What is Newsboat, the RSS reader on newsboat.org?

Updated

Newsboat is an RSS/Atom feed reader that runs in the text console. It is an actively maintained fork of Newsbeuter, and newsboat.org is its official home for downloads, documentation, and release information. If you prefer reading feeds inside a terminal rather than a graphical app or web service, Newsboat is built for exactly that workflow.

What Newsboat actually is

Newsboat is a console application: it reads RSS and Atom feeds and presents them as text in your terminal. It is not a browser extension, a web service, or a GUI program. The project describes itself as an actively maintained fork of Newsbeuter, which means it continues development on a codebase that was originally created elsewhere.

The current version listed on the site is 2.45, released on 4 October 2026. The site also lists a long history of previous releases with their dates and download links, going back many versions.

What you can get from newsboat.org

The site functions mainly as a distribution and documentation hub. From it you can reach:

  • Source tarballs for the current and previous releases, along with OpenPGP signatures (.asc files)
  • Documentation and FAQ pages for each release
  • Changelog entries describing what changed
  • The project's OpenPGP key, used to verify downloads

The OpenPGP key has fingerprint B8B1 756A 0DDB F076 0CE6 7CCF 4ED6 CD61 932B 9EBE, and can be downloaded from keys.openpgp.org or directly from the project.

Where the community lives

If you need help, want to report a bug, or follow development, the site points to:

Channel Purpose
GitHub Repository and issue tracker
Google Groups Mailing list ([email protected])
irc.libera.chat, #newsboat Chat, reachable via a webchat link
News feed Announcements of new releases

The site notes that there is no longer a Freenode channel. For security vulnerabilities, it asks you to email [email protected] and to use the project's OpenPGP key if possible.

Who it suits

Newsboat fits users who already work in a terminal and want their feeds to stay there — no separate window, no account, no web interface. Because the site distributes source tarballs and documentation rather than packaged installers, expect to build or install it through your system's own package tooling, then configure your feed list and read it from the console. If you want a graphical or browser-based reader instead, this project is aimed at a different environment.