Transistor

transistor-cli — Transistor.fm Podcast Hosting

Manage your Transistor.fm podcast shows, episodes, subscribers, and analytics from the terminal. Uses the Transistor.fm v1 REST API.

Setup

1. Get your API key from Transistor.fm: Settings → API Keys (bottom of the page)
2. Set the environment variable:

export TRANSISTOR_API_KEY="your-transistor-api-key"

--help and --dry-run work without credentials.

Essential Commands

user — Current user info

transistor-cli user                                # email and timezone
transistor-cli user --json                         # machine-readable

shows — List all shows

transistor-cli shows                               # all shows with episode/subscriber counts
transistor-cli shows --json                        # machine-readable with IDs

Shows title, episode count, subscriber count, and ID.

episodes — List episodes

transistor-cli episodes                            # last 20 episodes across all shows
transistor-cli episodes --show 12345               # filter by show ID
transistor-cli episodes --limit 50                 # more results
transistor-cli episodes --show 12345 --json        # machine-readable

Get show IDs from transistor-cli shows --json. Shows season/episode numbers, title, status, duration, and publish date.

analytics — Download and play analytics

transistor-cli analytics                           # totals across all shows
transistor-cli analytics --show 12345              # filter by show ID
transistor-cli analytics --json                    # machine-readable with full totals

Shows total downloads and plays (when available).

Global Flags

All flags work in any position:

transistor-cli --json shows                        # flag before subcommand
transistor-cli shows --json                        # flag after subcommand
transistor-cli --dry-run episodes                  # preview (no API call)
transistor-cli --force episodes --limit 100        # override safety checks
transistor-cli --quiet shows                       # suppress non-essential output
transistor-cli --verbose episodes                  # detailed logging

Extra flag vs other CLIs: --force overrides internal safety checks (e.g. large limits).

Known Gotchas

• API key from Settings → API Keys — Not from the user profile or account page. Navigate to Settings → API Keys at the bottom of the Transistor.fm dashboard.
• JSON:API format — Transistor uses the JSON:API spec. All responses are nested under a data key, and attributes are under data[].attributes. The CLI unwraps these for display, but raw JSON output shows the full JSON:API structure.
• Show IDs are required for filtered queries — Use transistor-cli shows --json to get show IDs first, then pass them to --show for episodes and analytics.
• Pagination uses cursor-based pagination — The --limit flag controls the page size. Default is 20 for episodes. The API returns meta with pagination info.
• Analytics are totals only — The analytics endpoint returns aggregate totals (downloads, plays). Per-episode analytics are not available via this CLI.
• Transistor API is append-only via this CLI — The CLI implements GET endpoints for reading. Creating/updating shows or episodes is not covered here.
• Rate limits — Transistor.fm has rate limits. The CLI does not auto-retry on 429 responses.

References

• scripts/transistor-cli — The CLI binary. Built following the cli-builder patterns: --json, --dry-run, --force, --quiet, --verbose, dual-output via emit(), lazy auth.
• Transistor API Docs — Official API reference.
• Transistor.fm Dashboard — Settings → API Keys for your API key.