# Pp Podcast Goat > Pull long-form podcast transcripts as speaker-labeled markdown — cookie-first across the four major paid... Trigger phrases: `pull this podcast transcript`, `get the transcript from this URL`, `summarize this Dwarkesh episode`, `what did Senra say about`, `bundle these episodes for me`, `grep my podcast cache`, `use podcast-goat`, `run podcast-goat`. - Skill: `mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-podcast-goat` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-podcast-goat` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-podcast-goat/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Docs & Writing - License: Apache-2.0 - Author: mvanhorn (https://skillmd.com/u/mvanhorn-printing-press-libra) - Updated: 2026-09-09 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/mvanhorn-printing-press-libra/pp-podcast-goat --- # Podcast GOAT — Printing Press CLI ## Prerequisites: Install the CLI This skill drives the `podcast-goat-pp-cli` binary. **You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill.** If it is missing, install it first: 1. Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to `$HOME/.local/bin` on macOS/Linux and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\bin` on Windows: ```bash npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install podcast-goat --cli-only ``` 2. Verify: `podcast-goat-pp-cli --version` 3. Ensure the reported install directory is on `$PATH` for the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill. If the `npx` install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.6 or newer): ```bash go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/media-and-entertainment/podcast-goat/cmd/podcast-goat-pp-cli@latest ``` If `--version` reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on `$PATH`. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds. ## When to Use This CLI Reach for podcast-goat when an agent needs to read or quote from a long-form podcast and you already subscribe to the show. The CLI walks your member cookies first, falls back to free YouTube/Substack/RSS sources, and only spends money on spoken.md or audio transcription when nothing free works. The MCP surface makes it the canonical podcast adapter for Claude Code agents — every command is an MCP tool, every read is annotated `mcp:read-only`. ## When Not to Use This CLI Do not activate this CLI for requests that require creating, updating, deleting, publishing, commenting, upvoting, inviting, ordering, sending messages, booking, purchasing, or changing remote state. This printed CLI exposes read-only commands for inspection, export, sync, and analysis. ### Anti-triggers Skip podcast-goat for: - **Audio downloads.** This CLI never writes audio to disk. Use `yt-dlp` or your podcast app directly. - **Paywall bypass.** Cookie-tier adapters replay your own logged-in session for shows you already subscribe to. Do not route a request through here to read content the user has not paid for. - **LLM summarization or analysis.** This CLI ships canonical markdown to your agent. The summarization happens in the agent, not here. - **Real-time live transcription.** Audio-pipeline (`whisperapi`) is a deferred v0.2 path; for live captions reach for a streaming Deepgram client instead. - **Editing or annotating transcripts in place.** Output is read-only; persist your annotations elsewhere. ## Unique Capabilities These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API. ### Cross-source corpus that compounds - **`magic`** — Bundle top-N cached transcripts about a topic into one markdown file an agent can summarize in a single call. _Replaces the chip-supply-chain.fly.dev copy-paste workflow with one command. Reach for this when the agent needs cross-episode synthesis._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli magic 'AI chip supply chain' --out ~/chip-supply-chain.md ``` - **`episode get --explain`** — Dry-run shows which source tier will fire and why earlier tiers were skipped, with projected cost before any paid call. _Lets agents preview cost and source attribution before committing. Reach for this before any paid run._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode get https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/example --explain ``` - **`episode quote`** — FTS5 phrase search returns the matched segment plus N surrounding segments preserving the canonical speaker shape and deeplink timestamp. _Grep your podcast memory in 5 seconds. Reach for this when you remember a half-citation and need the exact line back._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode