RSS, Atom, and JSON Feed

Web Monetization links can be used with content syndication formats RSS 2.0, Atom XML, and JSON Feed. Feed readers and podcasting apps can expose a piece of content’s wallet address to a Web Monetization client, such as the Web Monetization browser extension or embedded SDK.

RSS 2.0

Web Monetization wallet addresses are represented in RSS 2.0 using the <atom:link> element. The rel attribute value must be monetization. The href attribute must be a URL of an Open Payments-enabled wallet address.

RSS must be extended with the Atom Syndication Format by adding the Atom namespace to the rss element: <rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">

Monetization <atom:link> elements may be children of <channel> and <item> elements.

Monetization <atom:link> elements added as children of the <channel> element apply to the channel itself and its items.

An <item> element inherits the channel’s monetization links unless the <item> element has monetization <atom:link> child elements of its own.

Podcast example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd"
  xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0"
  xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
  xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <atom:link rel="self" href="https://podcast.example/feed.xml" type="application/rss+xml"/>
    <title>Fintech News Podcast</title>
    <podcast:guid>0000a0a0-0000-0000-0000-0a000aa0a0a0</podcast:guid>
    <link>https://podcast.example/fintech-news</link>
    <podcast:medium>podcast</podcast:medium>
    <itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type>
    <category>Technology</category>
    <itunes:category text="Technology"/>
    <itunes:author>Fintech News</itunes:author>

    <!-- Web Monetization wallet address for feed and items -->
    <atom:link rel="monetization" href="https://wallet.example/fintech-news"/>

    <!-- Optionally include wallet address as a podcast:funding element -->
    <podcast:funding url="https://wallet.example/fintech-news">Support the show!</podcast:funding>

    <item>
      <!-- This item inherits the channel’s monetization links -->
      <title>Big Fun Conference announcements</title>
      <enclosure url="https://example.com/bfc-2024/audio.mp3" length="123" type="audio/mpeg"/>
      <guid>https://example.com/bfc-2024/</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 05 Dec 2024 15:56:55 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Episode description…</description>
      <itunes:duration>123</itunes:duration>
      <link>https://example.com/bfc-2024/</link>
      <itunes:image href="https://example.com/bfc-2024/image.jpg"/>
      <itunes:episode>1</itunes:episode>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <podcast:episode>1</podcast:episode>
    </item>

    <item>
      <!-- This item has its own monetization links -->
      <title>Canada is calling</title>
      <enclosure url="https://example.com/2024-canada/audio.mp3" length="321" type="audio/mpeg"/>
      <guid>https://example.com/2024-canada/</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 05 Dec 2024 16:06:17 GMT</pubDate>
      <description>Episode description…</description>
      <itunes:duration>321</itunes:duration>
      <link>https://example.com/2024-canada/</link>
      <itunes:image href="https://example.com/2024-canada/image.jpg"/>
      <itunes:episode>2</itunes:episode>
      <itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
      <podcast:season>1</podcast:season>
      <podcast:episode>2</podcast:episode>

      <atom:link rel="monetization" href="https://wallet.example/fintech-news"/>
      <atom:link rel="monetization" href="https://wallet.example/erica"/>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Atom

Web Monetization wallet addresses are represented in Atom Syndication Format using the <link> element with the rel="monetization" attribute. The rel value must be monetization. The href value must be a URL of an Open Payments-enabled wallet address.

Monetization <link> elements may be added as children of <feed> and <entry> elements.

Monetization <link> elements added as children of the <feed> element apply to the feed itself and its entries.

An <entry> element inherits the feeds’s monetization links unless the <entry> element has monetization <link> child elements of its own.

Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <title>Fintech News</title>
  <link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="https://example.com/atom.xml"/>
  <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://example.com/"/>
  <id>https://example.com/atom.xml</id>
  <updated>2024-12-18T19:54:03Z</updated>

  <!-- Web Monetization wallet address for feed and entries -->
  <link rel="monetization" href="https://wallet.example/fintech-news"/>

  <entry>
    <!-- This entry inherits the channel’s monetization links -->
    <title>Big Fun Conference announcements</title>
    <link href="https://example.com/bfc-2024/"/>
    <updated>2024-12-05T16:56:55+01:00</updated>
    <id>https://example.com/bfc-2024/</id>
    <content type="html">Article content here…</content>
  </entry>

  <entry>
    <!-- This entry has its own monetization links -->
    <title>Canada is calling</title>
    <link href="https://example.com/2024-canada/"/>
    <link rel="monetization" href="https://wallet.example/fintech-news"/>
    <link rel="monetization" href="https://wallet.example/erica"/>
    <updated>2024-12-05T17:06:17+01:00</updated>
    <id>https://example.com/2024-canada/</id>
    <content type="html">Article content here…</content>
  </entry>
</feed>

JSON Feed

Web Monetization wallet addresses are represented in JSON Feed 1.1 using the _monetization extension object.

Per the JSON Feed 1.1 specification, extensions must have a property name that begins with an underscore and be assigned an object.

_monetization extension object

• about (optional, string) is a link to this page explaining the extension object’s purpose. It should appear in the first use of the extension object only.
• links (required, array of strings) specifies one or more Open Payments-enabled wallet addresses.

The _monetization extension may be added to the top-level document and to individual items in the items array.

An item in the items array inherits the top-level _monetization values unless the item contains a _monetization extension object of its own.

Example

{
  "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1",
  "title": "Fintech News",
  "home_page_url": "https://example.com/",
  "feed_url": "https://example.com/jsonfeed.json",

  // Web Monetization wallet address for feed and items
  "_monetization": {
    "about": "https://webmonetization.org/docs/references/rss-atom-jsonfeed/",
    "links": ["https://wallet.example/fintech-news"]
  },

  "items": [
    {
      // This item will inherit the feed’s _monetization
      "title": "Big Fun Conference announcements",
      "date_published": "2024-12-05T16:56:55+01:00",
      "id": "https://example.com/bfc-2024/",
      "url": "https://example.com/bfc-2024/",
      "content_html": "Article content here…"
    },
    {
      // This item specifies its own monetization links
      "title": "Canada is calling",
      "date_published": "2024-12-05T17:06:17+01:00",
      "id": "https://example.com/2024-canada/",
      "url": "https://example.com/2024-canada/",
      "_monetization": {
        "links": [
          "https://wallet.example/fintech-news",
          "https://wallet.example/erica"
        ],
      },
      "content_html": "Article content here…"
    }
  ]
 }