Quick Start

This guide will get you up and running with Feedsmith in just a few minutes.

Installation

Feedsmith works in both Node.js and modern browsers as an ES module. It was tested in both environments, ensuring compatibility and reliability.

Install the package using your preferred package manager:

npm

npm install feedsmith

yarn

yarn add feedsmith

pnpm

pnpm add feedsmith

bun

bun add feedsmith

Or using CDN:

unpkg

<script type="module">
  import { parseFeed } from 'https://unpkg.com/feedsmith@latest/dist/index.js'

  const { type, feed } = parseFeed(feedContent)
  console.log(feed.title)
</script>

jsDelivr

<script type="module">
  import { parseFeed } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/feedsmith@latest/dist/index.js'

  const { type, feed } = parseFeed(feedContent)
  console.log(feed.title)
</script>

esm.sh

<script type="module">
  import { parseFeed } from 'https://esm.sh/feedsmith@latest'

  const { type, feed } = parseFeed(feedContent)
  console.log(feed.title)
</script>

Parse Any Feed

The simplest way to parse any feed is to use the universal parseFeed function:

import { parseFeed } from 'feedsmith'

// Works with RSS, Atom, JSON Feed, and RDF
const { format, feed } = parseFeed(feedContent)

console.log('Feed format:', format) // rss, atom, json, rdf
console.log('Feed title:', feed.title)

if (format === 'rss') {
  console.log('RSS feed link:', feed.link)
}

Format-Specific Parsers

If you know the format in advance, you can use the format-specific parsers:

import {
  parseAtomFeed,
  parseJsonFeed,
  parseRssFeed,
  parseRdfFeed
} from 'feedsmith'

// Parse specific formats
const atomFeed = parseAtomFeed('atom content')
const jsonFeed = parseJsonFeed('json content')
const rssFeed = parseRssFeed('rss content')
const rdfFeed = parseRdfFeed('rdf content')

// Access typed data
rssFeed.title
rssFeed.dc?.creator
rssFeed.items?.[0]?.title

Parse OPML Files

Parsing OPML files is just as simple:

import { parseOpml } from 'feedsmith'

const opml = parseOpml('opml content')

opml.head?.title
opml.body?.outlines?.[0].text
opml.body?.outlines?.[1].xmlUrl

Generate a Feed

import { generateRssFeed } from 'feedsmith'

const rss = generateRssFeed({
  title: 'My Blog',
  link: 'https://example.com',
  description: 'A simple blog',
  items: [{
    title: 'Hello World',
    link: 'https://example.com/hello',
    description: 'My first post',
    pubDate: new Date()
  }]
})

console.log(rss) // Complete RSS XML

// You can also generate other formats:
// - generateAtomFeed() for Atom feeds
// - generateJsonFeed() for JSON feeds
// - generateRdfFeed() for RDF feeds
// - generateOpml() for OPML files

Error Handling

If the feed is unrecognized or invalid, an Error will be thrown with a descriptive message.

import { parseFeed, parseJsonFeed } from 'feedsmith'

try {
  const universalFeed = parseFeed('<not-a-feed></not-a-feed>')
} catch (error) {
  // Error: Unrecognized feed format
}

try {
  const jsonFeed = parseJsonFeed('{}')
} catch (error) {
  // Error: Invalid feed format
}

What's Next?

• Parse feeds — Learn about parsing different formats
• Work with namespaces — Access podcast, media, and other metadata
• Generate feeds — Create RSS, Atom, and JSON feeds
• API Reference — Explore all available functions and types
• Benchmarks — See how Feedsmith compares to other libraries