RSS Feeds

Memos provides built-in RSS feed generation for public content, allowing users to subscribe to memos using any RSS reader.

Available Feeds

Memos automatically generates RSS feeds for public content:

Explore Feed

Public memos from all users on the instance:

https://your-memos.com/explore/rss.xml

User Feed

Public memos from a specific user:

https://your-memos.com/u/{username}/rss.xml

Only memos with PUBLIC visibility are included in RSS feeds. Private and protected memos are automatically excluded.

Feed Format

Memos generates RSS 2.0 compliant feeds using the gorilla/feeds library.

Feed Structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">
  <channel>
    <title>Memos</title>
    <link>https://your-memos.com</link>
    <description>An open source, lightweight note-taking service.</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <pubDate>Fri, 28 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
    
    <item>
      <title>My First Memo</title>
      <link>https://your-memos.com/memos/abc123</link>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;This is my memo content&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded>&lt;p&gt;This is my memo content&lt;/p&gt;</content:encoded>
      <author>[email protected] (John Doe)</author>
      <guid>https://your-memos.com/memos/abc123</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
      <enclosure url="https://your-memos.com/file/attachments/xyz789/image.jpg" 
                 length="102400" 
                 type="image/jpeg" />
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Feed Item Details

Title Generation

Memos automatically generates item titles from memo content:

Extracts the first line of the memo
Removes markdown heading syntax (#, ##, etc.)
Truncates to 100 characters at word boundary
Adds ellipsis (...) if truncated
Falls back to “Memo” if empty

Examples:

Memo Content	Generated Title
`# Hello World\n\nThis is content`	`Hello World`
`This is a memo`	`This is a memo`
`A very long title that exceeds one hundred characters and needs to be truncated...`	`A very long title that exceeds one hundred characters and needs to be truncated...`
(empty)	`Memo`

Content Rendering

Memo content is rendered as HTML using the markdown service:

Markdown is converted to HTML
Both <description> and <content:encoded> contain the full HTML
Inline styles and formatting are preserved
Code blocks are rendered with proper formatting

Author Information

Each feed item includes author details:

<author>[email protected] (Display Name)</author>

Uses the user’s display name or username as fallback
Includes email address if available
In explore feeds, each item shows its respective author
In user feeds, all items share the same author

Attachments as Enclosures

The first attachment of a memo is included as an RSS enclosure:

<enclosure url="https://your-memos.com/file/attachments/xyz789/image.jpg" 
           length="102400" 
           type="image/jpeg" />

Enclosure URL by storage type:

Local storage: {baseURL}/file/attachments/{uid}/{filename}
External storage: Direct reference URL
S3 storage: Direct reference URL (presigned if configured)

Only the first attachment is included in the RSS enclosure. To access all attachments, users must visit the memo’s web page.

Caching and Performance

Server-Side Caching

RSS feeds are cached to improve performance:

Cache duration: 1 hour (3600 seconds)
Maximum cache size: 50 feeds
Eviction policy: Least Recently Used (LRU)
Cache keys: explore and user:{username}

HTTP Caching Headers

Feeds include standard HTTP caching headers:

Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8
Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600
ETag: "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8"
Last-Modified: Fri, 28 Feb 2026 10:00:00 GMT

Conditional Requests

RSS readers can use If-None-Match for efficient polling: Request:

GET /explore/rss.xml HTTP/1.1
Host: your-memos.com
If-None-Match: "a1b2c3d4e5f6g7h8"

Response (if unchanged):

HTTP/1.1 304 Not Modified

Response (if changed):

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
ETag: "b2c3d4e5f6g7h8i9"
Content-Type: application/rss+xml; charset=utf-8

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
...

Feed Limits

To maintain performance and reasonable feed sizes:

Maximum items per feed: 100 memos
Ordering: Most recently updated first
Visibility: Only PUBLIC memos are included
Status: Only NORMAL (non-archived) memos are included

Custom Feed Configuration

Feed metadata can be customized via instance settings:

# Default feed information
Title: "Memos"
Description: "An open source, lightweight note-taking service. Easily capture and share your great thoughts."
Language: "en-us"

To customize via the API:

curl -X PATCH https://your-memos.com/api/v1/instance/settings \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "customProfile": {
      "title": "My Memos Instance",
      "description": "Personal knowledge base and notes"
    }
  }'

These settings affect the <title> and <description> elements in the RSS channel.

Using curl

curl https://your-memos.com/u/steven/rss.xml

Using RSS Readers

Feedly, Inoreader, NewsBlur, etc.:

Copy the feed URL: https://your-memos.com/u/steven/rss.xml
Add to your RSS reader
The reader will poll the feed periodically for updates

Self-hosted readers (Miniflux, FreshRSS, etc.): Add the feed URL to your reader’s subscription list.

