A command-line companion app for the Connected podcast. Built for fans, hosts, AI agents, and mostly just because Stephen mentioned it as a joke once.
conctl can search the show's unofficial transcripts, print lists of chapters, dump show notes, track the Rickies, and more.
It was inspired by Stephen saying "connected --exit" on episode 605, after hearing about remctl. Like remctl, conctl produces human-readable terminal output by default, but can also produce JSON for agents to consume.
conctl is a single, self-contained Go binary that stitches together the public data the show already publishes:
- episodes, chapters, and show notes come from the Connected RSS feed.
- transcripts are from podcastsearch.david-smith.org (thank you David Smith)
- the Rickies data comes from rickies.net/api/v1 (thanks to Jason Biatek) and https://rickies.co (thanks Lex Postma)
- local AI (via the
--llmflag calls your your already-installed claude / codex CLI
brew install darinkelkhoff/tap/conctl
conctl # print the show banner with a rundown of commands
conctl search "vision pro" # search transcripts, deep-linked to the second
conctl rickies # print current title holders
conctl --exit # text of the sign-off (the final chapter of the latest *transcribed* episode)
conctl --exit --play # play the audio of the sign-offFull-episode playback uses afplay (built into macOS) when available, then ffplay/ffmpeg. Chapter/segment playback (intro, exit, --chapter) needs ffplay or ffmpeg (brew install ffmpeg). The Homebrew formula declares ffmpeg as an optional dependency.
git clone https://github.com/darinkelkhoff/connectedCli.git
cd connectedCli
just build # -> ./bin/conctl (or: go build -o bin/conctl ./cmd/conctl)
./bin/conctl --help| Area | Commands |
|---|---|
| Episode info | latest, latest --full, chapters [ep], notes [ep] |
| Search | search <query> |
| Play audio | play [ep], play --first, play --last, play --chapter N |
| Intro / cold open | intro [ep], intro --short, intro --say, intro --play, intro --llm |
| Exit / sign-off | exit [ep], exit --short, exit --say, exit --play, exit --llm |
| Rickies | rickies titles [host], rickies games, rickies game <name>, rickies bill |
| Agent / JSON | add --json to any command |
conctl latest # title and link to the most recent episode
conctl latest --full # episode + chapters + show notes
conctl chapters 605 # list an episode's chapters
conctl notes 605 # show notes & links for an episode
conctl search "liquid glass" --limit 5 # transcript hits, grouped by episode
conctl intro # cold open of the latest episode (transcript)
conctl intro --short # just the first sentence
conctl intro --short --say # ...spoken aloud
conctl intro --play # stream the intro audio (needs ffplay/ffmpeg)
conctl intro --llm --prompt cold-open # AI-generated cold open from your local CLI
conctl exit # sign-off of the latest episode (transcript)
conctl exit --short # Arrivederci. Cheerio. Bye, y'all.
conctl exit --short --say # ...spoken aloud
conctl exit 601 --llm --prompt haiku # the episode as a haiku
conctl play 605 # stream the full episode audio
conctl play --last # stream the last chapter (needs ffplay/ffmpeg)
conctl play 605 --chapter 7 # stream one chapter by index
conctl rickies titles # current chairmen and all titles
conctl rickies titles Federico # one host's titles
conctl rickies games # every Rickies game ever played
conctl rickies game "2025 WWDC Rickies" # one game's picks and scores
conctl rickies bill # the current Bill of Rickies
conctl --exit # the joke: works as a root flag too
conctl search "siri" --json # structured output for agents (any command)Every episode's chapters come from the MP3's embedded ID3 chapter markers. conctl treats the first chapter as the intro and the last one as the exit. Note that commands which output text do require transcripts to be posted. Commands with --play work from the podcast mp3's, so do not require transcripts.
conctl chapters 605 # list chpaters
conctl intro # first chapter of the latest episode
conctl exit # last chapter of the latest episode
conctl play --last # play the last chapter (needs ffplay or ffmpeg)The intro and exit subcommands share a set of render modes (choose at most one):
| flag | what you get |
|---|---|
| (default) | the chapter's transcript text — no dependencies |
--play |
streams just that chapter's audio (needs ffplay or ffmpeg) |
--say |
macOS say reads the chapter aloud |
--llm |
a local AI CLI (claude / codex) generates text from the chapter |
--short |
just the quick sign-offs or first sentence of the intro. |
--json |
structured output - ideal for consumption by an LLM |
You can target any specific episode with a positional number (conctl intro 601); the default is the latest episode (latest transcribed episode, when requesting text instead of audio). While the actual commands here are intro and exit, you can say conctl --exit - or, for bonus points, can create an alias in your shell alias connected=conctl, to use the literal connected --exit as foretold by Stephen.
