How to block RSS API
Operated by RSS API (by Tibush GmbH). RSS API periodically requesting and parsing RSS Feeds for our customers to monitor them for any changes.
How it identifies itself
RSSAPI/2.0 (+https://rssapi.net/)
robots.txt
What the agent asks to be told. It obeys this or it does not — nothing enforces it.
User-agent: RSSAPI Disallow: /
nginx
In the server block, then reload.
# In the server block. 403 rather than 444: a closed connection tells the
# operator nothing, and an agent that gets a status code can log it.
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(RSSAPI/|RSSAPI|RSS API)") {
return 403;
}
Apache
In .htaccess or the vhost.
BrowserMatchNoCase "RSSAPI/" bad_bot
BrowserMatchNoCase "RSSAPI" bad_bot
BrowserMatchNoCase "RSS API" bad_bot
<RequireAll>
Require all granted
Require not env bad_bot
</RequireAll>
Cloudflare
Security → WAF → Custom rules.
# Security → WAF → Custom rules, action: Block (http.user_agent contains "RSSAPI/") or (http.user_agent contains "RSSAPI") or (http.user_agent contains "RSS API")
WordPress
A child theme's functions.php, or a small plugin.
// functions.php of a child theme, or a small plugin. Runs before WordPress
// builds the page, so a blocked agent costs one PHP process and no queries.
add_action('init', function () {
$agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
foreach (['RSSAPI/', 'RSSAPI', 'RSS API'] as $needle) {
if (stripos($agent, $needle) !== false) {
status_header(403);
exit('Blocked: RSS API');
}
}
});
robots.txt is a request. The rules below it are the wall.
RSS API publishes a token, so the directive above will work for as long as it keeps honouring it — and nothing except its own good manners makes it. The server rules match on a header the requester sets, which stops the agent that says who it is and not the one that copies somebody else's name. Botscope verifies identity against DNS and published address ranges, records which check decided each request, and shows you the ones that lied.