Private podcast feed

Skill eins78/agent-skills/skills/private-podcast-feed

Agent skills collection: session management, TypeScript patterns, Chrome CDP, tmux, Apple integrations

Install

npx -y skills add eins78/agent-skills --skill private-podcast-feed

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

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Use when publishing a private MP3+RSS feed for self-subscription. Covers itunes:block, token-prefixed URLs, ID3 CHAP/CTOC chapters for Overcast skip-ahead, and the Overcast refresh ping. Triggers: private podcast, RSS feed for Overcast, self-hosted podcast, private audio feed, MP3 RSS, personal podcast, chapter markers, Overcast ping, podcast XML, itunes:block.

The file declares its own license as MIT. That is the author’s claim about this one file, and it is not the same thing as the license GitHub reports for the repository, which is listed with the other numbers below.

SKILL.md

3.5 KB, as published. Nobody here has run it

private-podcast-feed

Publishes a private MP3+RSS feed for self-subscription in Overcast (or any podcast client). "Private" means URL obscurity via token prefix and itunes:block=Yes to keep it out of public indexes. Not cryptographic access control — the feed URL is the only secret.

1. `[email protected]` Named Export

Use the named export — the default export does not work:

import { podcast } from "podcast";   // ✅ named — correct
import podcast from "podcast";        // ❌ default — fails at runtime (R3 gotcha)

2. `itunes:block=Yes` via `customElements`

The typed FeedITunes interface does not expose itunesBlock. The only correct path is the customElements array:

const feed = new podcast({
  title: "My Private Feed",
  feedUrl,
  siteUrl: new URL(feedUrl).origin,
  customElements: [{ "itunes:block": "Yes" }],  // keeps feed out of public indexes
});

Without this, the feed may be discovered and indexed by Apple Podcasts search.

3. Token-Prefixed URL

Serve the feed at /p/<32-hex>/feed.xml. The 32-hex token is 128 bits of URL obscurity — anyone with the URL can subscribe.

https://your-host.com/p/5042a002464df562718eef84ac1316f5/feed.xml

Generate a token: openssl rand -hex 16

Gitignore .token if you store the raw token on disk. Note: this is NOT access control — the URL is the only barrier. Do not store sensitive content.

4. ID3 CHAP/CTOC Chapter Frames

Inject chapters post-ffmpeg via mutagen so Overcast shows skippable chapters:

# inject_chapters.py (bundled in text-to-speech skill)
inject(mp3_path, [
    {"start_ms": 0,       "title": "Introduction"},
    {"start_ms": 125000,  "title": "Section Two"},
])

Chapters must be strictly increasing by start_ms. End time of chapter N is set to start time of N+1; last chapter ends at the MP3's total duration.

If using the text-to-speech skill, chapters are injected automatically during render when chapters.json is present.

5. Static-Hosting Pattern

The feed needs an HTTPS host returning correct content-types:

feed.xml   → Content-Type: text/xml
*.mp3      → Content-Type: audio/mpeg

Any static hosting platform works (Cloudflare R2, S3, Caddy, nginx). Podcast clients revalidate the feed URL periodically — the URL must be stable.

6. Overcast Refresh Ping

After publishing a new episode, ping Overcast to trigger an immediate fetch:

${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/ping-overcast.sh https://your-host.com/p/<token>/

The script is idempotent — safe to call on every feed regeneration. It pings https://overcast.fm/ping?urlprefix=<encoded-prefix> and exits 0 on HTTP 2xx.

7. Sanity Verification

# Feed responds with correct type
curl -I <feed-url>

# itunes:block is set
curl -s <feed-url> | grep "itunes:block"   # must print "Yes"

# Item count
curl -s <feed-url> | xmllint --xpath 'count(//item)' -

# MP3 URL responds
curl -I <mp3-url>   # expect: HTTP/2 200, content-type: audio/mpeg