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mcp-feed-reader-crunchtools

mcp-feed-reader-crunchtools

by crunchtools
OverviewSchemaSourceRelated ServersDiscussionsAdmin
Python
Remote

mcp-feed-reader-crunchtools

Secure MCP server for RSS/Atom feed reading with SQLite backend.

Installation

uvx (recommended)

uvx mcp-feed-reader-crunchtools

pip

pip install mcp-feed-reader-crunchtools

Container

podman run -v feedreader-data:/data quay.io/crunchtools/mcp-feed-reader

Related MCP server: @missionsquad/mcp-rss

Configuration

Variable

Default

Description

FEED_READER_DB

~/.local/share/mcp-feed-reader/feeds.db

SQLite database path

HTTP_PROXY / HTTPS_PROXY / NO_PROXY

(none)

Standard httpx proxy variables, honoured for every feed fetch. Useful when a publisher rate-limits your egress IP — Reddit returns 429 to datacentre ranges regardless of User-Agent

Tools (17)

Feed Management

  • add_feed_tool — Add an RSS/Atom feed by URL

  • list_feeds_tool — List all feeds with unread counts

  • get_feed_tool — Get feed details

  • delete_feed_tool — Remove a feed

  • refresh_feeds_tool — Crawl feed sources for new content (slow, prefer systemd timer)

Entry Management

  • list_entries_tool — List entries (filterable, paginated)

  • read_entry_tool — Read full entry content (auto-marks read)

  • mark_read_tool — Mark entries as read

  • mark_unread_tool — Mark entry as unread

  • search_entries_tool — Full-text search (FTS5)

Category Management

  • list_categories_tool — List categories with counts

  • create_category_tool — Create category

  • rename_category_tool — Rename category

  • delete_category_tool — Delete category

Import/Export

  • import_opml_tool — Import from OPML file

  • export_opml_tool — Export as OPML

  • get_stats_tool — Dashboard stats

Background Fetching

Nothing in the server crawls on its own. list_entries_tool and friends read a cache; if no one calls --fetch, that cache goes stale and every reader sees an empty feed with no error anywhere. A deployment without a crawl trigger is a broken deployment — this bit the daily briefing, which reported "no news" for days while all 61 feeds sat unfetched.

# Fetch all feeds via CLI
mcp-feed-reader-crunchtools --fetch

systemd timer (recommended)

deploy/ ships the two units used in production. Copy them to /etc/systemd/system/, adjust the container name in the service if yours differs, then:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now mcp-feeds-refresh.timer

The service runs --fetch inside the running container (podman exec), so the database keeps the SELinux category of the process that owns it. Do not bind-mount the data directory into a second container with :Z to run the crawl — that relabels the volume and locks the live server out.

The timer fires hourly, plus once at 05:45. That second entry is not redundant: consumers window entries on publication time, so an entry published between the last crawl and a 06:00 report is missing from that report and already older than the next day's window start — it is lost for good. Any consumer on a fixed schedule wants a crawl shortly before it.

Feeds are fetched conditionally (ETag / If-Modified-Since). A rate limit, gateway 5xx, or dropped connection is retried with exponential backoff, up to three attempts in all, before the feed is recorded as failed.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later

Available Tools

17 tools
add_feed_toolAdd Feed ToolB

Add an RSS/Atom feed by URL, optionally assign to a category.

Inputs: url (required), category. Returns: object

create_category_toolCreate Category ToolC

Create a new category.

Inputs: name (required). Returns: object

delete_category_toolDelete Category ToolB

Delete a category. Feeds in this category become uncategorized.

Inputs: category_id (required). Returns: result

delete_feed_toolDelete Feed ToolB

Remove a feed and all its entries.

Inputs: feed_id (required). Returns: result

export_opml_toolExport Opml ToolA
Read-only

Export all feeds as OPML XML string.

Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: result

get_feed_toolGet Feed ToolA
Read-only

Get details for a single feed including entry counts.

Inputs: feed_id (required). Returns: object

get_stats_toolGet Stats ToolA
Read-only

Get dashboard stats: total feeds, unread count, entries per category.

Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: object

import_opml_toolImport Opml ToolB

Import feeds from an OPML file, creating categories from outline groups.

Inputs: file_path (required). Returns: result

list_categories_toolList Categories ToolA
Read-only

List all categories with feed counts.

Inputs: no named parameters. Returns: result

list_entries_toolList Entries ToolA
Read-only

List entries with optional filters.

Date-window filters apply to COALESCE(published, created_at), so entries with no publish date still fall in the window by ingest time. Use them to fetch only a trailing period instead of paging through everything.

Inputs: limit, offset, feed_id, since_days, +4 more. Returns: result

list_feeds_toolList Feeds ToolB
Read-only

List all feeds with unread counts.

Inputs: category_id. Returns: result

mark_read_toolMark Read ToolC

Mark entries as read.

Inputs: feed_id, entry_id, all_entries. Returns: result

mark_unread_toolMark Unread ToolC

Mark an entry as unread.

Inputs: entry_id (required). Returns: result

read_entry_toolRead Entry ToolA

Get full content of an entry (auto-marks as read).

Inputs: entry_id (required). Returns: object

refresh_feeds_toolRefresh Feeds ToolA

Crawl feed sources over the network for new content. Slow — takes 30-60s for all feeds.

Prefer the systemd timer for background updates. Use list_entries to read cached content.

Inputs: feed_id. Returns: result

rename_category_toolRename Category ToolC

Rename a category.

Inputs: name (required), category_id (required). Returns: object

search_entries_toolSearch Entries ToolB
Read-only

Full-text search across entry titles and content.

Inputs: query (required), limit. Returns: result

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Loading tool schema changelog…

    Deploy Server
    One endpoint for every MCP toolRayrun runs every MCP server behind one URL and holds the credentials. Each call is decided per client, tool, and argument, then recorded.ray.runAd

    TDQS

    B3.4/5.0

    Scored across 17 tools

    Disambiguation4/5

    Most tools target distinct resources and actions (feeds, entries, categories each have clear verbs). Minor overlap exists between read_entry_tool (which auto-marks as read) and mark_read_tool, and between list_entries_tool and search_entries_tool, but the descriptions clarify the boundaries well enough.

    Naming Consistency5/5

    Every tool follows a consistent snake_case verb_noun_tool pattern (list_feeds_tool, add_feed_tool, delete_category_tool, etc.). The convention is uniform across all 17 tools with no style mixing.

    Tool Count4/5

    17 tools is slightly above the ideal range but each earns its place across three resource domains (feeds, entries, categories) plus OPML import/export and refresh. No redundant or filler tools are present.

    Completeness4/5

    Core lifecycle is well covered: feeds (list/get/add/delete/refresh/OPML), entries (list/search/read/mark read/unread), and categories (list/create/rename/delete). Gaps include updating an existing feed (rename or move category) and bulk mark-all-read, but these are minor workarounds.

    Maintenance

    ActivityActive
    ResponsivenessNo recent community issues

    Resources

    Related MCP Connectors

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