.com/technicaldost/rss-feed-scraper)** ★5.0 — the natural next step: read the feeds this Actor finds.
- **[Substack Newsletter Monitor](https://apify.com/technicaldost/substack-newsletter-monitor)** — for Substack publications specifically.

### Reliability

- Retries on 429 and 5xx with exponential backoff; permanent 4xx errors are not retried.
- Bad input is reported and skipped, never charged.
- One failing target never aborts the rest of the run.
- Concurrency is bounded and configurable — this work is network-bound, so parallel requests, not memory, are what control speed.

### Data source and responsible use

Reads only publicly available data. No authentication bypass, no CAPTCHA circumvention, no browser automation.

Not affiliated with any of the services checked.

### How to use Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder

1. Open [Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder](https://apify.com/technicaldost/website-feed-discovery) on Apify Store and click **Try for free**.
2. Fill in the input (the form is prefilled with a working example) and click **Start**.
3. Watch results appear in the **Output** tab, then download them as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read them through the API.
4. Optional: save the input as a task and add a **schedule** to run it automatically, or connect it to your tools with integrations and webhooks.

### Output example

Each result is one dataset item. A real item from a test run (long fields shortened):

```json
{
  "siteUrl": "https://news.ycombinator.com",
  "feedsFound": 0,
  "feeds": [],
  "primaryFeedUrl": null,
  "primaryFeedFormat": null,
  "candidatesChecked": 14,
  "pageError": null,
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-21T10:02:39.646Z"
}
```

### Use Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder with AI agents (MCP)

Give Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client this Actor as a tool through the hosted [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com). The agent sees the input fields with descriptions and example values, runs the Actor, and reads the results.

**MCP server URL (this Actor only):**

```
https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=technicaldost/website-feed-discovery
```

**Claude Code:**

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=technicaldost/website-feed-discovery" --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
```

**Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop and other clients** (`mcp.json` or the client's MCP settings):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=technicaldost/website-feed-discovery",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" }
    }
  }
}
```

Clients that support sign-in (such as Claude.ai connectors) can use the URL without a token and log in to Apify instead. Get your token in [Apify Console → Settings → API & Integrations](https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations), or generate a ready config for your client at [mcp.apify.com](https://mcp.apify.com). In the agent the tool is named `technicaldost--website-feed-discovery`; ask it, for example, to *"run Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder with {"websites": \["https://news.ycombinator.com", "https://overreacted.io"]}"*.

AI agents without an Apify account can also run and pay for this Actor per request with [x402 agentic payments](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/x402).

### Run Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder via API

Run the Actor and get its results in one call (replace `YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN`):

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/technicaldost~website-feed-discovery/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"websites": ["https://news.ycombinator.com", "https://overreacted.io"]}'
```

**Python** (`pip install apify-client`):

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("technicaldost/website-feed-discovery").call(run_input={"websites": ["https://news.ycombinator.com", "https://overreacted.io"]})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)
```

**JavaScript / TypeScript** (`npm install apify-client`):

```js
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('technicaldost/website-feed-discovery').call({"websites": ["https://news.ycombinator.com", "https://overreacted.io"]});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

Long runs: start them with `POST /v2/acts/technicaldost~website-feed-discovery/runs` and fetch the dataset when the run finishes, or receive a webhook.

### Integrations

Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder works with [Make](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/make), [Zapier](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/zapier), [n8n](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/n8n), [LangChain](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/langchain), Google Sheets, Slack, GitHub and [webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/webhooks). Schedule runs in Apify Console and send new results straight to your apps, spreadsheets or AI pipelines.

### FAQ

#### Can I use Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder with AI agents like Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes. Connect the Apify MCP server with `?tools=technicaldost/website-feed-discovery` (see above) and the agent can run the Actor and read its results on its own.

#### Can I call Website RSS & Atom Feed Finder from my own code?

Yes. Use the REST API, or the official Python and JavaScript clients shown above. Results are available as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or HTML.

#### How do I run it on a schedule?

Save your input as a task in Apify Console and add a schedule (for example, daily). Use webhooks or integrations to send each run's results onward.

#### Is it legal to use this Actor?

It works with publicly available data. Make sure your use complies with the source website's terms and with data protection laws such as GDPR, especially for personal data.

#### Something doesn't work or I need a feature. What should I do?

Open an issue in the **Issues** tab on this Actor's page with an example input, and we'll look into it.

# Actor input Schema

## `websites` (type: `array`):

Website URLs to search for feeds. A bare domain works - example.com becomes https://example.com.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many to process at once. This work is network-bound, so concurrency - not memory - is what controls speed.

## `checkWellKnownPaths` (type: `boolean`):

Probe /feed, /rss.xml, /atom.xml and similar when the page does not declare a feed. Finds feeds on sites that forgot the link tag.

## `maxFeedsPerSite` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of feeds to return per website. Most sites publish one or two.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "websites": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "https://overreacted.io"
  ],
  "concurrency": 8,
  "checkWellKnownPaths": true,
  "maxFeedsPerSite": 20
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `csv` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runSummary` (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 = {
    "websites": [
        "https://news.ycombinator.com",
        "https://overreacted.io"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("technicaldost/website-feed-discovery").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 = { "websites": [
        "https://news.ycombinator.com",
        "https://overreacted.io",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("technicaldost/website-feed-discovery").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 '{
  "websites": [
    "https://news.ycombinator.com",
    "https://overreacted.io"
  ]
}' |
apify call technicaldost/website-feed-discovery --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/ABrcrfZMYblmI5Hih/builds/IQJfMlIUHHLZXmp73/openapi.json