# Podcast Metadata — Shows & Episodes (No Transcription) (`ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata`) Actor

iTunes Search/Lookup + RSS show & episode metadata. No transcription, no audio download, no email/contacts. Failed/empty feeds free. 256 MB. Chain to rss-atom-to-markdown for notes MD.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata.md
- **Developed by:** [新世紀書僮](https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 podcast shows

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Podcast Metadata — Shows & Episodes (**No Transcription**)

**Apple Podcasts / iTunes Search & Lookup plus RSS episode metadata — without downloading audio or running Whisper.**

Give this Actor search keywords, Apple podcast/collection IDs, and/or feed URLs. It returns show rows (title, artist, feedUrl, genres, artwork, trackCount) and optional episode rows (guid, title, published, duration, enclosureUrl, showNotesHash). **No transcription. No audio download. No email or contact fields.** Failed lookups and empty/broken feeds are free by default. Default memory: **256 MB**.

Chain to **[RSS & Atom to Markdown](https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq/rss-atom-to-markdown)** when you want show notes / entry bodies as Markdown after you have the feed URL and episode list.

### What you get

- **Show list** from iTunes Search, iTunes Lookup, and/or direct feed URLs
- **Optional episode list** from each show’s RSS (`enclosureUrl` is metadata only)
- Fields: title, artist, feedUrl, genres, country, trackCount, artwork, duration, showNotesHash
- **Hard exclusions:** no Whisper / speech-to-text, no audio bytes stored, no host emails / guest booking contacts
- Failed / empty feeds **free** (unless you opt into `chargeFailedShows`)
- Default **256 MB**; httpx + feedparser only

### Measured results

Cloud benches on build **0.1.2**, **256 MB** (Asia/Taipei 2026-10-02):

| Run | Input | Result | Peak RSS | Platform cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| smoke | search+lookup → 4 shows / 9 eps | ok | 119 MB | ~$0.00031 |
| bench | 4 shows / 20 eps | ok | 107 MB | ~$0.00038 |
| search-only | 5 shows, no episodes | ok | ~80–100 MB | ~$0.00027 |
| empty feed | 404 URL | free error | ~77 MB | ~$0.00008 |

See **docs/PRICING.md** for margin math.

### Use cases

- Agent / RAG pipelines that need podcast **catalog metadata** without transcription cost
- Discover shows by keyword, then pass `feedUrl` into **rss-atom-to-markdown** for show-notes Markdown
- Enrich known Apple collection IDs with genres, artwork, and recent episode URLs (enclosure links only)

### How to use

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": ["rachel maddow"],
  "podcastIds": ["1211780212"],
  "feedUrls": [{ "url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl" }],
  "country": "us",
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxShows": 10,
  "maxEpisodesPerShow": 20
}
```

Example show row:

```json
{
  "kind": "show",
  "status": "success",
  "source": "itunes-search",
  "collectionId": "1211780212",
  "title": "The Indicator from Planet Money",
  "artist": "NPR",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/...",
  "genres": ["Business", "News"],
  "country": "USA",
  "trackCount": 1200,
  "artworkUrl": "https://..."
}
```

Example episode row:

