How to Get API Outage Alerts in Slack, Discord, and Email via RSS

by Shibley

RSS in 2026? Absolutely.

While everyone's building complex webhook integrations and installing monitoring agents, RSS quietly does exactly what DevOps teams need: deliver real-time status updates to any tool, with zero vendor lock-in and near-universal compatibility.

You already have Slack, Discord, or email. You don't need another dashboard. RSS lets you get API outage alerts wherever you already are — no new accounts, no API keys, no middleware.

Here's how to set up API status monitoring in minutes using RSS feeds from API Status Check.

Why RSS Still Works Better for Alerting

Real-time where it matters. RSS readers poll every 1-15 minutes (usually 5). For status monitoring, that's perfect — fast enough to catch issues, slow enough to avoid rate limits.

No vendor lock-in. RSS works with 1,000+ tools: Slack, Discord, Teams, email services, Zapier, Make, IFTTT, or any RSS reader. You're not tied to a single platform.

It works everywhere. Discord bots come and go. Slack apps get deprecated. Email providers change APIs. RSS? It's been the same spec since 2000. Your integration built today will work in 2030.

Zero authentication headaches. No OAuth flows, no API keys to rotate, no webhooks to secure. Just a URL.

Our RSS Feeds: Global, Per-Service, or Everything

API Status Check offers three types of RSS feeds:

1. Global Feed (All Services)

https://apistatuscheck.com/feed.xml

Every status change from every API we monitor. Good for:

  • Infrastructure teams monitoring multiple vendors
  • Status page aggregators
  • Getting a bird's-eye view of the API ecosystem

2. Per-Service Feeds (Filtered)

https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/openai
https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe
https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/aws
https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/cloudflare

Only updates for a specific service. Perfect for:

  • Teams that depend on a handful of critical APIs
  • Dedicated Slack channels per vendor (#stripe-status, #openai-alerts)
  • Reducing noise — you only see what matters to you

Find your service's slug on apistatuscheck.com, then use /feed/{slug}.

3. OPML Directory (Subscribe to Many at Once)

https://apistatuscheck.com/opml.xml

OPML is an XML file listing all available feeds. Import it into any RSS reader to subscribe to multiple services at once. Useful for:

  • Setting up a new monitoring dashboard quickly
  • Sharing a curated feed list with your team
  • Bulk imports into automation tools

Slack Setup: RSS Notifications in 3 Minutes

Slack has a built-in RSS integration that posts new feed items to a channel automatically.

Method 1: Using the /feed Command (Easiest)

  1. Open the Slack channel where you want alerts (e.g., #api-status)
  2. Type /feed subscribe https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe
  3. Slack confirms: "You are now subscribed to this feed"

That's it. New Stripe status updates appear in that channel automatically.

To manage subscriptions:

  • /feed list — see all feeds in the current channel
  • /feed remove https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe — unsubscribe

Method 2: Using the RSS Slack App (More Control)

If you want formatting control or the /feed command isn't available in your workspace:

  1. Go to your Slack workspace's App Directory
  2. Search for "RSS" and install the official RSS app
  3. Once installed, type /rss add https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/openai in your channel
  4. The app posts a preview and confirms the subscription

Customization options:

/rss add https://apistatuscheck.com/feed.xml #api-status 15
  • #api-status — which channel to post to
  • 15 — check interval in minutes (default: 60)

Pro Tip: Dedicated Channels per Vendor

For teams with complex dependencies, create status channels:

#stripe-status     → /feed/stripe
#aws-status        → /feed/aws
#openai-status     → /feed/openai
#api-status-global → /feed.xml (everything)

This keeps alerts organized and routes them to the right people.

Discord Setup: MonitoRSS Bot (Free & Reliable)

Discord doesn't have native RSS support, but MonitoRSS is the gold standard RSS bot with 2M+ servers using it.

Step-by-Step Setup

  1. Invite MonitoRSS to your server:

    • Go to monitorss.xyz
    • Click "Invite" and select your server
    • Grant "Read Messages" and "Send Messages" permissions

  2. Add a feed to a channel:

    • Go to the Discord channel where you want alerts (e.g., #api-status)
    • Type: ~rsscreate https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe
    • The bot confirms: "Feed created!"

