podcast-dl

A CLI for downloading podcasts with a focus on archiving.

How to Use

Binaries

Visit the releases page and download the latest binary for your system.

podcast-dl --url <PODCAST_RSS_URL>

podcast-dl --url "http://friendsatthetable.libsyn.com/rss"

npx

Node Required

npx podcast-dl --url <PODCAST_RSS_URL>

Options

Option	Type	Required	Description
--url	String	true	URL to podcast RSS feed.
--out-dir	String	false	Specify output directory for episodes and metadata. Defaults to "./{{podcast_title}}". See "Templating" for more details.
--archive	String	false	Download or write out items not listed in archive file. Generates archive file at path if not found. See "Templating" for more details.
--episode-template	String	false	Template for generating episode related filenames. See "Templating" for details.
--include-meta		false	Write out podcast metadata to JSON.
--include-episode-meta		false	Write out individual episode metadata to JSON.
--ignore-episode-images		false	Ignore downloading found images from --include-episode-meta.
--offset	Number	false	Offset starting download position. Default is 0.
--limit	Number	false	Max number of episodes to download. Downloads all by default.
--episode-regex	String	false	Match episode title against provided regex before starting download.
--override		false	Override local files on collision.
--reverse		false	Reverse download direction and start at last RSS item.
--info		false	Print retrieved podcast info instead of downloading.
--list		false	Print episode list instead of downloading.
--version		false	Output the version number.
--help		false	Output usage information.

Archive

• If passed the --archive <path> option, podcast-dl will generate/use a JSON archive at the provided path.
• Before downloading an episode or writing out metadata, it'll check if the item was saved previously and abort the save if found.

Templating

Options that support templating allow users to specify a template for the generated filename(s). The provided template will replace all matched keywords with the related data described below. Each keyword must be wrapped in two braces like so:

--out-dir "./{{podcast_title}}"

--episode-template "{{release_date}}-{{title}}"

--out-dir & --archive

• podcast_title: Title of the podcast feed.
• podcast_link: link value provided for the podcast feed. Typically the homepage URL.

--episode-template

• title: The title of the episode.
• release_date: The release date of the episode in YYYYMMDD format.
• url: URL of episode audio file.
• duration: Provided mm:ss duration (if found).
• podcast_title: Title of the podcast feed.
• podcast_link: link value provided for the podcast feed. Typically the homepage URL.