quote 'pricing power' -C 3 --json ``` - **`source compare`** — For an episode resolvable on multiple sources, fetch all available adapters and diff segment count, token count, distinct speakers, label confidence. _Reveals when free sources are good enough vs when paid is needed. Reach for this before recommending an upstream source._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli source compare https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/vanguard --json ``` - **`speakers list`** — Aggregate speaker names across the cached corpus with episode counts, optionally filtered by show. _Answers 'what do I have on Senra/Buffett/Karpathy'. Reach for this when building a synthesis prompt._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli speakers list --show acquired --json ``` ### Multilingual reach - **`episode get --lang`** — Fetch YouTube auto-subs in any single language yt-dlp knows (one code per fetch); the default stays `en`. _Non-English shows have transcripts too. Without `--lang`, an Italian-only video fails even when its captions exist. Two limits, by design: rolling-cue de-dup applies to space-tokenized languages (captions written without spaces, like zh/ja/th, pass through un-collapsed), and non-default-language fetches are not written to the local cache (cache identity is per-URL and language-blind in v0.1 — use `--out` to keep them)._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode get 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXAMPLE' --lang it ``` ### Agent-native plumbing - **`episode info --probe`** — Spend-free availability check: asks spoken.md's search endpoint whether it actually has the episode, instead of showing only a static cost estimate. _Estimates say what a fetch would cost, not whether the source has the episode. Probe before paying — it works with the demo key._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode info --paid --probe --json ``` - **`auth services`** — One-row-per-service table of cookie age, expiry, last-fetch result, with remediation hint when stale. _Cookies decay silently. Reach for this before a batch run to confirm member access still works._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli auth services --json ``` - **`budget show --by-show`** — Pivot spend.jsonl joined to episodes by URL; group by show, provider, month to attribute cost. _Shows which subscriptions are paying off and which shows still cost money. Reach for this monthly._ ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli budget show --by-show --since 30 --json ``` ## Command Reference **episode** — Pull, search, and inspect podcast episode transcripts - `podcast-goat-pp-cli episode get` — Fetch one transcript by URL via the cookie -> free -> paid dispatch chain - `podcast-goat-pp-cli episode latest` — Pull the most recent episode for a subscribed feed ### Finding the right command When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly: ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli which "" ``` `which` resolves a natural-language capability query to the best matching command from this CLI's curated feature index. Exit code `0` means at least one match; exit code `2` means no confident match — fall back to `--help` or use a narrower query. ## Recipes ### Hermes / Claude / agent workflows The three recipes below cover the end-to-end agent workflows this CLI was built for. Pattern-match against user phrasing — the trigger phrases at the end of each recipe are the kind of natural language an agent should respond to by reaching for this recipe instead of fetching transcripts manually. #### Monday-morning batch pull → topic bundle → agent summarize ```bash # One-time setup (if not already done): podcast-goat-pp-cli auth set-key --provider spoken --value "$SPOKEN_API_KEY" podcast-goat-pp-cli auth login-service --service spotify # if user has Spotify Premium # The actual workflow: podcast-goat-pp-cli episode batch \ https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/andrej-karpathy \ https://open.spotify.com/episode/ \ https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/ \ --json podcast-goat-pp-cli magic "AI chip supply chain" --limit 5 --out /tmp/bundle.md # Then: ask the user's preferred LLM to summarize /tmp/bundle.md ``` Pulls multiple episodes in parallel (default 3 concurrent), caches each, then bundles cached episodes matching the topic into one YAML-front-matter markdown file ready for one-shot agent summarization. Each episode in the bundle carries `source`, `show`, `host`, `date`, `provider`, `cost` so the summarizing agent can attribute claims back to the