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Generate valid RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 feeds from web pages that contain post lists but lack a native feed. Triggers on phrases like "generate a feed for", "crea...
---
name: rss-feed-generator
description: >
Generate valid RSS 2.0 or Atom 1.0 feeds from web pages that contain post
lists but lack a native feed. Triggers on phrases like "generate a feed for",
"create an RSS feed from", "make an Atom feed for", "this page has no RSS",
or any request to produce a feed URL or feed XML from a blog/news/post-list
page. The skill fetches the page, extracts post metadata, and outputs
well-formed feed XML plus a self-hostable HTML wrapper with an embedded
feed discovery link tag.
license: See LICENSE.txt
---
# RSS / Atom Feed Generator (v1.0.0)
Generates valid **RSS 2.0** or **Atom 1.0** XML feeds from any web page that
lists posts, articles, or news items but does not publish its own feed.
---
## Defaults & Settings
| Parameter | Default value |
|-------------------|----------------------------------------|
| Preferred format | RSS 2.0 (Atom 1.0 on request) |
| Max items | 20 (most-recent first) |
| Date fallback | Page scrape date (ISO 8601, UTC) |
| Description | First 280 chars of post excerpt/lede |
| Encoding | UTF-8 |
| Output modes | Raw XML · HTML page · Both |
| Interaction style | Friendly and professional |
---
## Trigger Phrases
| # | User says … | Action |
|----|--------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------|
| T1 | "Generate an RSS/Atom feed for {url}" | Fetch page → detect posts → emit XML|
| T2 | "This page has no feed: {url}" | Same as T1 |
| T3 | "Create a feed from {url}" | Same as T1 |
| T4 | "Convert {url} posts to RSS" | Same as T1 |
| T5 | "Make a self-hostable feed for {url}" | Emit XML + HTML wrapper |
| T6 | "Update / refresh the feed for {url}" | Re-scrape and re-emit |
---
## Order of Operations
1. **Page Fetch** — Retrieve the target URL by invoking the `WEB_FETCH` function
(defined in `https://linkeddata.uriburner.com/chat/functions/openapi.yaml`,
endpoint `/WEB_FETCH`). Use whichever available protocol applies — REST, MCP,
OPAL, or curl. Required parameter: `url`. Optional: `headers`, `max_redirects`,
`timeout_seconds`. `WEB_FETCH` retrieves the page just like a web browser and
returns the full page content for subsequent processing. See
[protocol-routing.md](./references/protocol-routing.md) for exact invocation
patterns per protocol.
2. **Feed Discovery** — Check `<link rel="alternate">` tags. If a feed already
exists, report it and stop (offer to proxy/mirror instead).
3. **Post Extraction** — Use the heuristics in `references/extraction-rules.md`
to identify post entries (title, URL, date, author, summary).
4. **Feed Assembly** — Build XML using the templates in
`references/feed-templates.md`. Validate structure against the checklist
in `references/validation-checklist.md`.
5. **Output** — Present the feed XML in a code block; optionally wrap in the
HTML discovery page template from `references/html-wrapper-template.md`.
6. **Download Link** — Save the `.xml` file to `/mnt/user-data/outputs/` and
present it with `present_files`.
---
## Extraction Heuristics (summary — full rules in references/)
### Structural signals to look for
- Repeated `<article>`, `<li>`, or `<div>` blocks with consistent class names
(e.g., `post`, `entry`, `article`, `blog-post`, `card`)
- `<h1>`/`<h2>`/`<h3>` headings inside each block → **item title**
- `<a href>` on or near the heading → **item link** (resolve relative URLs)
- `<time datetime="…">` or text matching date patterns → **pubDate**
- First `<p>` inside the block (≤280 chars) → **description / summary**
- `<span class="author">` or byline text → **author**
### Date handling
| Situation | Strategy |
|----------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| `<time datetime="…">` | Use ISO value directly |
| Human-readable date text | Parse with locale awareness; emit RFC 822 |
| No date found | Use today's date (UTC) with a `<!-- estimated -->` comment |
| Relative ("3 days ago") | Calculate from scrape time |
### URL normalisation
All item `<link>` values must be **absolute**. Resolve against the page's
`<base href>` if present, otherwise against the origin of the page URL.
---
## Feed Format Specs
### RSS 2.0 required elements
```
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>, <link>, <description> ← required channel fields
<item>
<title>, <link>, <guid> ← required per item
<pubDate> ← RFC 822 (e.g. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000)
<description> ← plain text or CDATA-wrapped HTML
```
### Atom 1.0 required elements
```
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<title>, <id>, <updated> ← required feed fields
<entry>
<title>, <id>, <updated> ← required per entry
<link href="…" rel="alternate"/> ← post URL
<summary> or <content> ← excerpt or full body
```
Full templates → `references/feed-templates.md`
---
## Output Modes
| Mode | Description |
|--------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `xml` | Raw feed XML in a fenced code block |
| `file` | Save to `/mnt/user-data/outputs/<slug>-feed.xml` and present link |
| `html` | HTML discovery page with `<link rel="alternate">` + embedded XML |
| `both` | `file` + `html` wrapper saved as `<slug>-feed-page.html` |
Default: `file` (saves XML and presents download link).
---
## Error Handling
| Problem | Response |
|------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Page returns non-200 | Report HTTP status; suggest checking URL or auth |
| No repeating post structure found | Show raw HTML skeleton; ask user to identify the pattern |
| Feed already exists | Report the existing feed URL; offer to mirror/augment |
| Dates unparseable | Use today's date; flag items with `<!-- date-estimated -->`|
| Relative URLs unresolvable | Ask user for the site's base URL |
---
## Commands
| Command | Description |
|----------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|
| `/help` | Usage guidance for this skill |
| `/format [rss|atom]` | Override output format |
| `/limit [n]` | Set maximum number of feed items |
| `/fulltext` | Attempt to embed full post body (fetches each post URL) |
| `/validate` | Run checklist from `references/validation-checklist.md` |
| `/preview` | Show first 3 items as formatted Markdown before XML |
---
## Operational Rules
1. Always check for an existing feed before generating a synthetic one.
2. Never fabricate post content — only use text found on the page.
3. Escape `&`, `<`, `>` in text nodes; use CDATA for HTML description bodies.
4. All `<guid>` / Atom `<id>` values must be the canonical post URL.
5. Sort items newest-first by default (`pubDate` DESC).
6. Do not request or store credentials; only scrape publicly accessible pages.
7. Clearly label generated feeds as synthetic (add `<generator>` tag).
8. Respect `robots.txt` — do not scrape pages that disallow crawlers.
don't have the plugin yet? install it then click "run inline in claude" again.