Building Static Sites with RSS Feeds

Create static websites that support RSS/Atom feeds for content syndication, allowing readers to subscribe via feed readers.

Use this skill when implementing RSS feeds in static sites, choosing feed formats, setting up autodiscovery, or generating feeds from content.

Supporting files: SPECIFICATION.md for feed format details, IMPLEMENTATION.md for code examples.

Quick Start

Add feed support to a static site:

1. Choose format: RSS 2.0 (most compatible) or Atom 1.0 (more features)
2. Generate feed XML: From content metadata (title, date, description)
3. Add autodiscovery: Link tag in HTML head
4. Validate: Use W3C Feed Validator

Feed Format Selection

Recommendation: Use RSS 2.0 for broad compatibility. Add Atom if you need internationalization.

Minimal RSS 2.0 Structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Site Title</title>
    <link>https://example.com</link>
    <description>Site description</description>
    <lastBuildDate>Sat, 01 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000</lastBuildDate>

    <item>
      <title>Article Title</title>
      <link>https://example.com/article</link>
      <description>Article summary or full content</description>
      <guid isPermaLink="true">https://example.com/article</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 31 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

HTML Autodiscovery

Add to <head> of every page:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml"
      title="RSS Feed" href="https://example.com/feed.xml">

For Atom:

<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml"
      title="Atom Feed" href="https://example.com/atom.xml">

Go Implementation

Using gorilla/feeds library:

import "github.com/gorilla/feeds"

feed := &feeds.Feed{
    Title:       "Site Title",
    Link:        &feeds.Link{Href: "https://example.com"},
    Description: "Site description",
    Updated:     time.Now(),
}

feed.Items = []*feeds.Item{
    {
        Title:       "Article Title",
        Link:        &feeds.Link{Href: "https://example.com/article"},
        Description: "Article content",
        Id:          "https://example.com/article",
        Created:     time.Now(),
    },
}

rss, _ := feed.ToRss()    // RSS 2.0
atom, _ := feed.ToAtom()  // Atom 1.0
json, _ := feed.ToJSON()  // JSON Feed

Best Practices

Content

• Full content: Include complete articles, not just excerpts
• Absolute URLs: All links must be absolute (https://...)
• Unique GUIDs: Use permalink URLs as identifiers

Performance

• Keep under 150KB: Some readers have size limits
• Limit items: 10-20 recent items is typical
• Support caching: Return ETag and Last-Modified headers

Dates

• RSS 2.0: RFC 822 format (Sat, 01 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0000)
• Atom: RFC 3339 format (2026-02-01T12:00:00Z)

Hugo Integration

Hugo generates RSS automatically at /index.xml. Customize:

layouts/_default/rss.xml

Add autodiscovery in layouts/partials/head.html:

{{ with .OutputFormats.Get "RSS" }}
<link rel="alternate" type="{{ .MediaType }}" href="{{ .Permalink }}" title="{{ $.Site.Title }}">
{{ end }}

Validation

Always validate feeds before deployment:

• W3C Validator: https://validator.w3.org/feed/
• Feed Validator: https://www.feedvalidator.org/

Common errors:

• Relative URLs (must be absolute)
• Invalid date formats
• Missing required elements
• Encoding issues with special characters

Checklist

• Feed generates valid XML/JSON
• All URLs are absolute
• Dates use correct format (RFC 822 for RSS, RFC 3339 for Atom)
• GUIDs are unique and stable
• Autodiscovery link in HTML head
• Feed validates with W3C validator
• Content encoding is UTF-8

Resources

• RSS 2.0 Specification
• Atom 1.0 RFC 4287
• JSON Feed Spec
• RSS Best Practices