# Setting up a feed

Add an RSS or Atom feed, choose the audience and schedule, preview the email, and send.

## Add a feed

1. Go to **Messaging → RSS to email** and click **Add a feed**.
2. Give it a name (internal), paste the feed URL — usually `https://yoursite.com/rss.xml`,
  `/feed` or `/atom.xml` — and choose the audience and schedule.
3. Click **Add feed**. SendBeam fetches and reads the feed there and then: you see how many
  posts it holds and the newest title, and a URL that is not a working feed is refused with the reason
  (a web page rather than a feed, an HTTP error, a feed over 2 MB). You then land on the feed's page;
  press **Preview** to see the email it would send right now.

The feed must be public over `http(s)` and under 2 MB. Both RSS 2.0 and Atom are read; the
feed's own title becomes the email heading in the built-in layout. Changing the URL later checks it
the same way before it is saved.

## Settings

- **Send to** — all subscribed contacts, a list or a segment, like any campaign.
- **Design** — the built-in digest layout, or one of your templates that contains the
  *Latest posts* block.
- **Subject** — `{{item_title}}` (the newest post) by default;
  `{{feed_title}}` and `{{item_count}}` are also available.
- **Intro** — one line shown above the posts in the built-in layout.
- **How often** — as posts appear (checked every 15 minutes), daily or weekly, with the
  hour (UTC) and weekday.
- **Posts per email** — the most posts in one email, 1–10. Anything beyond that waits for the
  next send.

The sender is the workspace's [sender details](https://sendbeam.io/docs/getting-started/sending-domain), the same as every campaign.

## Preview and test

**Preview** fetches the feed now and renders the email as it would go out, telling you how
many posts are in the feed and how many are new since the last send. It changes nothing.
**Send now** sends the new posts immediately. Its other button,
**Resend latest posts…**, does not send by itself: it asks once more, then emails the newest
posts even if they went out before — useful to see a real send in your inbox.

## From the API

Feeds are ordinary resources: `GET/POST /api/v1/rss-feeds`,
`GET/PATCH/DELETE /api/v1/rss-feeds/{id}`, `POST …/preview` and
`POST …/run` (body `{"force": true}` to send the latest even when nothing is new).
Campaigns created by a feed carry `rss_feed_id`. See the [API reference](https://sendbeam.io/docs/api).

## Troubleshooting

- **"That URL is not an RSS or Atom feed"** — the address answered, but with a web page rather
  than a feed. Look for the feed link in the site's `` or try `/rss.xml`,
  `/feed`, `/atom.xml`.
- **"The feed answered HTTP 403"** — the site blocks automated fetches; allow the
  `SendBeam RSS` user agent.
- **Nothing was sent at the scheduled hour** — there was nothing new, or sending is paused for
  the workspace. The feed's page shows the last check and any error.
- **Posts look wrong** — summaries come from the feed's `description` /
  `summary`; if the feed only has full content, the first 320 characters are used.

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Source: https://sendbeam.io/docs/rss/setup