How to build an RSS feed reader in Bubble.io: Step-by-Step Guide

Go to the Data tab and create these Data Types. FeedSource: name (text), url (text), category (text), icon_url (text), owner (User), is_active (yes/no default yes), last_fetched (date). Article: title (text), link (text), description (text), thumbnail (text), pub_date (date), feed_source (FeedSource), content_hash (text). UserArticle: user (User), article (Article), is_read (yes/no default no), is_saved (yes/no default no), read_date (date). The UserArticle type tracks per-user reading state without modifying the shared Article records.

Create a page called manage-feeds. Add an Input for the feed URL, an Input for the feed name, a Dropdown for category (News, Tech, Business, etc.), and an Add Feed button. Create a workflow: When Add Feed is clicked → Create a new FeedSource with the form values and owner = Current User. Below the form, add a Repeating Group showing Do a search for FeedSources where owner = Current User. Each cell displays the feed name, URL, category, and a Delete button. Add edit capability by clicking a cell to populate the form with the existing values.

In the Plugins tab, open the API Connector. Create an API called RSS Parser with a call named Fetch Feed. Set the method to GET and the URL to https://api.rss2json.com/v1/api.json?rss_url=[feed_url]&count=20. Mark feed_url as not Private (so it can be set dynamically). Initialize with a real RSS feed URL. Set Use as to Action so it can be used in backend workflows. After initialization, verify that Bubble recognizes the items array with title, link, description, pubDate, and thumbnail fields.

Create a page called reader. Add a sidebar Group with a list of the user's feed categories and a All Articles option. In the main area, add a Repeating Group for articles. Set the Data source to Do a search for Articles where feed_source's owner = Current User, sorted by pub_date descending. Add constraints based on the selected category. Inside each cell, display the article title, feed source name, pub_date, description snippet (first 150 characters), and thumbnail. Style unread articles with bold titles using a Conditional: When Do a search for UserArticles where article = This Article AND user = Current User AND is_read = no is not empty → font weight bold.

When a user clicks an article title or an Open button, create a workflow: first check if a UserArticle record exists for this user and article. If not, Create a new UserArticle with user = Current User, article = Current cell's Article, is_read = yes, read_date = Current date/time. If it exists, Make changes to it: is_read = yes. Then open the article link in a new tab using Open an external website. Add a Save/Bookmark icon button that toggles is_saved on the UserArticle. Create a Saved Articles page that shows articles where UserArticle's is_saved = yes for the current user.

Create a backend workflow called refresh-all-feeds. Step 1: Search for all active FeedSources (is_active = yes). Step 2: Use Schedule API Workflow on a List to call a second backend workflow refresh-single-feed for each source. In refresh-single-feed: call the RSS Parser Fetch Feed API with the source's URL. For each returned item, check if an Article with the same link already exists. If not, Create a new Article. Update the FeedSource's last_fetched date. Schedule refresh-all-feeds to run recursively every hour. Enable backend workflows in Settings → API tab.