DeviantArt Popular Deviations Scraper

Scrape popular, newest, or tag-filtered deviations from DeviantArt's official RSS backstage feed (backend.deviantart.com/rss.xml). Returns rich artwork metadata including title, author, media URL, dimensions, content rating, and Creative Commons license info.

Why this actor?

• Uses the official, syndication-designed RSS endpoint — more durable than DOM scraping
• Surfaces the Creative Commons license for each deviation (when present)
• Supports three query modes: popular trending, newest, and tag/search queries
• Returns media dimensions and direct high-resolution media URLs (by reference, not rehosted)

Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
mode	string	Yes	popular	Query mode: popular (trending), newest, or tag (by tag/keyword)
tag	string	No	digital-art	Tag or search term (only used when mode = tag)
maxItems	integer	No	50	Maximum number of deviations to return (0 = no limit)

Example inputs

Trending popular deviations:

{ "mode": "popular", "maxItems": 100 }

Newest deviations:

{ "mode": "newest", "maxItems": 50 }

Deviations tagged "digital-art":

{ "mode": "tag", "tag": "digital-art", "maxItems": 200 }

Output

Each record represents one deviation:

Field	Type	Description
deviation_id	string	Numeric deviation ID (from the deviation URL)
title	string	Artwork title
author_name	string	Artist display name
author_url	string	Artist profile URL on DeviantArt
published_date	string	Publication date (RFC 2822 format)
description_snippet	string	HTML summary from the feed (truncated at 500 chars)
media_url	string	Full-size media URL (reference only — not rehosted)
media_width	number	Full-size image width in pixels
media_height	number	Full-size image height in pixels
cc_license	string	Creative Commons license URL (when present)
rating	string	Content rating: nonadult or adult
deviation_url	string	Canonical URL of the deviation on DeviantArt

Sample record

{
  "deviation_id": "1341768284",
  "title": "ComFusion#1 Spytaro",
  "author_name": "Ry-Spirit",
  "author_url": "https://www.deviantart.com/ry-spirit",
  "published_date": "Sat, 06 Jun 2026 04:38:21 PDT",
  "description_snippet": "<p><span>Got commissioned to draw a Spyro/Katara fusion!</span></p>",
  "media_url": "https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/...",
  "media_width": 751,
  "media_height": 1064,
  "cc_license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/",
  "rating": "nonadult",
  "deviation_url": "https://www.deviantart.com/ry-spirit/art/ComFusion-1-Spytaro-1341768284"
}

Technical notes

• Source: backend.deviantart.com/rss.xml — the official DeviantArt RSS backstage, stable and syndication-intended
• Pagination: Offset-based (60 items/page), follows atom:link rel="next" automatically
• Setup: none — the feed is public and unrestricted
• Anti-bot: Rare edge blips are retried automatically; no ongoing anti-bot handling required
• Copyright: Media URLs are returned by reference only; no content is rehosted or reproduced