FreshRSS: Your Own RSS Reader

RSS is the best news format most people have forgotten: you subscribe to sources directly, with no algorithm, no ads and no one watching what you read. FreshRSS gathers all your sources in one self-hosted place – and even syncs with the RSS apps on your phone.

What are we building?

Your own RSS reader with FreshRSS (v1.29.1) behind Traefik, collecting your news sources and keeping them fresh via cron in the background. By the end you read tech news, blogs, YouTube channels and podcasts in one place, grouped into categories – and can connect mobile apps like Reeder or FeedMe via the built-in Google Reader API. FreshRSS is refreshingly lightweight: SQLite is enough, no separate database needed.

Prerequisites

• A server with Traefik running and Docker Compose
• A subdomain pointing at the server – YOUR_DOMAIN below (e.g. rss.YOUR_DOMAIN)

Step by step

Step 1: Create the Compose file

FreshRSS keeps everything in a data directory (SQLite database, config, cache). Create the project:

mkdir -p /opt/freshrss && cd /opt/freshrss

The compose.yaml – replace YOUR_DOMAIN:

services:
  freshrss:
    image: freshrss/freshrss:1.29.1
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - ./data:/var/www/FreshRSS/data
      - ./extensions:/var/www/FreshRSS/extensions
    environment:
      TZ: Europe/Berlin
      CRON_MIN: '13,43'
    networks: [proxy]
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.freshrss.rule=Host(`YOUR_DOMAIN`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.freshrss.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.freshrss.tls.certresolver=le"
      - "traefik.http.services.freshrss.loadbalancer.server.port=80"

networks:
  proxy:
    external: true

CRON_MIN is a nice touch of the official image: it starts an internal cron that refreshes the feeds automatically at the given minutes (here 13 and 43 of every hour) – you need no external timer.

Step 2: Start

docker compose up -d

Check that FreshRSS responds with valid HTTPS (the 302 is the redirect to the install wizard):

curl -sI https://YOUR_DOMAIN/ | head -1

HTTP/2 302

Step 3: The install wizard

Open https://YOUR_DOMAIN/ in the browser. The wizard walks you through setup in five steps – language, system check, database, account:

Choose SQLite as the database type (no further details needed), form-based authentication and create your administrator account with a strong password. After the last step you’re logged in.

Step 4: Subscribe to your first feeds

Click Subscription management → Add a feed or category at the top left. Enter a source’s feed URL (e.g. https://www.heise.de/rss/heise-atom.xml) and assign it to a category. FreshRSS detects the feed format automatically. After adding several sources the management view looks like this:

Step 5: Reading

Back in the reading view, FreshRSS collects articles from all sources chronologically, grouped by category. Unread counters per feed, stars for favorites, full-text search – it’s all there:

Step 6: Connect mobile apps (optional)

FreshRSS speaks the Google Reader API, so many mobile apps can use it as a sync backend. Enable it under Settings → Profile → External access via API and set a separate API password there. In the app (e.g. Reeder, FeedMe, NetNewsWire) choose “FreshRSS” or “Google Reader API”, enter https://YOUR_DOMAIN/api/greader.php, your username and the API password – and keep reading in sync on the go.

When things go wrong

Maintenance & backups

• Updates. Occasionally bump the image tag (freshrss/freshrss:1.29.1) to the new version and docker compose up -d; FreshRSS migrates its database automatically at start. The project announces larger jumps in the release notes – usually there’s nothing else to do. Your normal update process handles the rest.
• Backup. The entire state lives in the data folder (SQLite database + config). Add it to your Restic backup – then subscriptions, categories and read markers are safe. Additionally a regular OPML export of your feed list makes a human-readable, reader-independent backup.
• Low effort. FreshRSS is a “set it up once, then it just runs” service. The only recurring task is curating your feed list – prune dead sources under “Inactive feeds”, subscribe to new ones.