Monitor RSS feeds with Apify and store new items in data tables

Quick overview This workflow runs hourly to execute an Apify RSS monitoring Task, retrieves the run’s dataset items, normalizes them into a stable delivery key, and upserts new or updated feed entries into an n8n Data Table for idempotent storage and run status reporting.

How it works Runs every hour on a schedule. Starts an Apify Actor Task for RSS monitoring and waits for the run to finish. Checks whether the finished Apify run provides a default dataset ID and, if present, fetches up to 200 dataset items from Apify. Normalizes each dataset item into a consistent schema, generating a URL-encoded delivery key from feedUrl and itemKey and creating diagnostic records for malformed rows. Upserts each normalized record into the n8n Data Table (monitor-deliveries) using deliveryKey as the unique match to avoid duplicates across runs. Outputs a run summary including counts of persisted items and throws an error if the Apify run did not finish with SUCCEEDED.

Setup Install the community node @apify/n8n-nodes-apify (0.6.10 or later) and add an Apify API credential in n8n. Create and configure an Apify RSS monitoring Task, set it to onlyNew: true, and keep maxItemsPerRun at 200 or less, then paste the Task ID into the workflow. Create an n8n Data Table named monitor-deliveries with columns matching the upsert mapping (including deliveryKey as the matching/unique field).

Requirements Self-hosted n8n with @apify/n8n-nodes-apify 0.6.10 or later, an Apify account with a saved RSS monitoring Task, and an n8n Data Table named monitor-deliveries.

Customization Adjust the hourly schedule; change feed sources, keyword or regex filters, exclusions, and maxItemsPerRun in the saved Apify Task; or map additional dataset fields into the Data Table.

Additional info The export is credential-free and uses PASTEYOURTASKID as its only Task placeholder. The supporting public package is available at https://github.com/Telemark-Digital/apify-monitoring-workflows/tree/main/rss-keyword-monitor.