RSS Spec & Linter Docs

Interactive specification documentation with live linting for RSS, Atom, and JSON Feed formats.

RSS 2.0 Specification

Overview

RSS 2.0 is a format for syndicating news and the content of news-like sites. The format is specified by RSS 2.0 Specification.

Required Elements

  • <title> - The name of the channel
  • <link> - The URL to the HTML website
  • <description> - Phrase or sentence describing the channel
  • <item> - Contains item elements

Item Elements

  • <title> - Title of the item
  • <link> - URL of the item
  • <description> - Item synopsis
  • <pubDate> - Publication date (RFC 822 format)
  • <guid> - Unique identifier
  • <author> - Email address of the author

Best Practices

  • Always include a valid <link> element
  • Use <guid> for item uniqueness
  • Include <pubDate> in RFC 822 format
  • Keep descriptions concise (recommended: under 500 characters)
  • Validate your feed before publishing