  3. Customize the message format (optional):

    ~rssembed https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe
~rsstest https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe
    • ~rssembed — toggles rich embed formatting
    • ~rsstest — shows a preview of what alerts will look like

  4. Manage feeds:

    • ~rsslist — see all feeds in the current channel
    • ~rssremove — delete a feed
    • ~rssrefresh — force check for new updates

Filtering Updates (Advanced)

If the global feed is too noisy, use filters to only show critical alerts:

~rssfilters https://apistatuscheck.com/feed.xml

Then set up title filters like:

  • Only show "Major Outage" updates
  • Exclude "Operational" status changes
  • Only alert on specific keywords ("Payment", "API", "Database")

This turns RSS into a smart alerting system tailored to your team's needs.

Email Setup: Get Alerts in Your Inbox

Two popular services turn RSS into email: Blogtrottr (simplest) and IFTTT (most powerful).

Option 1: Blogtrottr (Dead Simple)

  1. Go to blogtrottr.com
  2. Paste your RSS feed URL: https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/openai
  3. Enter your email address
  4. Choose frequency:
    • Realtime — as soon as updates appear (recommended for status monitoring)
    • Daily digest — once per day summary
  5. Click "Feed Me"

You'll get an email with a confirmation link. Click it, and you're subscribed.

To subscribe to multiple APIs: Repeat the process for each feed you want to monitor. Create a Gmail filter to label them "API Status" for easy organization.

Option 2: IFTTT (More Flexible)

IFTTT (If This Then That) can route RSS updates to email, SMS, push notifications, or other apps.

  1. Create a free account at ifttt.com
  2. Create a new applet:
    • IF: New feed item from https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/stripe
    • THEN: Send me an email at yourteam@example.com
  3. Customize the email template:
    Subject: 🚨 Stripe Status Change: {{EntryTitle}}

{{EntryContent}}

Read more: {{EntryUrl}}
Time: {{EntryPublished}}

IFTTT can also:

  • Send SMS alerts (via phone number)
  • Post to a webhook (trigger your own scripts)
  • Add items to a Google Sheet (build a status log)

Pro Tip: Gmail Filters for Organized Alerts

After subscribing to multiple feeds via Blogtrottr, create a Gmail filter:

  1. Search: from:(blogtrottr.com) OR from:(ifttt.com)
  2. Click "Create filter"
  3. Apply label: "API Status Alerts"
  4. Mark as important (optional)
  5. Skip inbox if you only want to check them manually

This keeps your inbox clean while preserving a queryable alert history.

Zapier & Make: Automate Everything

RSS feeds can trigger complex workflows in automation platforms.

Zapier: API Status → Custom Workflow

Use case: When OpenAI goes down, post to Slack AND send an email AND log to a spreadsheet.

  1. Create a new Zap
  2. Trigger: RSS by Zapier → New Item in Feed
    • Feed URL: https://apistatuscheck.com/feed/openai
  3. Actions:
    • Slack: Send Channel Message → #engineering
    • Email: Send Outbound Email → on-call@yourcompany.com
    • Google Sheets: Create Spreadsheet Row → Log the incident

Advanced trigger: Use Zapier's filter step to only trigger on "Major Outage" or "Degraded Performance" updates, ignoring "Operational" status.

Make (formerly Integromat): More Complex Logic

Make excels at conditional workflows.

Example workflow:

  1. RSS trigger detects Stripe status change
  2. Router checks the status:
    • If "Major Outage" → page on-call engineer via PagerDuty
    • If "Degraded Performance" → post to Slack, no page
    • If "Operational" → do nothing (or log recovery time)
  3. HTTP module posts to your internal webhook for custom handling

Code Example: Custom Webhook Handler

If you're using Zapier/Make to hit a webhook, here's a simple Express.js handler:

// Receives RSS-triggered webhooks from Zapier/Make
app.post('/api/status-alert', async (req, res) => {
  const { service, status, title, link } = req.body
  
  // Log to your database
  await db.statusIncidents.create({
    service,
    status,
    detectedAt: new Date(),
    source: 'rss',
    url: link
  })
  
  // Trigger internal alerts if critical
  if (status === 'major-outage') {
    await pagerDuty.triggerIncident({
      title: `${service} major outage detected`,
      details: title,
      urgency: 'high'
    })
  }
  
  res.json({ received: true })
})

This gives you full control: decide which alerts deserve pages vs. Slack messages vs. just logging.

