Problem in node ‘RSS Read‘

First time n8n user here, running into an issue with the RSS Read node.

Here’s my current setup:

  • The first node reads a Google Sheet that has one column with RSS feed URLs
  • The second node is then the RSS Read node that should read each of these RSS feeds

Instead, I’m getting the following error message:

However, I tried adding each RSS feed individually in the URL field, including copying & pasting the one that’s shown in the image above with the error message, and they all work as they should.

Just in case, here’s the full error code:
image

tem Index

2

Node type

n8n-nodes-base.rssFeedRead

Node version

1.1 (Latest)

n8n version

1.72.1 (Cloud)

Time

1/7/2025, 12:06:05 AM

Stack trace

NodeOperationError: Non-whitespace before first tag. Line: 0 Column: 1 Char:  at ExecuteContext.execute (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-nodes-base/dist/nodes/RssFeedRead/RssFeedRead.node.js:106:27) at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5) at Workflow.runNode (/usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-workflow/dist/Workflow.js:741:19) at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/WorkflowExecute.js:724:51 at /usr/local/lib/node_modules/n8n/node_modules/n8n-core/dist/WorkflowExecute.js:1155:20

And the pasted node:

It looks like your topic is missing some important information. Could you provide the following if applicable.

  • n8n version:
  • Database (default: SQLite):
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
  • Operating system:

I’m using the Cloud version, which must be the latest as I just signed up a few minutes ago - no idea yet where to find all the other n8n-related info :see_no_evil:

Hey @DennisPascal,

Welcome to the community :raised_hands:

It looks like the error is coming from the 3rd item in your Google Sheet, I suspect the XML data being returned is invalid. Can you share what the first 5 urls are in your google sheet so we can test them?

For now to work around this the best option would be to set the RSS Node to use the error output branch that way you can continue with the rest of the workflow and see which urls are failing.

1 Like

Thanks so much - I double-checked every single item again and it looks like one of the feeds didn’t function correctly!

I’m happy to report back that removing this one resolved the issue :slight_smile:

Follow up question if I may:

  • I want to retrieve new items from a number of RSS feeds, every X hours
  • Setting a trigger to run every X hours, then pulling the feed URLs from the Google Sheet, and then using the RSS read seems to be the most elegant solution (with the fewest nodes/ triggers used)
  • However, using the RSS Feed Trigger, one for each RSS Feed, seems to be the more robust one (especially since it’s already build in to check only for new items)

Do I assume correctly that the second version with the RSS Feed Trigger would actually be the better version? (since I could then all link them to the same next node…)

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.