What is Spodcast?

Spodcast turns Spotify-exclusive podcasts into standard RSS feeds that work with any podcast app. It has a Python CLI tool and a PHP feed generator. You can run it via Docker, Docker Compose, pip, or from source. It fetches episodes from Spotify's API, stores them locally, and serves them through RSS. A web feed manager lets you add shows, set how many episodes to sync and keep, and schedule updates via cron or an HTTP endpoint. Optional MP3 transcoding (via ffmpeg) helps on devices like iOS that don't support open audio formats. Licensed under GPL-3.0; latest release v0.5.2 from July 2022.

Should you self-host Spodcast?

Spodcast scores 47/100 on selfhost.directory (how scoring works) and ranks #7 of 18 in Podcasts. It has 374 GitHub stars.

There was no stable release in the past 12 months, so check the repository's recent activity before you rely on it.

Setup is moderate: expect some configuration beyond a single command. An official Docker image is available. It is GPL-3.0-licensed and written mostly in Python.

Its closest alternative on selfhost.directory is Pinepods (61/100, 1 032 stars). It scores higher overall, so compare the two before you pick. See Spodcast vs Pinepods side by side.

Features

CLI standalone mode
Cron Scheduling
Episode caching
MP3 transcodingRequires ffmpeg installed on host
Per-show sync and keep settings
Skip existing episodes
Spotify podcast to RSS conversion
Web-based feed manager
Webcron endpoint

How to install Spodcast

Install Spodcast with Docker

Docker

Environment variables

SPOTIFY_PASSWORD, SPOTIFY_USERNAME, SPOTIFY_PODCAST_URLS, CRON_SCHEDULE, MAX_EPISODES, SPODCAST_ROOT, SPODCAST_HTML, SPODCAST_CONFIG_JSON, SPOTIFY_CREDS_JSON, SPOTIFY_RC_PATH, LOG_LEVEL, CHUNK_SIZE, RSS_FEED, TRANSCODE, LANGUAGE, SKIP_EXISTING

mkdir -p /tmp/spodcast echo 'spotify_username spotify_password' > /tmp/spodcast/spotify.rc

docker run -it -v /tmp/spodcast:/data heywoodlh/spodcast -c /data/spodcast.json --root-path /data/html --log-level info --credentials-location /data/creds.json -p -l /data/spotify.rc

docker run -it -v /tmp/spodcast:/data heywoodlh/spodcast -c /data/spodcast.json --log-level info --max-episodes 10 'https://open.spotify.com/show/4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMk'

Manual setup with volume mount; run once to login, then run to download

Install Spodcast with Docker Compose

Docker and Docker Compose

Environment variables

SPOTIFY_PASSWORD, SPOTIFY_USERNAME, SPOTIFY_PODCAST_URLS, CRON_SCHEDULE, MAX_EPISODES, SPODCAST_ROOT, SPODCAST_HTML, SPODCAST_CONFIG_JSON, SPOTIFY_CREDS_JSON, SPOTIFY_RC_PATH, LOG_LEVEL, CHUNK_SIZE, RSS_FEED, TRANSCODE, LANGUAGE, SKIP_EXISTING

services: spodcast-cron: image: heywoodlh/spodcast-cron:latest volumes: - spodcast_data:/data restart: unless-stopped environment: - CRON_SCHEDULE=0 * * * * - SPOTIFY_PODCAST_URLS=https://open.spotify.com/show/4rOoJ6Egrf8K2IrywzwOMk - SPOTIFY_PASSWORD=myawesomepassword - SPOTIFY_USERNAME=email@awesome.com - MAX_EPISODES=1
spodcast-php: image: php:7-fpm volumes: - spodcast_data:/data restart: unless-stopped user: "101:101" networks: - spodcast

spodcast-web: image: heywoodlh/spodcast-web:latest volumes: - spodcast_data:/data restart: unless-stopped networks: - spodcast ports: - 8080:80

networks: spodcast: volumes: spodcast_data:

Requires three containers: cron, PHP-FPM, and web server

Install Spodcast with pip

$ pip install spodcast

Run as root to install globally for web server user access

Install Spodcast with Build from Source

$ git clone https://github.com/Yetangitu/spodcast.git $ cd spodcast $ pip install .

Install in development mode with `pip install -e .`

How to configure Spodcast

CHUNK_SIZE50000Download chunk size
Download chunk size
CRON_SCHEDULE0 0 * * SunCron schedule for how often spodcast-cron will attempt to download content from Spotify
Cron schedule for how often spodcast-cron will attempt to download content from Spotify
LANGUAGEenLanguage of the content
Language of the content
LOG_LEVELinfoLog level of Spodcast
Log level of Spodcast
values: debug/info/warning/error/critical
MAX_EPISODES10Max amount of episodes to download per podcast
Max amount of episodes to download per podcast
RSS_FEEDyesCreate an RSS feed for a web server
Create an RSS feed for a web server
values: yes/no
SKIP_EXISTINGyesDo not re-download episodes that already exist on filesystem
Do not re-download episodes that already exist on filesystem
values: yes/no
SPODCAST_CONFIG_JSON${SPODCAST_ROOT}/spodcast.jsonLocation of the spodcast config file
Location of the spodcast config file
SPODCAST_HTML${SPODCAST_ROOT}/htmlWhere HTML content will be placed in container filesystem
Where HTML content will be placed in container filesystem
SPODCAST_ROOT/dataWhere all assets will go in the container filesystem
Where all assets will go in the container filesystem
SPOTIFY_CREDS_JSON${SPODCAST_ROOT}/creds.jsonLocation of the file containing Spotify credentials that Spodcast will use to continue logging in
Location of the file containing Spotify credentials that Spodcast will use to continue logging in
SPOTIFY_PASSWORDSpotify password
Spotify password
SPOTIFY_PODCAST_URLSURLs of podcasts to download from Spotify (separated by space)
URLs of podcasts to download from Spotify (separated by space)
SPOTIFY_RC_PATH${SPODCAST_ROOT}/spotify.rcLocation of file containing creds to initially login
Location of file containing creds to initially login
SPOTIFY_USERNAMESpotify username
Spotify username
TRANSCODEnoTranscode to MP3 format (i.e. so iOS devices can play the audio files)
Transcode to MP3 format (i.e. so iOS devices can play the audio files)
values: yes/no