RSS-over-Markdown v1.0
The ROM Protocol
Say goodbye to XML. Say hello to ROM.
The ROM Protocol is a lightweight, human-readable standard designed to turn any plain-text Markdown file into a fully functional RSS node. It eliminates the need for complex XML parsing for the end-user, treating the document as both a receiver (Inbound) and a transmitter (Outbound).
Launch Letter
Announcement: The Web Just Got Literate Again
Friends, hackers, and digital minimalists,
For decades, we’ve let the “Open Web” be governed by brackets, tags, and convoluted XML schemas that no human was ever meant to read. We’ve outsourced our attention to algorithmic feeds that treat our brains like slot machines.
Today, we take it back.
Introducing ROM (RSS-over-Markdown). It is the world’s first protocol that looks like a grocery list but powers a global broadcast network. It’s not just a format; it’s a lifestyle shift toward Deep Reading and Clean Data.
Why ROM changes everything:
- Human-First: If you can write a shopping list, you can program a ROM feed.
- Zero-UI: Your favorite text editor (Obsidian, VS Code, or even Notepad) is now your browser, your publisher, and your feed reader.
- Future-Proof: No more broken database migrations. Your data is a
.mdfile. It will be readable in 100 years.
It’s so simple, it’s criminal.
To subscribe to the world, just list your sources inside a rom-in block.
To tell the world your thoughts, open a rom-out block with a title, a date, and
whatever Markdown you meant to publish.
The era of heavy, bloated feed aggregators is over. We are returning to a web of letters, thoughts, and simplicity.
Join the ROM-volution. Open a blank file. Start typing.
Stay sovereign,
The ROM Team
Protocol
RSS-over-Markdown, in Plain Text
01
Outbound (Broadcasting)
To broadcast content, use an explicit rom-out block. Any ROM-compliant parser
treats each outbound block as an individual feed item.
- Frontmatter: Must include
type: rom-feed. - Item Structure:
::: rom-out, followed by mandatorytitle:anddate:fields, a Markdown body, and a closing:::line.
Example:
---
title: My Digital Garden
type: rom-feed
author: Alex
---
::: rom-out
title: The Death of the Algorithm
date: 2026-06-07
Today I realized that chronologically ordered text is the only way to stay sane.
:::
::: rom-out
title: Coffee Notes
date: 2026-06-06
The Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is hitting different this morning. Highly recommended.
:::02
Inbound (Subscribing)
To “subscribe” to other feeds within your document, use an explicit
rom-in block. ROM readers will fetch the URLs listed in that block and inject
the latest headlines as Markdown beneath the source.
Example:
::: rom-in
- [x] https://npr.org/rss/rss.xml
- [ ] https://techcrunch.com/feed/
:::The Consequence
A Plain-Text Internet That Reads Both Ways
Markdown gives the web its human surface. Outbound RSS gives every paragraph a transmitter. Inbound RSS gives every document a listening post. Put them together and the feed stops being a product you log into; it becomes a text file you can own, move, fork, edit, back up, mail, print, and understand.
ROM is transformative at a level never before seen on the internet: not because it adds more machinery, but because it removes the machinery between people and their words. One file can speak. One file can listen. One file can become a node in a global broadcast network without asking permission from a platform, a database, a dashboard, or an algorithmic middleman.
This is the web returning to literacy. Not smaller. Not nostalgic. More powerful precisely because it is readable.
You’re welcome.