diff --git a/changedetectionio/html_tools.py b/changedetectionio/html_tools.py
index 8edcb3bb7..7577f7377 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/html_tools.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/html_tools.py
@@ -185,8 +185,21 @@ def xpath_filter(xpath_filter, html_content, append_pretty_line_formatting=False
tree = html.fromstring(bytes(html_content, encoding='utf-8'), parser=parser)
html_block = ""
- r = elementpath.select(tree, xpath_filter.strip(), namespaces={'re': 'http://exslt.org/regular-expressions'}, parser=XPath3Parser)
- #@note: //title/text() wont work where CDATA..
+ # Build namespace map for XPath queries
+ namespaces = {'re': 'http://exslt.org/regular-expressions'}
+
+ # Handle default namespace in documents (common in RSS/Atom feeds, but can occur in any XML)
+ # XPath spec: unprefixed element names have no namespace, not the default namespace
+ # Solution: Register the default namespace with empty string prefix in elementpath
+ # This is primarily for RSS/Atom feeds but works for any XML with default namespace
+ if hasattr(tree, 'nsmap') and tree.nsmap and None in tree.nsmap:
+ # Register the default namespace with empty string prefix for elementpath
+ # This allows //title to match elements in the default namespace
+ namespaces[''] = tree.nsmap[None]
+
+ r = elementpath.select(tree, xpath_filter.strip(), namespaces=namespaces, parser=XPath3Parser)
+ #@note: //title/text() now works with default namespaces (fixed by registering '' prefix)
+ #@note: //title/text() wont work where <title>CDATA.. (use cdata_in_document_to_text first)
if type(r) != list:
r = [r]
@@ -221,8 +234,19 @@ def xpath1_filter(xpath_filter, html_content, append_pretty_line_formatting=Fals
tree = html.fromstring(bytes(html_content, encoding='utf-8'), parser=parser)
html_block = ""
- r = tree.xpath(xpath_filter.strip(), namespaces={'re': 'http://exslt.org/regular-expressions'})
- #@note: //title/text() wont work where <title>CDATA..
+ # Build namespace map for XPath queries
+ namespaces = {'re': 'http://exslt.org/regular-expressions'}
+
+ # NOTE: lxml's native xpath() does NOT support empty string prefix for default namespace
+ # For documents with default namespace (RSS/Atom feeds), users must use:
+ # - local-name(): //*[local-name()='title']/text()
+ # - Or use xpath_filter (not xpath1_filter) which supports default namespaces
+ # XPath spec: unprefixed element names have no namespace, not the default namespace
+
+ r = tree.xpath(xpath_filter.strip(), namespaces=namespaces)
+ #@note: xpath1 (lxml) does NOT automatically handle default namespaces
+ #@note: Use //*[local-name()='element'] or switch to xpath_filter for default namespace support
+ #@note: //title/text() wont work where <title>CDATA.. (use cdata_in_document_to_text first)
for element in r:
# When there's more than 1 match, then add the suffix to separate each line
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_xpath_default_namespace.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_xpath_default_namespace.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..10eda4ca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_xpath_default_namespace.py
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+Unit tests for XPath default namespace handling in RSS/Atom feeds.
+Tests the fix for issue where //title/text() returns empty on feeds with default namespaces.
