feedparser-rs

High-performance RSS/Atom/JSON Feed parser written in Rust, with Python and Node.js bindings. A drop-in replacement for Python feedparser that is 90-100x faster.

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 the bozo flag pattern, propagated at both feed and entry level
• HTTP fetching -- Built-in URL fetching with compression (gzip, deflate, brotli) and conditional GET (ETag/Last-Modified)
• Podcast support -- iTunes and Podcast 2.0 namespace extensions
• Security -- DoS protection via ParserLimits, SSRF protection, input size validation
• Multi-language bindings -- Native Python (PyO3) and Node.js (napi-rs) bindings
• feedparser drop-in -- Dict-style access, field aliases, same API patterns as Python feedparser

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 (media:content, media:thumbnail, media:title, media:description, media:credit, media:copyright, media:rating, media:keywords)
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
Slash	Comment count (slash:comments)
WFW	Comment feed URL (wfw:commentRss)
Atom Threading (thr:)	In-reply-to, reply count, reply datetime (RFC 4685)

Installation

Rust

cargo add feedparser-rs

Or add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
feedparser-rs = "0.5"

Important

Requires Rust 1.88.0 or later (edition 2024).

Python

pip install feedparser-rs

Note

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Node.js

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

Note

Requires Node.js 18 or later.

Usage

Rust

use feedparser_rs::parse;fnmain() -> 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::parse_url;fnmain() -> Result<(),Box<dyn std::error::Error>>{let feed = parse_url("https://example.com/feed.xml",None,None,None)?;println!("Fetched {} entries", feed.entries.len());Ok(())}

Tip

Use parse_url for URL fetching with automatic compression handling (gzip, deflate, brotli) and conditional GET via the etag/modified parameters.

Python

importfeedparser_rsasfeedparser# Drop-in replacement# Parse from bytes, string, or URL (auto-detected)d=feedparser.parse(b'<rss>...</rss>')
d=feedparser.parse('https://example.com/feed.xml') # URL auto-detected# Attribute-style accessprint(d.version) # 'rss20'print(d.feed.title)
print(d.bozo) # True if parsing had issues# Dict-style access (feedparser-compatible)print(d['feed']['title'])
print(d['entries'][0]['link'])
# Deprecated field aliases workprint(d.feed.description) # -> d.feed.subtitleprint(d.channel.title) # -> d.feed.title

Note

Python bindings provide full feedparser compatibility: dict-style access, field aliases, and time.struct_time for date fields.

Node.js

import{parse,parseUrl}from'feedparser-rs';// Parse from stringconstfeed=parse('<rss version="2.0">...</rss>');console.log(feed.version);// 'rss20'console.log(feed.feed.title);console.log(feed.entries.length);// Fetch from URL (synchronous)constremoteFeed=parseUrl('https://example.com/feed.xml');

See Node.js API documentation for complete reference.

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 = "0.5", 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 us	187 MB/s
Medium (20 KB)	93.6 us	214 MB/s
Large (200 KB)	939 us	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.