feedparser-rs

High-performance RSS/Atom/JSON Feed parser written in Rust, with Python and Node.js bindings.

Features

• Multi-format support — RSS 0.9x, 1.0, 2.0 / Atom 0.3, 1.0 / JSON Feed 1.0, 1.1
• Tolerant parsing — Handles malformed feeds gracefully with bozo flag pattern
• HTTP fetching — Built-in URL fetching with compression (gzip, deflate, brotli)
• Conditional GET — ETag/Last-Modified support for bandwidth-efficient polling
• Podcast support — iTunes and Podcast 2.0 namespace extensions
• Multi-language bindings — Native Python (PyO3) and Node.js (napi-rs) bindings
• Familiar API — Inspired by Python's feedparser, easy to migrate existing code

Supported Formats

Format	Versions	Status
RSS	0.90, 0.91, 0.92, 1.0, 2.0	✅ Full support
Atom	0.3, 1.0	✅ Full support
JSON Feed	1.0, 1.1	✅ Full support

Namespace Extensions

Namespace	Description
Dublin Core	Creator, date, rights metadata
Content	Encoded HTML content
Media RSS	Media attachments and metadata
iTunes	Podcast metadata (author, duration, explicit)
Podcast 2.0	Chapters, transcripts, funding
Syndication	Update schedule (period, frequency, base)
GeoRSS	Geographic location data (point, line, polygon, box)
Creative Commons	License information with rel="license" links

Installation

Rust

cargo add feedparser-rs

Or add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
feedparser-rs = "0.2"

Important

Requires Rust 1.88.0 or later (edition 2024).

Node.js

npm install feedparser-rs
# or
yarn add feedparser-rs
# or
pnpm add feedparser-rs

Python

pip install feedparser-rs

Usage

Rust

use feedparser_rs::parse;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let xml = r#"
        <?xml version="1.0"?>
        <rss version="2.0">
            <channel>
                <title>Example Feed</title>
                <link>https://example.com</link>
                <item>
                    <title>First Post</title>
                    <link>https://example.com/post/1</link>
                </item>
            </channel>
        </rss>
    "#;

    let feed = parse(xml.as_bytes())?;

    println!("Version: {}", feed.version.as_str());  // "rss20"
    println!("Title: {:?}", feed.feed.title);
    println!("Entries: {}", feed.entries.len());

    for entry in &feed.entries {
        println!("  - {:?}", entry.title);
    }

    Ok(())
}

Fetching from URL

use feedparser_rs::fetch_and_parse;

fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let feed = fetch_and_parse("https://example.com/feed.xml")?;
    println!("Fetched {} entries", feed.entries.len());
    Ok(())
}

Tip

Use fetch_and_parse for URL fetching with automatic compression handling (gzip, deflate, brotli).

Node.js

import { parse, fetchAndParse } from 'feedparser-rs';

// Parse from string
const feed = parse('<rss version="2.0">...</rss>');
console.log(feed.version);  // 'rss20'
console.log(feed.feed.title);
console.log(feed.entries.length);

// Fetch from URL
const remoteFeed = await fetchAndParse('https://example.com/feed.xml');

See Node.js API documentation for complete reference.

Python

import feedparser_rs

# Parse from bytes or string
d = feedparser_rs.parse(b'<rss>...</rss>')
print(d.version)       # 'rss20'
print(d.feed.title)
print(d.bozo)          # True if parsing had issues
print(d.entries[0].published_parsed)  # time.struct_time

Note

Python bindings provide time.struct_time for date fields, matching feedparser's API for easy migration.

Cargo Features

Feature	Description	Default
http	Enable URL fetching with reqwest (gzip/deflate/brotli support)	Yes

To disable HTTP support and reduce dependencies:

[dependencies]
feedparser-rs = { version = "0.2", default-features = false }

Workspace Structure

Crate	Description	Package
feedparser-rs	Core Rust parser	crates.io
feedparser-rs-node	Node.js bindings	npm
feedparser-rs-py	Python bindings	PyPI

Development

# Install cargo-make
cargo install cargo-make

# Run all checks (format, lint, test)
cargo make ci-all

# Run tests with coverage
cargo make coverage

# Run benchmarks
cargo make bench

See all available tasks:

cargo make --list-all-steps

Benchmarks

Measured on Apple M1 Pro, parsing real-world RSS feeds:

Feed Size	Time	Throughput
Small (2 KB)	10.7 µs	187 MB/s
Medium (20 KB)	93.6 µs	214 MB/s
Large (200 KB)	939 µs	213 MB/s

Format detection: 128 ns (near-instant)

vs Python feedparser

Operation	feedparser-rs	Python feedparser	Speedup
Parse 20 KB RSS	0.09 ms	8.5 ms	94x
Parse 200 KB RSS	0.94 ms	85 ms	90x

Tip

Run your own benchmarks with cargo bench or compare against Python with cargo make bench-compare.

MSRV Policy

Minimum Supported Rust Version: 1.88.0 (edition 2024).

MSRV increases are considered breaking changes and will result in a minor version bump.

License

Licensed under either of:

• Apache License, Version 2.0
• MIT License

at your option.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide before submitting a pull request.

This project follows the Rust Code of Conduct.