conctl search <query> runs against David Smith's Whisper transcripts and groups results by episode, with the matched term highlighted. In a terminal, each timestamp is a clickable link to that exact second on the transcript site:
#601 I Love Wrists:
01:40:25 … the best thing you can say about the Vision Pro, I think. …
01:40:19 … Tim Cook says about the Vision Pro, it's tomorrow's engineering …
Add --json for {episodeNumber, episodeTitle, time, seconds, snippet, url} objects.
conctl reads the rickies.net API and reads the Bill of Rickes from rickes.co:
conctl rickies # a Rickies banner plus list of subcommands
conctl rickies bill # the full current Bill of Rickies (the rules)
conctl rickies bill --versions # list every past edition of the bill
conctl rickies bill --version annual-2017 # print a past edition
conctl rickies bill diff annual-2017 annual-2018 # diff two editions
conctl rickies bill --say # read the bill aloud (macOS say)
conctl rickies titles # print all current titles
conctl rickies titles Stephen # one host's titles
conctl rickies games # every Rickies game, 2017 -> today
conctl rickies game "2026 March" # one game in detailrickies bill reconstructs the current rules from the date-versioned Bill of Rickies — keeping only the rules (and inline edits) in force today. --versions lists all 35 past editions (the page's history slider), and --version <slug|index> prints any of them as they stood at that date.
rickies game <name> shows the main round and the flexies for a game — the winner, each host's score, and every pick grouped by host with a ✓/✗ for whether it hit, plus the flexies' charity. The name is matched fuzzily (a unique substring is enough).
A host with no current titles is, of course, declared to be the Man of the People (looking at you, Myke).
Each episode's show notes are available in the RSS feed, so this works for every episode (no transcript needed):
conctl notes # latest episode
conctl notes 600 # a specific episode
conctl notes --json # { episode, title, summary, links: [{text, url}] }--llm rewrites a chapter using an AI CLI that you already have installed. You don't set up any API keys or install anything new. It checks for claude (claude -p), then codex (codex exec), and uses the first one it finds.
conctl exit 601 --llm # a closing summary in the show's voice
conctl exit 601 --llm --prompt haiku # the episode as a haiku
conctl intro 601 --llm --say # an AI cold-open, read aloudPrompt presets (--prompt): conclusion (default for --exit), cold-open (default for --intro), recap, style-federico, style-myke, style-stephen, haiku. A spinner shows while your local model thinks.
Every command accepts --json and writes machine-readable output to stdout; notes, spinners, and progress go to stderr, so piping stdout stays clean.
conctl search "siri" --json | jq '.[0]'
conctl chapters 605 --json
conctl rickies --json
conctl notes --json
conctl exit 601 --json # { episode, chapter, text }Because conctl reads only public data and never writes anything, it's safe to hand to an agent. I mean, as safe as anything vibe-coded could be.
A ready-to-use agent guide — with the full --json schemas, caveats, and jq recipes — lives in SKILL.md.
- Transcripts lag the feed. David Smith re-transcribes episodes on a delay, so the newest episode or two may not be searchable yet. For
--intro/--exittext/--say/--llm, conctl automatically falls back to the newest transcribed episode (with a note on stderr).--playalways works — chapters and audio come straight from the MP3. --playusesafplay(built into macOS) for full-episode playback, with no extra dependencies. Chapter and segment playback (intro --play,exit --play,play --chapter N) needsffplayorffmpeg—brew install ffmpeggets you both. The Homebrew formula declaresffmpegas an optional dependency. All other modes are dependency-free (sayis built into macOS).--llmneeds a local agent CLI (claudeorcodex); otherwise it prints a friendly "no local AI found" message.
conctl can generate tab-completion scripts for your shell. The command is hidden from the help output since most people don't need it, but it's there:
zsh
mkdir -p ~/.zsh/completions
conctl completion zsh > ~/.zsh/completions/_conctl
# add to ~/.zshrc if not already present:
# fpath=(~/.zsh/completions $fpath) && autoload -U compinit && compinitbash
conctl completion bash > /usr/local/etc/bash_completion.d/conctl # macOS (brew install bash-completion)
# or for a per-user install:
conctl completion bash >> ~/.bash_profilefish
conctl completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/conctl.fishBuilding from source, project layout, and the release process live in DEVELOPMENT.md.
conctl was built by Claude (Anthropic), directed by Darin Kelkhoff - a Relay fan.
It couldn't exist without the following members of the community:
- Connected by Myke Hurley, Federico Viticci, and Stephen Hackett (Relay (probably not) FM)
- Podcast Search by David Smith
- rickies.net by jbiatek
- rickies.co by Lex Postma
- Inspired by remctl by Federico Viticci
MIT. See LICENSE.