Understanding RSS Feed Errors in Letterhead

Letterhead can pull articles from RSS feeds into your Curations library and newsletters — see How do I use the RSS block? Occasionally a feed fails to load. This guide explains the error messages you may see, why they occur, and how to resolve them.

Error messages and resolutions

What you see	Why it happens	What to do
Content too large	The feed exceeds Letterhead’s size limit of 1.5 MB (1,572,864 bytes).	Reduce the feed’s payload — fewer items or episodes.
No content in the feed	The feed appears empty.	Contact Letterhead support to revalidate the feed.
Error fetching content	The feed is invalid for an unspecified reason.	Contact your RSS feed administrator to diagnose the issue.
The request is invalid	The feed couldn’t be processed due to incorrect formatting or parameters.	Verify the feed URL and check the feed against RSS standards.
An unexpected feed error occurred	An unknown internal issue while processing the feed.	Wait 30–60 minutes; if it persists, contact Letterhead support.
The service encountered a bad gateway	The feed’s server is having connectivity issues.	Retry later; if it persists, check that the feed source is up or contact its provider.
The service is currently unavailable	The feed source is temporarily unavailable.	Try again later and confirm the feed source is available.
There is a conflict with the request	The feed hit a conflict during processing.	Review recent changes to the feed or ask the feed administrator.
The request timed out	The feed couldn’t be retrieved in time.	Check the feed is accessible and retry after some time.
Too many requests	Too many requests hit this feed in a short period.	Reduce request frequency and wait before retrying.

General guidelines

1. Some errors resolve themselves — wait 30–60 minutes before retrying.
2. Confirm your feed is properly formatted with the W3C Feed Validator.
3. If the issue persists after troubleshooting, reach out to Letterhead support.

Make sure Letterhead can reach your feed

Safelist Letterhead’s crawler domains on your site: *.tryletterhead.com, letterhead.email, and letterhead.ai. The crawler is labeled LetterheadCurationBot, user-agent Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; LetterheadCurationBot/1.0; +http://tryletterhead.com/bots).