Podcast

When to Use

• User wants to create a podcast episode on any topic
• User provides a URL or text and wants it turned into a podcast discussion
• User asks for a "debate", "dialogue", or "discussion" format
• User says "podcast", "播客", or "录一期节目"

When NOT to Use

• User wants text-to-speech reading (use /speech)
• User wants an explainer video with visuals (use /explainer)
• User wants to generate an image (use /image-gen)
• User only wants to extract content from a URL without generating audio (use /content-parser)

Purpose

Generate podcast episodes with 1-2 AI speakers discussing a topic. Supports quick overviews, deep analysis, and debate formats. Input can be a topic description, URL(s), or text. Output is a full audio episode with transcript.

Hard Constraints

• No shell scripts. Construct curl commands from the API reference files listed in Resources
• Always read shared/authentication.md for API key and headers
• Follow shared/common-patterns.md for polling, errors, and interaction patterns
• Never hardcode speaker IDs — always fetch from the speakers API
• Never fabricate API endpoints or parameters
• Always read config following shared/config-pattern.md before any interaction
• Always follow shared/speaker-selection.md for speaker selection (text table + free-text input)
• Never save files to ~/Downloads/ — use .listenhub/podcast/ from config

Step -1: API Key Check

Follow shared/config-pattern.md § API Key Check. If the key is missing, stop immediately.

Step 0: Config Setup

Follow shared/config-pattern.md Step 0.

If file doesn't exist — ask location, then create immediately:

mkdir -p ".listenhub/podcast"
echo '{"outputDir":".listenhub","outputMode":"inline","language":null,"defaultMode":null,"defaultMethod":null,"defaultSpeakers":{}}' > ".listenhub/podcast/config.json"
CONFIG_PATH=".listenhub/podcast/config.json"
# (or $HOME/.listenhub/podcast/config.json for global)

Then run Setup Flow below.

If file exists — read config, display summary, and confirm:

当前配置 (podcast)：
  输出方式：{inline / download / both}
  语言偏好：{zh / en / 未设置}
  默认模式：{quick / deep / debate / 未设置}
  默认生成方式：{one-step / two-step / 未设置}
  默认主播：{speakerName(s) / 未设置}

Ask: "使用已保存的配置？" → 确认，直接继续 / 重新配置

Setup Flow (first run or reconfigure)

Ask these questions in order, then save all answers to config at once:

1. outputMode: Follow shared/output-mode.md § Setup Flow Question.

2. Language (optional): "默认语言？"

   • "中文 (zh)"
   • "English (en)"
   • "每次手动选择" → keep null

3. Mode (optional): "默认播客模式？"

   • "Quick — 简短概述"
   • "Deep — 深度分析"
   • "Debate — 辩论对话"
   • "每次手动选择" → keep null

4. Method (optional): "默认生成方式？"

   • "一步生成（推荐）" → defaultMethod: "one-step"
   • "两步生成（先预览文本）" → defaultMethod: "two-step"
   • "每次手动选择" → keep null

After collecting answers, save immediately:

# Follow shared/output-mode.md § Save to Config
NEW_CONFIG=$(echo "$CONFIG" | jq --arg m "$OUTPUT_MODE" '. + {"outputMode": $m}')
echo "$NEW_CONFIG" > "$CONFIG_PATH"
CONFIG=$(cat "$CONFIG_PATH")

Note: defaultSpeakers are saved after generation (see After Successful Generation section).

Interaction Flow

Step 1: Topic / Content Source

Free text input. Ask the user:

What topic or content would you like to turn into a podcast?

Accept: topic description, URL, or pasted text.

Step 2: Mode

If config.defaultMode is set, pre-fill and show in summary — skip this question. Otherwise ask:

Question: "What podcast generation mode?"
Options:
  - "Quick" — Short, concise overview (~5 min)
  - "Deep" — Thorough analysis with more detail (~10-15 min)
  - "Debate" — Two speakers with opposing views (requires 2 speakers)

Step 3: Language

If config.language is set, pre-fill and show in summary — skip this question. Otherwise ask:

Question: "What language?"
Options:
  - "Chinese (zh)" — Content in Mandarin Chinese
  - "English (en)" — Content in English

Step 4: Speaker Count

Question: "How many speakers?"
Options:
  - "1 speaker (solo)" — Monologue style
  - "2 speakers (dialogue)" — Conversation style

Note: Debate mode automatically sets 2 speakers.

Step 5: Speaker Selection

Follow shared/speaker-selection.md for the full selection flow, including:

• Default from config.defaultSpeakers.{language} (skip step if set)
• Text table + free-text input
• Input matching and re-prompt on no match

For 2-speaker mode (dialogue/debate): run selection twice (or until both are chosen).