right episode. Trigger phrases: "pull these podcast episodes", "summarize what I listened to this week", "build a bundle on ", "make me a prompt out of the latest ", "monday morning podcast pull". #### What did say about ? — local quote grep ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode quote "" -C 3 --json \ --select 'results.episode_url,results.segments' ``` FTS5 phrase search across the local cached corpus. Returns the matched segment plus N surrounding speaker-tagged segments. Each hit carries `episode_url` + `ts_sec` so the agent can hand the user a direct deeplink to the moment. Always reach for this BEFORE re-fetching a transcript — if the user has the episode cached, the answer is free. Trigger phrases: "what did Senra say about ", "find that quote about ", "did talk about ", "grep my podcast cache for ". #### Cost-aware exploration before paid fetch ```bash # Step 1: preview — no transcript fetch, no spend, no commitment podcast-goat-pp-cli episode info --paid # Step 1b: coverage check — does spoken.md actually HAVE this episode? # Spend-free (search endpoint only; works with the demo key). podcast-goat-pp-cli episode info --paid --probe # Step 2: only after preview confirms the URL + cost are right: podcast-goat-pp-cli episode get --paid --provider spoken --yes ``` `episode info` shows which adapters can fetch a URL, the estimated cost per source, whether the episode is already cached, and which source would fire by default. Use this whenever the user pastes a URL you haven't seen before, especially before spending paid credits. JSON output makes the cost/source decision trivially parseable. Add `--probe` when the question is availability, not just cost: the static estimate says what a spoken.md fetch would cost, while `--probe` asks spoken.md's search endpoint whether the episode exists there at all (`probe: available ()` vs `probe: no results`), so coverage can be mapped across a feed without attempting a single paid fetch. Trigger phrases: "what does this URL cost", "is this episode already cached", "preview the cost before fetching", "what sources can pull this", "does spoken have this episode". ### Other useful recipes #### Pull a single Dwarkesh transcript ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode get https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/andrej-karpathy --md --out karpathy.md ``` Free, no auth. Canonical markdown with speaker labels + timestamps. Hand the file to any agent. #### Diff free vs paid for the same episode ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli source compare https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/vanguard --json ``` Fans out to every adapter that matches the URL pattern; shows per-source segment count, distinct-speaker count, diarization quality. Useful when deciding which source to commit to for high-value episodes. #### Subscription-value report ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli budget show --by-show --since 30 ``` Pivots `spend_log` by show + provider + month. Shows which subscriptions saved money (cookie hits = $0 vs same-show spoken fetches that did cost money). ### Anti-recipes — don't do these - **Don't loop `episode get` in a shell.** Use `episode batch` — it dispatches in parallel and shows progress; a shell loop runs sequential with no progress feedback. - **Don't fetch the same URL twice unattended.** Check `cache list` or `episode info` first; cached episodes return instantly. The agent should always know whether it's about to re-do work. - **Don't pass `--yes --paid` on an unknown URL.** Run `episode info <url> --paid` first to see the cost; only then commit. The brief explicitly named cost-preview as a non-negotiable UX. - **Don't ignore `--json` output's `meta.source` field.** Agents should always be able to attribute a quote back to the source that produced it; that field is the audit trail. - **Don't write SPOKEN_API_KEY (or any paid key) to a shared file the user can commit.