RSS to Slack: Make

Third stop in the no-code foundations of our AI Automation for Beginners (the hub). Any RSS feed (a blog, a news site, a status page) lands in Slack, but only the items worth seeing.

The new skill here is the filter: a small rule that says “only continue if this is true”. Filters are how you keep an automation useful instead of noisy, and almost every real-world build needs at least one.

What does this automation do?

It checks an RSS feed on a schedule. When a new item appears and it passes your filter (say, the title mentions a keyword), it posts a tidy message to a Slack channel with the headline and link.

A few real cases, none of them the usual ones:

• A dev team pipes a service’s status-page feed into #ops, filtered to “incident” only.
• A marketing team follows three competitor blogs in #market-watch.
• A founder sends only funding-related headlines from an industry feed into a private channel.

RSS is quietly everywhere. This turns any feed into a calm, filtered notification instead of one more tab to check.

Why use a filter instead of posting everything?

Because an unfiltered feed will bury your channel. A busy blog might post ten times a day, and nine of them will not matter to you. The filter is what turns a firehose into a signal.

Filters also teach you the mental model behind all automation logic: “continue only if”. Once you can write one condition, you can chain several, and you can branch. It is the first taste of real control.

What do you need before you start?

• A free Make account.
• The RSS feed URL you want to follow (most sites have one; try adding /feed to the address).
• A Slack workspace where you can post to a channel.

A filter sits on the line between two modules. It checks a condition, and only lets the run continue if the condition is met. Think of it as a bouncer on the wire.

How does the workflow work, step by step?

Two modules with a filter between them. RSS watches the feed; Slack posts the message; the filter decides which items get through:

Module	App	What it does
Watch RSS feed items	RSS	Fires when the feed has a new item
Send a Message	Slack	Posts the headline and link to your channel

Step 1: Watch the RSS feed

New scenario, add RSS, choose Watch RSS feed items, and paste your feed URL. Set “Maximum number of returned items” to 2 while testing.

Run once. Make pulls the latest items so it has real data (a title, a link, a description) to work with in the next steps.

Step 2: Post to Slack

Add a Slack module and choose Send a Message. Connect Slack and pick the channel.

In the message box, map the feed fields into a clean format. Something like:

New post: {{1.title}}
{{1.link}}

Run once again and check the channel; the latest item should appear as a message.

Step 3: Add the filter

Click the line between RSS and Slack and add a filter so only items that mention your keyword get posted. For a title that must contain “AI”:

Condition:  {{1.title}}  (Text operator: contains)  AI

Now noise stays out. You can add more conditions with AND/OR as you learn what you actually want to see.

How do you run it and check the result?

With the filter in place, click Run once. Only items matching your rule should post. If nothing posts, your keyword may be too narrow; loosen it and try again.

When it behaves, switch it on and set the schedule (every 15 minutes is fine). Slack will now fill itself, quietly and on topic.

What does this cost to run?

Piece	Free tier	If you outgrow it
Make	1,000 operations a month free	$9/mo Core for many feeds checked often
RSS + Slack	Free	Slack’s own plan limits message history, not this
AI	Not used here	Add a one-line AI summary per item later for pennies

Each feed check is one operation whether or not an item posts, so checking every 15 minutes uses a few thousand a month. Slow the schedule to stay free.

What can go wrong, and how do you avoid it?

• No filter. The top mistake. Without one, a busy feed will flood the channel within a day.
• Wrong feed URL. If the trigger finds nothing, open the URL in a browser; a real feed shows raw XML, not a web page.
• Checking too often. Every-minute schedules burn operations fast. Fifteen minutes is plenty for news.

Start with one feed and one keyword. Add feeds only once the first is calm and useful.

Where does AI plug in later?

Between the filter and Slack. Add a step that reads each article and writes a one-sentence summary, so the channel shows what the post says, not just its title. That upgrade is our guide to turn an RSS feed into an AI-summarized inbox digest.

Same lesson as the rest of the AI Automation for Beginners (the hub): the no-AI version (watch, filter, post) is the backbone. AI is one optional step that makes the message smarter, and it slots in without changing the flow you built.

How do you build this in Zapier or n8n instead?

Feed-to-chat is a classic, and every tool handles it:

Job	Make	Zapier	n8n
Watch the feed	RSS module	RSS by Zapier trigger	RSS Feed Trigger node
Only matching items	Filter on the wire	Filter step	IF node
Post the message	Slack: Send a Message	Slack action	Slack node

All three can do it. We teach Make because the visual canvas is the easiest place to learn. The same shape works in any of them, and Zapier vs Make vs n8n compares the three for beginners.

Common questions

What if a site has no RSS feed?

Many do even without advertising it; try adding /feed or /rss to the URL. If not, a feed-builder tool can make one.

Can I post to Discord or Teams instead?

Yes. Swap the second module for Discord or Microsoft Teams; the RSS trigger and filter stay the same.

How do I follow several feeds?

Build one scenario per feed to start. It is clearer than cramming many into one while you are learning.

Do I need to code the filter?

No. You pick the field, an operator like “contains”, and type a word. Make builds the logic for you.

Will it post old articles when I turn it on?

It may post the most recent few on the first run. After that, only new items.

Sources and official documentation

• Make: RSS app docs
• Make: Slack app docs
• Make: filtering between modules

Last reviewed: May 2026. Make’s filter UI and app fields shift occasionally; the docs above stay current.

You may also like

• AI Automation for Beginners (the hub)
• Foundation before this: form replies to a Google Sheet
• turn an RSS feed into an AI-summarized inbox digest
• Make.com Complete Beginner’s Guide
• Make AI Scenarios: automations that save hours
• AI Tools Directory