Automate the archiving of podcast feeds, including show notes and images.
This Python project aims for a simple user interface - you just need to modify podqueue.conf with your inputs and outputs, and then schedule the program to run periodically.
- https://pypi.org/project/podqueue
- https://github.com/tquin/podqueue
- https://hub.docker.com/r/tquin/podqueue
The order of precedence for these is CLI arguments taking the highest priority, environment variables second, and the .conf file last. If you are using the Docker image, environment variables are recommended.
| CLI argument | Environment variable | .conf file |
Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
-o, --opml |
PQ_OPML | opml | Pass an OPML file that contains a podcast subscription list. | podqueue.opml |
-d, --dest |
PQ_DEST | dest | The destination folder for downloads. Will be created if required, including sub-directories for each separate podcast. | pq/ |
-t, --time-format |
PQ_TIME_FORMAT | time_format | Specify a time format string for JSON files. _Please note, % must be escaped with %% for the .conf file option. |
%Y-%m-%d |
-v, --verbose |
PQ_VERBOSE | verbose | Prints additional debug information. If excluded, only errors are logged (no stdout for automation). | False |
-l, --log-file |
PQ_LOG_FILE | log_file | Specify the log file path. | ./podqueue.log |
| '--bg', '--server' | PQ_SERVER | server | Run in continuous background server mode. | False |
--server-sleep-hours |
PQ_SERVER_SLEEP_HOURS | server_sleep_hours | How many hours to pause between runs when in server mode. | 1 |
This will depend on your podcast app, but most will be able to export your list of subscriptions into a common XML format.
If you use a different app that has a similar functionality, please let me know and I'll add it to this list.
| Podcast App | Podcast App | Supported | OPML Export Options |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Pocket Casts | ✔ | OPML export |
 |
Overcast | ✔ | Option available in the app's Settings page, or here on the web. |
 |
Castro | ✔ | Export Subscriptions |
 |
Downcast | ✔ | Exporting Podcast Subscriptions |
 |
Podcast Addict | ✔ | How can I backup and restore my subscription & data? |
 |
Castbox | ✔ | OPML Export |
 |
Apple Podcasts | 🛠 | Not available in iOS app or macOS since Catalina. However, if you sync your podcasts to your Mac, there is an open-source workaround. |
 |
Google Podcasts | 🛠 | Officially unavailable. There is a Gist by @telmen (I tested, seems to work) that can be run in your browser's Devtools if you're feeling lucky. |
 |
Spotify | ❌ | Not available, since Spotify doesn't use open Podcast standards. Community suggestion is 'now reaching the internal teams at Spotify', as of six months ago. |
 |
Stitcher | ❌ | Not available. |
Your file should look something like this, with one line per podcast:
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes' ?>
<opml version="1.0">
<head>
<title>Pocket Casts Feeds</title>
</head>
<body>
<outline text="feeds">
<outline type="rss" text="Accidental Tech Podcast" xmlUrl="https://atp.fm/episodes?format=rss" />
<outline type="rss" text="The Unmade Podcast" xmlUrl="https://www.unmade.fm/episodes?format=rss" />
<outline type="rss" text="You Look Nice Today" xmlUrl="https://feeds.fireside.fm/youlooknicetoday/rss" />
<outline type="rss" text="The Pen Addict" xmlUrl="https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/feed" />
... etc ...
</outline>
</body>
</opml>
Installation is done through Python's pip:
python3 -m pip install --upgrade podqueue
python3 -m podqueue --help
Alternatively, you can use Docker to containerise podqueue. This requires two volumes mounts, one for the output location to save podcast files to on the host, and the other to store the podqueue.opml config and log files.
Docker Compose:
services:
podqueue:
name: podqueue
image: tquin/podqueue
user: "<YOUR UID>:<YOUR GUID>"
restart: unless-stopped
volumes:
- "<YOUR_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>:/data"
- "<YOUR_CONFIG_DIRECTORY>:/config"
Docker CLI:
docker pull tquin/podqueue
cat <YOUR_CONFIG_DIRECTORY>/podqueue.opml # Replace this example with your subscription list
docker run -it \
-v <YOUR_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY>:/data \
-v <YOUR_CONFIG_DIRECTORY>:/config \
--restart unless-stopped \
--user "<YOUR UID>:<YOUR GUID>" \
tquin/podqueue
Or you can just clone this repo directly:
git clone https://github.com/tquin/podqueue
cd podqueue/
python3 podqueue/main.py --help
Executing the script will download each podcast into their own subdirectory, with episode metadata (shownotes, date, title, link) and show metadata (episode count, description, image) in each subdirectory. Episodes will be downloaded in default feed order - usually newest first, but it could depend on the podcast.
Example directory tree:
output/
├─ Accidental_Tech_Podcast/
├── episodes/
│ ├── 2021-12-30_463_No_Indication_of_Progress.json
│ ├── 2021-12-30_463_No_Indication_of_Progress.mp3
│ ├── 2022-01-06_464_Monks_at_Drafting_Tables.json
│ ├── 2022-01-06_464_Monks_at_Drafting_Tables.mp3
│ ├── ...
├── Accidental_Tech_Podcast.png
├── Accidental_Tech_Podcast.json
├─ The_Pen_Addict/
├── episodes/
│ ├── 2021-12-29_494_The_Centre_is_Twisty.json
│ ├── 2021-12-29_494_The_Centre_is_Twisty.mp3
│ ├── 2022-01-05_495_Parter_Jocker.json
│ ├── 2022-01-05_495_Parter_Jocker.mp3
│ ├── ...
├── The_Pen_Addict.png
├── The_Pen_Addict.json
And a sample JSON file for an episode (note that description will often be HTML-formatted):
{
"published_parsed": "2022-04-05",
"title": "Episode 451: Minitel (Entry 791.IS4209)",
"link": "https://pdst.fm/e/aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/8658dd0c-baa7-4412-9466-918650a0013d/e373ca83-d5d9-4b8b-b03f-5fcd012ac9a2.mp3",
"description": "In which a French-only precursor to the World Wide Web appears in the late 1970s in a wave of Gallic futurist fervor, and John may have been making long distance calls from a Parisian prison. Certificate #23054."
}
- Distro packaging
- Better config file location, eg $HOME/.config/podqueue.conf
- Built-in systemd/cron timers
- Option to only download after X date (--no-backlog or --earliest ?)