Implementation Details

Feed Generation Process

Source: server/router/rss/rss.go

Fetch memos: Query database for public memos (max 100)
Batch load resources: Fetch all attachments and creators in bulk to avoid N+1 queries
Generate items: Convert each memo to RSS item with title, content, author
Add enclosures: Include first attachment as enclosure
Render XML: Use gorilla/feeds to generate RSS 2.0 XML
Cache result: Store in memory cache with ETag
Return response: Send with cache headers

Performance Optimizations

Batch loading of attachments prevents N+1 query problems
Batch loading of user information reduces database round-trips
In-memory caching reduces repeated rendering
ETag support allows RSS readers to skip unchanged feeds
Cache-Control headers enable CDN and browser caching

Use Cases

Personal Knowledge Garden

Share your public notes with others:

https://your-memos.com/u/yourname/rss.xml

Subscribers can follow your thoughts and learnings in their RSS reader.

Team Blog

Use the explore feed for a team blog:

https://team-memos.com/explore/rss.xml

Anyone can subscribe to stay updated with team notes and announcements.

Read-it-Later Integration

Connect RSS feeds to read-it-later services:

Pocket: Use IFTTT to send new feed items to Pocket
Instapaper: Use Zapier to forward items
Wallabag: Direct RSS subscription

Aggregate Multiple Users

Create a feed aggregator for multiple Memos users:

import feedparser
import feedgenerator

# Fetch multiple user feeds
feeds = [
    feedparser.parse('https://memos.com/u/alice/rss.xml'),
    feedparser.parse('https://memos.com/u/bob/rss.xml'),
]

# Combine into single feed
fg = feedgenerator.Rss201rev2Feed(
    title="Team Memos",
    link="https://memos.com",
    description="Combined feed from team members"
)

for feed in feeds:
    for entry in feed.entries:
        fg.add_item(
            title=entry.title,
            link=entry.link,
            description=entry.description,
            pubdate=entry.published_parsed
        )

print(fg.writeString('utf-8'))

Limitations

No authentication support (feeds are public only)
No filtering by tags or date range
Maximum 100 items per feed
No pagination for feeds with many items
No custom feed formats (Atom, JSON Feed)
Attachments beyond the first are not included in enclosures
No support for categories/tags in RSS items

Troubleshooting

Feed Shows No Items

Possible causes:

User has no public memos
All memos are set to PRIVATE or PROTECTED visibility
All memos are archived (not NORMAL status)

Solution: Ensure at least one memo has:

Visibility: PUBLIC
Status: NORMAL (not archived)

Feed URL Returns 404

Possible causes:

Username is incorrect
User doesn’t exist
RSS routes are not registered

Solution: Verify the username by visiting the user’s profile page, or use the explore feed instead.

Images Not Loading

Possible causes:

Attachment storage is misconfigured
Presigned URLs have expired (S3 storage)
External references are broken

Solution: Check the attachment URL in the enclosure and verify it’s accessible. For S3 storage, presigned URLs are valid for 5 days.

Memo Resource - Memo visibility and structure
Attachment Resource - Attachment storage types
Instance Settings - Customize feed metadata

Overview

Resources

Integration

Available Feeds

Explore Feed

User Feed

Feed Format

Feed Structure

Feed Item Details

Title Generation

Content Rendering

Author Information

Attachments as Enclosures

Caching and Performance

Server-Side Caching

HTTP Caching Headers

Conditional Requests

Feed Limits

Custom Feed Configuration

Using curl

Using RSS Readers

Implementation Details

Feed Generation Process

Performance Optimizations

Use Cases

Personal Knowledge Garden

Team Blog

Read-it-Later Integration

Aggregate Multiple Users

Limitations

Troubleshooting

Feed Shows No Items

Feed URL Returns 404

Images Not Loading

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Resources

Integration

​Available Feeds

​Explore Feed

​User Feed

​Feed Format

​Feed Structure

​Feed Item Details

​Title Generation

​Content Rendering

​Author Information

​Attachments as Enclosures

​Caching and Performance

​Server-Side Caching

​HTTP Caching Headers

​Conditional Requests

​Feed Limits

​Custom Feed Configuration

​Example: Subscribe to User Feed

​Using curl

​Using RSS Readers

​Implementation Details

​Feed Generation Process

​Performance Optimizations

​Use Cases

​Personal Knowledge Garden

​Team Blog

​Read-it-Later Integration

​Aggregate Multiple Users

​Limitations

​Troubleshooting

​Feed Shows No Items

​Feed URL Returns 404

​Images Not Loading

​Related Resources

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Available Feeds

Explore Feed

User Feed

Feed Format

Feed Structure

Feed Item Details

Title Generation

Content Rendering

Author Information

Attachments as Enclosures

Caching and Performance

Server-Side Caching

HTTP Caching Headers

Conditional Requests

Feed Limits

Custom Feed Configuration

Example: Subscribe to User Feed

Using curl

Using RSS Readers

Implementation Details

Feed Generation Process

Performance Optimizations

Use Cases

Personal Knowledge Garden

Team Blog

Read-it-Later Integration

Aggregate Multiple Users

Limitations

Troubleshooting

Feed Shows No Items

Feed URL Returns 404

Images Not Loading

Related Resources