Step 6: Reference Materials (optional)

Question: "Any reference materials to include?"
Options:
  - "Yes, URL(s)" — Provide URLs to analyze
  - "Yes, text" — Paste reference text
  - "No references" — Generate from topic alone

Step 7: Generation Method

If config.defaultMethod is set, pre-fill and show in summary — skip this question. Otherwise ask:

Question: "How would you like to generate?"
Options:
  - "One step (recommended)" — Generate text + audio together, faster
  - "Two steps (review first)" — Generate text, review/edit, then generate audio

Step 8: Confirm & Generate

Summarize all choices:

Ready to generate podcast:

  Topic: {topic}
  Mode: {mode}
  Language: {language}
  Speakers: {speaker name(s)}
  References: {yes/no}
  Method: {one-step/two-step}

  Proceed?

Wait for explicit confirmation before calling any API.

Workflow

One-Step Generation

1. Submit (foreground): POST /podcast/episodes with collected parameters → extract episodeId

2. Tell the user the task is submitted

3. Poll (background): Run the following exact bash command with run_in_background: true and timeout: 600000. Do NOT use python3, awk, or any other JSON parser — use jq as shown:

   EPISODE_ID="<id-from-step-1>"
   for i in $(seq 1 30); do
     RESULT=$(curl -sS "https://api.marswave.ai/openapi/v1/podcast/episodes/$EPISODE_ID" \
       -H "Authorization: Bearer $LISTENHUB_API_KEY" 2>/dev/null)
     STATUS=$(echo "$RESULT" | tr -d '\000-\037\177' | jq -r '.data.processStatus // "pending"')
     case "$STATUS" in
       success|completed) echo "$RESULT"; exit 0 ;;
       failed|error) echo "FAILED: $RESULT" >&2; exit 1 ;;
       *) sleep 10 ;;
     esac
   done
   echo "TIMEOUT" >&2; exit 2
   

4. When notified of completion, Step 6: Present result

   Read OUTPUT_MODE from config. Follow shared/output-mode.md for behavior.

   inline or both: Display audioUrl as a clickable link.

   Present:

   播客已生成！
   
   在线收听：{audioUrl}
   字幕：{subtitlesUrl}（如有）
   时长：{audioDuration / 1000}s
   消耗积分：{credits}
   

   download or both: Also download the file.

   DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
   JOB_DIR=".listenhub/podcast/${DATE}-{episodeId}"
   mkdir -p "$JOB_DIR"
   curl -sS -o "${JOB_DIR}/{episodeId}.mp3" "{audioUrl}"
   

   Present the download path in addition to the above summary.

5. Offer to show transcript or provide download URL on request

Two-Step Generation

1. Step 1 — Submit text (foreground): POST /podcast/episodes/text-content → extract episodeId
2. Poll text (background): Use the exact jq-based polling loop above (substitute endpoint podcast/episodes/text-content/{episodeId} if needed), with run_in_background: true and timeout: 600000
3. When notified, save draft to config output dir:
   • Create .listenhub/podcast/YYYY-MM-DD-{episodeId}/
   • Write {episodeId}-draft.md (human-readable: **{speakerName}**: {content} per line)
   • Write {episodeId}-draft.json (raw scripts array)
   • Present the draft location and content preview
4. STOP: Present the draft and wait for explicit user approval
5. Step 2 — Submit audio (foreground, after approval):
   • No changes: POST /podcast/episodes/{episodeId}/audio with {}
   • With edits: POST /podcast/episodes/{episodeId}/audio with modified {scripts: [...]}
6. Poll audio (background): Same exact jq-based loop, run_in_background: true, timeout: 600000
7. When notified, download audio to same folder:
   • curl -sS -o .listenhub/podcast/{dir}/{episodeId}.mp3 {audioUrl}
   • Present final result (same format as one-step, folder now has draft + final files)

After Successful Generation

Update config with the choices made this session:

NEW_CONFIG=$(echo "$CONFIG" | jq \
  --arg lang "{language}" \
  --arg mode "{mode}" \
  --arg method "{one-step/two-step}" \
  --argjson speakers '{"{language}": ["{speakerId}"]}' \
  '. + {"language": $lang, "defaultMode": $mode, "defaultMethod": $method, "defaultSpeakers": (.defaultSpeakers + $speakers)}')
echo "$NEW_CONFIG" > "$CONFIG_PATH"

API Reference

• Speaker list: shared/api-speakers.md
• Speaker selection guide: shared/speaker-selection.md
• Episode creation: shared/api-podcast.md
• Polling: shared/common-patterns.md § Async Polling
• Config pattern: shared/config-pattern.md

Composability

• Invokes: speakers API (for speaker selection)
• Invoked by: content-planner (Phase 3)

Example

User: "Make a podcast about the latest AI developments"

Agent workflow:

1. Detect: podcast request, topic = "latest AI developments"
2. Ask mode → user picks "Deep"
3. Ask language → "English"
4. Ask speakers → 1 speaker
5. Fetch speakers list, user picks "cozy-man-english"
6. No references
7. One-step generation

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.marswave.ai/openapi/v1/podcast/episodes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LISTENHUB_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "sources": [{"type": "text", "content": "The latest AI developments"}],
    "speakers": [{"speakerId": "cozy-man-english"}],
    "language": "en",
    "mode": "deep"
  }'

Poll until complete, then present the result with title and listen link.