How to Set Up FreshRSS Feed Reader

By Admin · Mar 2, 2026 · Updated Apr 25, 2026 · 30 views · 3 min read

How to Set Up FreshRSS Feed Reader

FreshRSS is a powerful, self-hosted RSS feed aggregator that lets you follow news, blogs, and websites from a single dashboard. It supports hundreds of feeds, offers a responsive web interface, and is compatible with mobile RSS reader apps. Hosting FreshRSS on your Breeze means you control your news consumption without algorithmic filtering or tracking.

Prerequisites

A Breeze instance with at least 512 MB of RAM
Docker installed on your Breeze
A domain or subdomain (e.g., rss.example.com)

Step 1 — Deploy FreshRSS with Docker

Run FreshRSS as a single Docker container:

mkdir -p ~/freshrss/data ~/freshrss/extensions
docker run -d \
  --name freshrss \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 127.0.0.1:8888:80 \
  -e TZ=America/New_York \
  -e CRON_MIN=2,32 \
  -v ~/freshrss/data:/var/www/FreshRSS/data \
  -v ~/freshrss/extensions:/var/www/FreshRSS/extensions \
  freshrss/freshrss:latest

The CRON_MIN=2,32 setting configures feed fetching to run at 2 and 32 minutes past each hour.

Step 2 — Initial Setup

Access FreshRSS at http://your-breeze-ip:8888 and complete the setup wizard:

Select your language and check system requirements
Choose SQLite for the database (simplest option) or PostgreSQL for larger installations
Create your admin account with a strong password
Configure default feed refresh settings

Step 3 — Configure the Reverse Proxy

Set up Nginx to serve FreshRSS over HTTPS:

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name rss.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8888;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Step 4 — Adding Feeds

Click the + button or navigate to Subscription Management → Add Feed. You can add feeds by:

Entering a direct RSS/Atom feed URL
Entering a website URL and letting FreshRSS auto-discover the feed
Importing an OPML file from another RSS reader

Organize feeds into categories to keep related content grouped together.

Step 5 — Mobile App Integration

FreshRSS is compatible with many mobile RSS reader apps via the Google Reader API and Fever API. To enable API access:

Go to Settings → Authentication and set an API password
Configure your mobile app with the server URL https://rss.example.com/api/greader.php
Use your FreshRSS username and API password to authenticate

Compatible apps include FeedMe (Android), NetNewsWire (iOS/macOS), Reeder (iOS/macOS), and ReadYou (Android).

Customization and Extensions

Themes — choose from several built-in themes or install custom ones
Extensions — add functionality like full-text content fetching, YouTube feed support, and custom filters
Keyboard shortcuts — navigate feeds efficiently with customizable hotkeys
Labels and favorites — tag important articles and star them for later reference
Filters — create rules to auto-star, auto-read, or auto-label articles matching specific criteria

Full-Text RSS

Many feeds only include article summaries. Install the "Full-Text RSS" extension to fetch complete article content directly within FreshRSS. Mount the extensions directory and download the extension from the FreshRSS repository, then enable it under Settings → Extensions.

How to Set Up FreshRSS Feed Reader