+
+Real-world test data from https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases.atom
+"""
+
+import sys
+import os
+import pytest
+
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
+import html_tools
+
+
+# Real-world Atom feed with default namespace from GitHub PowerToys releases
+# This is the actual format that was failing before the fix
+atom_feed_with_default_ns = """<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xml:lang="en-US">
+ <id>tag:github.com,2008:https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases</id>
+ <link type="text/html" rel="alternate" href="https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases"/>
+ <link type="application/atom+xml" rel="self" href="https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases.atom"/>
+ <title>Release notes from PowerToys
+ 2025-10-23T08:53:12Z
+
+ tag:github.com,2008:Repository/184456251/v0.95.1
+ 2025-10-24T14:20:14Z
+
+ Release 0.95.1
+ <p>This patch release fixes several important stability issues.</p>
+
+ Jaylyn-Barbee
+
+
+
+ tag:github.com,2008:Repository/184456251/v0.95.0
+ 2025-10-17T12:51:21Z
+
+ Release v0.95.0
+ <p>New features, stability, optimization improvements.</p>
+
+ Jaylyn-Barbee
+
+
+"""
+
+# RSS feed without default namespace
+rss_feed_no_default_ns = """
+
+
+ Channel Title
+ Channel Description
+
+ Item 1 Title
+ Item 1 Description
+
+
+ Item 2 Title
+ Item 2 Description
+
+
+"""
+
+# RSS 2.0 feed with namespace prefix (not default)
+rss_feed_with_ns_prefix = """
+
+
+ Channel Title
+
+
+ Item Title
+ Author Name
+
+
+"""
+
+
+class TestXPathDefaultNamespace:
+ """Test XPath queries on feeds with and without default namespaces."""
+
+ def test_atom_feed_simple_xpath_with_xpath_filter(self):
+ """Test that //title/text() works on Atom feed with default namespace using xpath_filter."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//title/text()', atom_feed_with_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Release notes from PowerToys' in result
+ assert 'Release 0.95.1' in result
+ assert 'Release v0.95.0' in result
+
+ def test_atom_feed_nested_xpath_with_xpath_filter(self):
+ """Test nested XPath like //entry/title/text() on Atom feed."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//entry/title/text()', atom_feed_with_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Release 0.95.1' in result
+ assert 'Release v0.95.0' in result
+ # Should NOT include the feed title
+ assert 'Release notes from PowerToys' not in result
+
+ def test_atom_feed_other_elements_with_xpath_filter(self):
+ """Test that other elements like //updated/text() work on Atom feed."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//updated/text()', atom_feed_with_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert '2025-10-23T08:53:12Z' in result
+ assert '2025-10-24T14:20:14Z' in result
+
+ def test_rss_feed_without_namespace(self):
+ """Test that //title/text() works on RSS feed without default namespace."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//title/text()', rss_feed_no_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Channel Title' in result
+ assert 'Item 1 Title' in result
+ assert 'Item 2 Title' in result
+
+ def test_rss_feed_nested_xpath(self):
+ """Test nested XPath on RSS feed without default namespace."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//item/title/text()', rss_feed_no_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Item 1 Title' in result
+ assert 'Item 2 Title' in result
+ # Should NOT include channel title
+ assert 'Channel Title' not in result
+
+ def test_rss_feed_with_prefixed_namespaces(self):
+ """Test that feeds with namespace prefixes (not default) still work."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//title/text()', rss_feed_with_ns_prefix, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Channel Title' in result
+ assert 'Item Title' in result
+
+ def test_local_name_workaround_still_works(self):
+ """Test that local-name() workaround still works for Atom feeds."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath_filter('//*[local-name()="title"]/text()', atom_feed_with_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Release notes from PowerToys' in result
+ assert 'Release 0.95.1' in result
+
+ def test_xpath1_filter_without_default_namespace(self):
+ """Test xpath1_filter works on RSS without default namespace."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath1_filter('//title/text()', rss_feed_no_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Channel Title' in result
+ assert 'Item 1 Title' in result
+
+ def test_xpath1_filter_with_default_namespace_returns_empty(self):
+ """Test that xpath1_filter returns empty on Atom with default namespace (known limitation)."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath1_filter('//title/text()', atom_feed_with_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ # xpath1_filter (lxml) doesn't support default namespaces, so this returns empty
+ assert result == ''
+
+ def test_xpath1_filter_local_name_workaround(self):
+ """Test that xpath1_filter works with local-name() workaround on Atom feeds."""
+ result = html_tools.xpath1_filter('//*[local-name()="title"]/text()', atom_feed_with_default_ns, is_rss=True)
+ assert 'Release notes from PowerToys' in result
+ assert 'Release 0.95.1' in result
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+ pytest.main([__file__, '-v'])