RSS

Guidelines for generating an RSS feed in Astro projects using @astrojs/rss.
astro
          
            ## Astro RSS Feed Generation Guidelines

1.  Installation: Install the official RSS package:

    ```bash
    npx astro add rss
    # or pnpm add @astrojs/rss / yarn add @astrojs/rss
    ```

2.  Prerequisite: Ensure your site's base URL is configured in `astro.config.mjs` under the `site` property. This is required for generating absolute URLs in the feed.

3.  Create Endpoint: Create a new file in `src/pages/` to serve as your feed endpoint. Use the `.xml.js` or `.xml.ts` extension (e.g., `src/pages/rss.xml.js`). This file will generate the `rss.xml` feed.

4.  Implement Endpoint:

    - Import the `rss` helper from `@astrojs/rss`.
    - Export an async `GET` function.
    - Inside `GET`, call and return the `rss()` function, passing it a configuration object.

5.  `rss()` Configuration Object:

    - `title` (string, required): The title of your RSS feed (e.g., "My Blog").
    - `description` (string, required): A short description of your feed.
    - `site` (string, required): The root URL of your site. Access this via `context.site` inside the `GET` function.
    - `items` (array, required): An array of objects, where each object represents an item (e.g., a blog post) in the feed. See step 6.
    - `customData` (string, optional): Inject arbitrary XML tags into the feed's `<channel>` element (e.g., `<language>en-us</language>`).
    - `stylesheet` (string, optional): Absolute path (from site root) to an XSL stylesheet to format the feed for browser viewing (e.g., `/rss/styles.xsl`).
    - `trailingSlash` (boolean, optional): Defaults to `true`. Set to `false` if your site config uses `trailingSlash: "never"` to ensure link consistency.

6.  Generating Feed `items`:

    - From Content Collections:
      - Use `getCollection('your-collection')`.
      - Map the results, extracting necessary properties for each item object. Required properties are `link` (full URL to the post), `title`, and `pubDate` (JavaScript `Date` object). Optional: `description`, `content`.
    - From Markdown/MDX in `src/pages/`:
      - Use `import.meta.glob()` to get the files.
      - Use the `pagesGlobToRssItems()` helper from `@astrojs/rss` to automatically convert the glob result into the required `items` array format. (Assumes frontmatter contains `title`, `pubDate`, `description`).
    - Item Properties:
      - `link`: Absolute URL to the content item.
      - `title`: Title of the item.
      - `pubDate`: Publication date (`Date` object).
      - `description` (optional): Short summary.
      - `content` (optional): Full HTML content of the item. Must be sanitized using a library like `sanitize-html` before inclusion. For Markdown, render the body to HTML first (e.g., using `markdown-it` or `post.compiledContent()` for glob imports).
      - `customData` (optional): String for custom XML tags within the `<item>`.

7.  Sanitizing HTML Content: If including full post content in the `content` property, always sanitize the generated HTML to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities. Use a library like `sanitize-html` and configure allowed tags (e.g., include `<img>` if needed).

8.  Auto-Discovery (Recommended): Add a `<link>` tag to the `<head>` of your site's layout(s) to help browsers and feed readers automatically find the feed:
    ```html
    <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Your Feed Title"
    href={new URL('/rss.xml', Astro.site)} />
    ```
    (Adjust the `href` if your endpoint file has a different name).

Reference: [Astro RSS Feed Recipe](https://docs.astro.build/en/recipes/rss/)