Rss Api Watcher

The problem

Polling RSS feeds or JSON APIs often results in duplicate notifications or redundant data processing when a service restarts or feeds reorder items. Developers struggle to maintain state between polling intervals without building custom database logic.

What it does

• Tracks last-seen item identifiers using a local state file to prevent duplicate processing.
• Supports RSS feeds, GitHub release APIs, and generic JSON endpoints.
• Performs atomic watermark updates to ensure data integrity even if a process crashes.
• Generates structured Markdown reports summarizing changes over a specific timeframe.
• Triggers webhooks or email notifications only for genuinely new entries.

Frameworks & tools

Python, YAML configuration, JSON pointers, and standard webhooks.

Why this beats prompting it yourself

Writing a reliable deduplication engine requires handling atomic file writes, ID extraction logic, and state management. This skill provides a tested, CLI-driven workflow that handles the edge cases of backfilling and state resets out of the box.

Use cases

• Monitor GitHub releases for multiple dependencies to trigger CI/CD pipelines.
• Aggregate technical blog feeds into a daily Markdown summary for team review.
• Send Slack alerts via webhooks for specific API changes without spamming the channel.
• Audit historical changes across various sources using the structured reporting tool.

Known limitations

Not suitable for real-time push requirements or sources lacking stable item IDs. Polling frequency should remain above 60 seconds to avoid rate limiting.