** Use `auth set-key` — it writes to a 0600-permission config file in the user's home, not the project. ## Auth Setup Three auth surfaces, in cost order. (1) `auth login-service --service <huberman|acquired|founders|peterattia>` extracts your logged-in Chrome cookie once and stores it locally — the headline workflow. (2) Free sources (Dwarkesh Substack, Podcasting 2.0 RSS transcripts, yt-dlp auto-subs) need no auth. (3) Paid sources (spoken.md `SPOKEN_API_KEY`, Taddy `TADDY_API_KEY`+`TADDY_USER_ID`, audio providers like ElevenLabs/OpenAI/Deepgram) are scoped to commands you explicitly opt into with `--paid` or `--provider <name>`. spoken.md's `pt_demo` key works without signup. Run `podcast-goat-pp-cli doctor` to verify setup. ## Agent Mode Add `--agent` to any command. Expands to: `--json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes`. - **Pipeable** — JSON on stdout, errors on stderr - **Filterable** — `--select` keeps a subset of fields. Dotted paths descend into nested structures; arrays traverse element-wise. Critical for keeping context small on verbose APIs: ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli episode get mock-value --agent --select id,name,status ``` - **Previewable** — `--dry-run` shows the request without sending - **Offline-friendly** — sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available - **Non-interactive** — never prompts, every input is a flag - **Read-only** — do not use this CLI for create, update, delete, publish, comment, upvote, invite, order, send, or other mutating requests ### Response envelope Commands that read from the local store or the API wrap output in a provenance envelope: ```json { "meta": {"source": "live" | "local", "synced_at": "...", "reason": "..."}, "results": <data> } ``` Parse `.results` for data and `.meta.source` to know whether it's live or local. A human-readable `N results (live)` summary is printed to stderr only when stdout is a terminal AND no machine-format flag (`--json`, `--csv`, `--compact`, `--quiet`, `--plain`, `--select`) is set — piped/agent consumers and explicit-format runs get pure JSON on stdout. ## Agent Feedback When you (or the agent) notice something off about this CLI, record it: ``` podcast-goat-pp-cli feedback "the --since flag is inclusive but docs say exclusive" podcast-goat-pp-cli feedback --stdin < notes.txt podcast-goat-pp-cli feedback list --json --limit 10 ``` Entries are stored locally at `~/.podcast-goat-pp-cli/feedback.jsonl`. They are never POSTed unless `PODCAST_GOAT_FEEDBACK_ENDPOINT` is set AND either `--send` is passed or `PODCAST_GOAT_FEEDBACK_AUTO_SEND=true`. Default behavior is local-only. Write what *surprised* you, not a bug report. Short, specific, one line: that is the part that compounds. ## Output Delivery Every command accepts `--deliver <sink>`. The output goes to the named sink in addition to (or instead of) stdout, so agents can route command results without hand-piping. Three sinks are supported: | Sink | Effect | |------|--------| | `stdout` | Default; write to stdout only | | `file:<path>` | Atomically write output to `<path>` (tmp + rename) | | `webhook:<url>` | POST the output body to the URL (`application/json` or `application/x-ndjson` when `--compact`) | Unknown schemes are refused with a structured error naming the supported set. Webhook failures return non-zero and log the URL + HTTP status on stderr. ## Named Profiles A profile is a saved set of flag values, reused across invocations. Use it when a scheduled agent calls the same command every run with the same configuration - HeyGen's "Beacon" pattern. ``` podcast-goat-pp-cli profile save briefing --json podcast-goat-pp-cli --profile briefing episode get mock-value podcast-goat-pp-cli profile list --json podcast-goat-pp-cli profile show briefing podcast-goat-pp-cli profile delete briefing --yes ``` Explicit flags always win over profile values; profile values win over defaults. `agent-context` lists all available profiles under `available_profiles` so introspecting agents discover them at runtime. ## Exit Codes | Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | Success | | 2 | Usage error (wrong arguments) | | 3 | Resource not found | | 4 | Authentication required | | 5 | API error (upstream issue) | | 7 | Rate limited (wait and retry) | | 10 | Config error | ## Argument Parsing Parse `$ARGUMENTS`: 1. **Empty, `help`, or `--help`** → show `podcast-goat-pp-cli --help` output 2. **Starts with `install`** → ends with `mcp` → MCP installation; otherwise → see Prerequisites above 3. **Anything else** → Direct Use (execute as CLI command with `--agent`) ## MCP Server Installation Install the MCP binary from this CLI's published public-library entry or pre-built release, then register it: ```bash claude mcp add podcast-goat-pp-mcp -- podcast-goat-pp-mcp ``` Verify: `claude mcp list` ## Direct Use 1. Check if installed: `which podcast-goat-pp-cli` If not found, offer to install (see Prerequisites at the top of this skill). 2. Match the user query to the best command from the Unique Capabilities and Command Reference above. 3. Execute with the `--agent` flag: ```bash podcast-goat-pp-cli <command> [subcommand] [args] --agent ``` 4. If ambiguous, drill into subcommand help: `podcast-goat-pp-cli <command> --help`.