Monitoring RSS Feed Health

One gotcha with RSS: if your monitoring tool breaks, you don't get alerts.

Best practices:

  1. Test your feeds regularly — manually check that alerts appear
  2. Monitor the monitoring — tools like UptimeRobot can ping your Slack/Discord to ensure they're receiving updates
  3. Use multiple channels — RSS to Slack + email means redundancy

How to Test Your Setup

  1. Visit apistatuscheck.com
  2. Find a service with recent status changes
  3. Verify the update appears in your Slack/Discord/email within 5-15 minutes
  4. If it doesn't, check:
    • Feed URL is correct (no typos)
    • Your RSS tool/bot is active
    • Feed polling interval (some tools default to 1-hour checks)

RSS vs. Webhooks: When to Use Each

Feature RSS Feeds Webhooks
Setup complexity Paste a URL Write code or use middleware
Latency 1-15 min (polling) Instant (push)
Works with Any RSS reader, automation tool Your server or webhook receiver
Reliability Client retries automatically Must handle failures yourself
Best for Alerts to Slack/Discord/email Triggering application logic

Our recommendation:

  • Use RSS for human notifications (Slack, Discord, email)
  • Use webhooks for application logic (automated failovers, status pages)

API Status Check supports both. Check our integrations page for webhook setup.

Real-World Example: How a DevOps Team Uses RSS

Company: SaaS startup with 20-person engineering team

Dependencies: Stripe, AWS, Cloudflare, OpenAI, SendGrid

Setup:

  1. Slack channels for each vendor:
    • #stripe-status → /feed/stripe
    • #aws-status → /feed/aws
    • #openai-status → /feed/openai
  2. Discord alert in their community server:
    • Public #status-updates channel → /feed.xml (all services)
    • Customers can self-serve to check if issues are internal or external
  3. Email digest via Blogtrottr:
    • CEO and CTO get a daily summary of all incidents
    • Used for monthly reliability reviews with vendors
  4. Zapier automation:
    • Major outages → post to company-wide #incidents channel
    • Degraded performance → log to Google Sheet for SLA tracking

Result:

  • Detected a Stripe outage 3 minutes before their own monitoring caught it
  • Proactively notified customers via in-app banner
  • Zero "is Stripe down?" support tickets (customers checked Discord first)

Getting Started: 5-Minute Setup Checklist

Step 1: Choose your feeds

  • Global feed (/feed.xml) for everything
  • OR per-service feeds (/feed/stripe, /feed/aws, etc.)

Step 2: Pick your alert destination

  • Slack (/feed subscribe or RSS app)
  • Discord (MonitoRSS bot)
  • Email (Blogtrottr or IFTTT)
  • Automation (Zapier, Make)

Step 3: Set it up

  • Add the feed URL to your chosen tool
  • Test it (check for a recent update)
  • Customize formatting (optional)

Step 4: Monitor the monitor

  • Set a calendar reminder to verify alerts still work (monthly)
  • Add redundancy (e.g., RSS to Slack + email)

Beyond Alerts: Creative Uses for API Status Feeds

1. Public status page embed: Fetch our RSS feed and display it on your own status page so customers know which third-party APIs might be affecting your service.

2. Incident correlation: When your app has issues, check if any dependencies are reporting problems. Save engineering hours on "is it us or them?" investigations.

3. SLA tracking: Log all status changes to a database. Generate monthly reports showing actual uptime vs. vendor SLA commitments.

4. Customer communication: Automatically generate "we're aware of the issue" emails when a critical API goes down, before customers even report it.

5. Status dashboard: Build an internal TV dashboard showing real-time status of all your dependencies. Uses RSS feeds + a simple web page that polls and displays the feed.

Start Monitoring Your APIs via RSS

RSS isn't outdated — it's underrated. While modern tools chase complexity, RSS delivers exactly what you need: reliable, real-time alerts with zero vendor lock-in.

Quick start:

  1. Pick your critical APIs on apistatuscheck.com
  2. Copy the feed URL (/feed/stripe, /feed/aws, etc.)
  3. Paste it into Slack, Discord, Blogtrottr, or your automation tool
  4. Get alerted when things break

For more advanced alerting (webhooks, custom filters, API access), check out our integrations page.

API Status Check monitors 100+ APIs and delivers updates via RSS, webhooks, and direct integrations. Start free at apistatuscheck.com.

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