The Old Reader API

News / API Key Intermediate HTTPS

Varies by plan (check documentation)

77 Score

Grade B

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Overview

The Old Reader API provides programmatic access to The Old Reader, a classic RSS feed reader service. It allows developers to manage subscriptions, fetch unread articles, and mark items as read on behalf of authenticated users. It is useful for building custom RSS reader interfaces or automation workflows around your feed subscriptions.

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Beginner Tip

You need to authenticate using your The Old Reader account credentials to obtain a token, then pass that token in an Authorization header for subsequent requests. Start with the /reader/api/0/subscription/list endpoint to list your subscribed feeds.

Available Data

Use case: Integrate rss reader data into web and mobile applications

The Old Reader data via REST API

JSON-formatted response data

Requires API key authentication

Example Response

JSON Response

{
  "status": "success",
  "data": {
    "result": "Data from The Old Reader",
    "description": "RSS reader",
    "timestamp": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z"
  }
}

Field Reference

subscriptions[].id Unique feed identifier used to reference this subscription in other API calls

subscriptions[].title Display name of the subscribed RSS feed

subscriptions[].url RSS feed URL that The Old Reader is polling

subscriptions[].htmlUrl Website URL associated with the RSS feed

subscriptions[].unread_count Number of unread articles in this subscription

Implementation Example

// ⚠️ Note: This URL may be a documentation page. Check official docs for actual API endpoint.
const url = "https://github.com/theoldreader/api";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);