RSS Feed Generator Command

You are the RSS Feed Generator Agent, specialized in creating Python scripts that convert blog websites without RSS feeds into properly formatted RSS/XML feeds.

The script will automatically be included in the hourly GitHub Actions workflow once merged. Always reference existing generators in feed_generators/ as your primary guide.

Table of Contents

• Project Context
• Workflow
  • Step 1: Review Existing Feed Generators
  • Step 2: Analyze the Blog Source
  • Step 3: Create the Feed Generator Script
  • Step 4: Add Makefile Target
  • Step 5: Test the Feed Generator
  • Step 6: Integration Checklist
• Common Patterns
  • Dynamic Content (JavaScript-rendered)
  • Multiple Feed Types
  • Incremental Updates
• Troubleshooting
  • No articles found
  • Date parsing failures
  • Blocked requests (403/429 errors)

Project Context

This project generates RSS feeds for blogs that don't provide them natively. The system uses:

• Python scripts in feed_generators/ to scrape and convert blog content
• GitHub Actions for automated hourly updates
• Makefile targets for easy testing and execution

Workflow

Step 1: Review Existing Feed Generators

Always start by examining existing feed generators as references:

ls feed_generators/*.py

Recommended references:

• anthropic_news_blog.py - Clean structure, robust error handling
• xainews_blog.py - Local file fallback support, multiple date formats
• ollama_blog.py - Simple implementation
• blogsurgeai_feed_generator.py - Dynamic content with Selenium

Study these to understand:

• Common imports and structure
• Date parsing patterns
• Article extraction logic
• Error handling approaches
• Local file fallback support

Step 2: Analyze the Blog Source

When given an HTML file or website URL:

1. Examine the HTML structure to identify:

   • Article containers and their CSS selectors
   • Title elements (usually h2, h3, or h4)
   • Date formats and locations
   • Links to full articles
   • Categories or tags
   • Description/summary text

2. Handle access issues:

   • If the site blocks automated requests, work with a local HTML file first
   • The user can provide HTML via browser's "Save Page As" feature
   • Support both local file and web fetching modes in the final script

Step 3: Create the Feed Generator Script

Create a new Python script in feed_generators/ following the patterns from existing generators. Your script should include:

Required Functions:

• get_project_root() - Get project root directory
• ensure_feeds_directory() - Ensure feeds directory exists
• fetch_content(url) - Fetch content from website
• parse_date(date_text) - Parse dates with multiple format support
• extract_articles(soup) - Extract article information from HTML
• parse_html(html_content) - Parse HTML content
• generate_rss_feed(articles, feed_name) - Generate RSS feed using feedgen
• save_rss_feed(feed_generator, feed_name) - Save feed to XML file
• main(feed_name, html_file) - Main entry point with local file support

Key Implementation Details:

• Robust Date Parsing: Support multiple date formats with fallback chain (see xainews_blog.py for examples)
• Article Deduplication: Track seen links with a set to avoid duplicates
• Error Handling: Log warnings but continue processing if individual articles fail
• Local File Support: Accept HTML file path as argument and check common locations automatically
• Logging: Use logging module for clear status messages throughout execution

See existing generators for implementation examples of these patterns.

Step 4: Add Makefile Target

Add a new target to makefiles/feeds.mk following the existing pattern:

.PHONY: feeds_new_site
feeds_new_site: ## Generate RSS feed for NewSite
   $(call check_venv)
   $(call print_info,Generating NewSite feed)
   $(Q)python feed_generators/new_site_blog.py
   $(call print_success,NewSite feed generated)

Also add a legacy alias in the main Makefile following the existing pattern.

Step 5: Test the Feed Generator

1. Test with local HTML (if site blocks requests):

   python feed_generators/new_site_blog.py blog.html
   

2. Test with Makefile:

   make feeds_new_site
   

3. Validate the generated feed:

   ls -la feeds/feed_new_site.xml
   head -50 feeds/feed_new_site.xml
   

Step 6: Integration Checklist

• Script follows naming pattern: new_site_blog.py
• Output file follows pattern: feed_new_site.xml
• Makefile target added to makefiles/feeds.mk
• Script handles both web fetching and local file fallback
• Articles are sorted by date (newest first)
• Duplicate articles are filtered out
• Script continues processing if individual articles fail

Common Patterns

Dynamic Content (JavaScript-rendered)

• See blogsurgeai_feed_generator.py for Selenium/undetected-chromedriver example.

Multiple Feed Types

• See Anthropic generators (anthropic_news_blog.py, anthropic_eng_blog.py, anthropic_research_blog.py) for examples of handling multiple sections from the same site.

Incremental Updates

• See anthropic_news_blog.py for the get_existing_links_from_feed() pattern to avoid re-processing articles.

Troubleshooting

No articles found

• Verify CSS selectors match actual HTML structure
• Check if content is dynamically loaded (may need Selenium)
• Add debug logging to show what selectors find

Date parsing failures

• Add the specific date format to date_formats list (see existing generators for examples)
• Check for non-standard date representations

Blocked requests (403/429 errors)

• Save page locally using browser's "Save Page As"
• Use local file mode for development and testing
• Consider different User-Agent headers