KrISS Feed: Self-Hosted RSS Reader

Productivity Sauce

NewsBlur is undoubtedly an excellent open source RSS aggregator, but deploying it as a self-hosted solution is not for the faint of heart. In fact, if you want to host your own RSS agreggator you'd probably be better off opting for something less complicated both in terms of installation and functionality -- and the KrISS Reader fits the bill perfectly. Since the entire application consists of a single PHP file, deploying the application on your server is as easy as it gets. Grab the latest index.php file from the project's website and copy it into a separate folder (e.g., krissfeed) in your server's root directory. Make the directory writable using the chmod 777 -R krissfeed command and you are done. Point then the browser to http://127.0.0.1/krissfeed, specify the desired login credentials, and the aggregator is ready to go.

Despite being a single-file PHP script, KrISS packs all the essential features, and then some. For starters, you can easily tweak its default bare-bones appearance through a custom user.css stylesheet, and you can find several ready-made stylesheets on the project's website. KrISS Feed sports the OPML import/export functionality, which makes it supremely easy to migrate your RSS subscriptions in and out of the aggregator. More importantly, KrISS Feed features a responsive design, so it works well on mobile devices. The application supports keyboard shortcuts, so you can navigate and manage RSS feeds and individual articles without the mouse. Other creature comforts include the ability to bookmark individual items on Shaarli, support for different privacy modes (public, protected, and private), and the ability to star articles. KrISS Feed lets you update subscriptions either manually or via a cron job. In other words, the application offers pretty much everything you might expect from a decent RSS aggregator. So if you are in the market for an open source feed aggregator that is easy to deploy, configure, and maintain, KrISS Feed should be at the top of your list.