Feed Monitor

What is a feed monitor?

A feed monitor tracks RSS and Atom web feeds, automatically alerting you when new content is published from online sources.

Supported HTTP methods

• GET — Retrieves data from a resource (most common for feed monitoring). Distill uses GET requests to fetch the latest feed content
• POST — Creates a new feed
• PUT — Replaces an existing feed
• PATCH — Partially modifies a feed
• DELETE — Removes a feed

Note: POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE are rarely needed for monitoring feeds.

Set up a feed monitor

1. Open the Watchlist at https://monitor.distill.io or in your browser extension

2. Click Add Monitor → Feed

3. Enter the feed URL. Add HTTP request parameters, headers, or body content using Add Query Param if needed

4. Click GO to send the request

5. Once the feed loads, click Select

6. Configure check interval, alert actions, and conditions on the Options page

7. Click Save to add the feed monitor to your watchlist

Video tutorial

Find a feed URL

Look for RSS icons

Many websites display an orange RSS icon. Click it to view or copy the feed URL.

Try common URL patterns

Add /feed, /rss, or /atom to the end of the website’s URL. Many blogs and sites use these conventions.

View page source

1. Right-click the page and select View Page Source
2. Search for keywords: “feed”, “RSS”, or “Atom”
3. Copy the URL from the href attribute

Related monitors

• JSON feeds — Use JSON monitor
• Other XML files — Use XML monitor

Need help? Visit the Distill forum to explore discussions or ask questions.