This guide explains how to configure and use the RSS Polling plugin to automatically import content from RSS/ATOM feeds into your Discourse site as topics.
Required user level: Administrator
Summary
This documentation will cover enabling the RSS Polling plugin, configuring feed URLs, managing settings, and troubleshooting common issues. You’ll learn how to set up feeds to post to specific categories, assign authors, and control how content appears on your site.
Enable the RSS Polling plugin
Self-hosted sites
Navigate to your admin panel at Admin > Plugins panel and locate the RSS Polling plugin. Enable it using the toggle switch:
Hosted by Discourse
If your site is hosted by Discourse, contact the support team to request activation of the RSS Polling plugin. The plugin is available on all hosted plans.
Configure RSS feeds
Once the plugin is enabled, access the RSS Polling configuration page by visiting Admin > Plugin > RSS Polling panel directly, or by navigating to /admin/plugins and selecting “RSS Polling” from the sidebar menu.
Add a new RSS feed
- Enter the RSS or ATOM feed URL in the “Feed URL” field
- Select an existing user from your site as the “Author” - this user will own all posts created from the feed
- Choose a Discourse category where the feed’s topics will be published
- Click the
save button.
Optional: Add tags that will be applied to all topics from this feed and/or enter a feed category filter to limit which feed items get imported
Feed category filter
The feed category filter setting allows you to limit which feed items get published based on the item’s category metadata. When you enter a category term in this field, only feed items matching that specific category will be imported into Discourse.
For example, if you examine the feed at https://blog.discourse.org/feed.xml, you’ll see that each entry has category information. You would enter the value of the category’s term property to filter for specific categories.
Configure polling frequency
The rss polling frequency site setting controls how often Discourse checks RSS feeds for new content. The default value is 30 minutes, with a minimum allowed value of 10 minutes and maximum of 180 minutes (3 hours).
Self-hosted sites
To adjust the polling frequency:
- Go to
/admin/site_settings - Search for “rss polling frequency”
- Set your desired interval in minutes
Hosted sites
Contact the support team to request an adjustment to the rss_polling_frequency site setting.
Manage feed settings
Change feed author
You can change the author of all topics associated with a specific RSS feed by updating the “Author” field on the RSS Polling settings page. This will automatically update all existing topics from that feed with the new author. These changes appear as system post edit events in your admin logs.
Change feed category or tags
Changing the category or tags of an RSS feed URL will not automatically update existing topics. You’ll need to:
- Use Administrative Bulk Operations to manually move existing topics to the new category or update tags
- Update the RSS feed settings so new topics use the correct category and tags
Feed URL limitations
Each unique RSS feed URL will only be imported once into Discourse. When you first configure an RSS feed, Discourse imports the entire feed. Deleting and re-adding the same feed URL will not cause re-import of previously processed items.
Control topic visibility
Prevent topics from being unlisted
By default, embedded topics are unlisted until they receive a reply. This behavior doesn’t make sense for RSS-imported topics. To prevent RSS topics from being unlisted:
- Go to
/admin/site_settings - Search for “embed unlisted”
- Disable this setting
Show full post content
If the embed truncate site setting is enabled (default), feed topics will only display an excerpt. Users can view the full content by clicking the “Show Full Post” button.
To always show full content:
- Go to Admin > Site Settings
- Search for “embed truncate”
- Disable this setting
If full post content isn’t displaying correctly, configure the embed whitelist selector site setting to specify which HTML elements should be imported.
Common issues and solutions
Feed not updating
Check that:
- The RSS feed URL is valid and accessible
- The polling frequency hasn’t been set too high
- There are actually new items in the RSS feed since the last poll
Plugin interface not responding
Some users report issues with the RSS Polling configuration interface not responding. This is often caused by browser ad-blockers interfering with the admin interface. Try:
- Disabling ad-blockers for your Discourse site
- Using a different browser
- Hard refreshing the page
Topics creating with wrong dates
By default, RSS topics use the current date when imported. If you want to use the original publication date from the RSS feed, enable the rss polling use pubdate setting.
FAQ
How often can I poll RSS feeds?
The minimum polling frequency is 10 minutes, maximum is 180 minutes (3 hours).
Can I import replies from RSS feeds?
No, the RSS Polling plugin only imports the main feed items as individual topics. It doesn’t import comments or replies.
Will deleting and re-adding a feed cause duplicate topics?
No, each RSS feed item is only imported once. Re-adding a feed will not create duplicates.
How do I debug RSS polling issues?
Currently, the plugin has limited logging. Check your Discourse logs at Admins > Security > Logs panel for any error messages related to RSS polling.
Additional resources
- Configuring allowed embed selectors
- Administrative Bulk Operations
- Embed Discourse comments on another website via Javascript
Last edited by @jessii 2025-07-02T19:03:53Z
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