What is the best way to handle "Last time checked"?

Hey @JulienDelRio, using the static workflow data is the currently recommended way, check out this blog post for more details.

If you’re looking for a more convenient/transparent way of handling things I’d suggest using a database to avoid the deduplication of RSS items as per your example. Here’s an example workflow using Grist:

For more convenience you could also consider spinning up a docker container running Miniflux which comes with a decent API letting you fetch unread items quite easily (here’s a basic example workflow connecting to the Miniflux API).