```json
{
  "kind": "episode",
  "status": "success",
  "guid": "...",
  "title": "Episode title",
  "showTitle": "The Indicator from Planet Money",
  "feedUrl": "https://...",
  "published": "2026-09-30T12:00:00+00:00",
  "duration": "00:09:12",
  "durationSecs": 552,
  "enclosureUrl": "https://.../episode.mp3",
  "showNotesHash": "sha256..."
}
```

### Pricing (PPE)

| Event | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Actor start | **$0.001** | Synthetic start (per GB memory, 1 GB min) |
| `podcast-show` | **$0.001** | Primary — successful show metadata |
| `podcast-episode` | **$0.0005** | Successful episode metadata row |

Failed / empty feeds are free. Tune after benches (`docs/PRICING.md`).

### Input highlights

| Field | Role |
|---|---|
| `searchKeywords` | iTunes Search (`media=podcast`) |
| `podcastIds` | Apple collection IDs or podcasts.apple.com `/id…` URLs |
| `feedUrls` | Direct RSS/Atom feeds |
| `includeEpisodes` | Parse feeds for episode rows (default true) |
| `maxShows` / `maxEpisodesPerShow` | Caps |
| `country` | iTunes store country (default `us`) |

### Related Actors

- [RSS & Atom to Markdown — JSON + RAG Chunks](https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq/rss-atom-to-markdown) — **metadata → notes MD**: use show `feedUrl` / episode links here, then convert entry bodies to Markdown there.
- [Sitemap URL Extractor](https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq/sitemap-url-discovery) — discover document URLs on the open web.
- [SEO Metadata Extract](https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq/seo-metadata-extract) — OG / JSON-LD from live pages.

### What this Actor does **not** do

- **No transcription** (no Whisper, no speech-to-text, no captions as a product)
- **No audio download** (enclosure URLs are listed; bytes are never fetched for media)
- **No email / contacts / guest-booking lead scrapes**
- Not a replacement for full-text show-notes Markdown pipelines — use **rss-atom-to-markdown** for that

### License & source code

This Actor is open source under the **GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0)** — see `LICENSE`. Runtime stack: `httpx` (BSD-3-Clause), `feedparser` (BSD-2-Clause), Apify SDK. The full source code is public: https://github.com/xbox002000/podcast-metadata

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

## `searchKeywords` (type: `array`):

Terms to search on the public iTunes Search API (media=podcast). Each keyword returns up to searchLimitPerKeyword shows.

## `podcastIds` (type: `array`):

Apple Podcasts collection IDs (numeric) or full podcasts.apple.com URLs containing /idNNNN. Looked up via iTunes Lookup API.

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

Direct podcast RSS/Atom feed URLs. Parsed with feedparser for show + episode metadata. Audio enclosures are listed as enclosureUrl only — never downloaded.

## `country` (type: `string`):

ISO 2-letter country code for iTunes Search/Lookup (e.g. us, gb, tw, jp).

## `includeEpisodes` (type: `boolean`):

When true, fetch each show's feedUrl and emit episode metadata rows (title, published, duration, enclosureUrl, showNotesHash). No audio download / No transcription.

## `maxShows` (type: `integer`):

Cap on podcast shows processed (search + lookup + feed URLs combined). 0 = unlimited (subject to spending limit).

## `maxEpisodesPerShow` (type: `integer`):

Cap episodes read from each RSS feed (feed order, usually newest first). 0 = unlimited. Ignored when includeEpisodes is false.

## `searchLimitPerKeyword` (type: `integer`):

iTunes Search API limit parameter (1–200) per keyword.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

Parallel feed fetches (1–20). Keep modest on 256 MB.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

HTTP timeout for iTunes and feed requests.

## `maxRetries` (type: `integer`):

Extra attempts after the first failure when fetching a feed.

## `userAgent` (type: `string`):

Optional custom User-Agent for HTTP requests.

## `chargeFailedShows` (type: `boolean`):

Default false: failed lookups and empty/broken feeds are free. Enable only if you want error rows billed as podcast-show.

## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`):

Optional Apify Proxy. Usually unnecessary for iTunes + public feeds.

## `maxFeedBytes` (type: `integer`):

Abort a single feed download if the body exceeds this many bytes (default 5_000_000). Prevents hang on huge feeds. Oversized/failed feeds are free.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchKeywords": [
    "rachel maddow",
    "this american life"
  ],
  "podcastIds": [
    "1222114325"
  ],
  "feedUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510318/podcast.xml"
    }
  ],
  "country": "us",
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxShows": 50,
  "maxEpisodesPerShow": 20,
  "searchLimitPerKeyword": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
  "maxRetries": 2,
  "chargeFailedShows": false,
  "maxFeedBytes": 5000000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Default dataset: kind=show|episode rows with title, artist, feedUrl, genres, enclosureUrl, duration, showNotesHash. No email/contacts. Views: overview.

## `summary` (type: `string`):

Key-value store record SUMMARY (JSON): show/episode counts, charged events, peakMemoryMb, noTranscription flags.

## `output` (type: `string`):

Key-value store record OUTPUT (JSON): same run summary as SUMMARY.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchKeywords": [
        "rachel maddow",
        "this american life"
    ],
    "podcastIds": [
        "1222114325"
    ],
    "feedUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510318/podcast.xml"
        }
    ],
    "country": "us",
    "includeEpisodes": true,
    "maxShows": 50,
    "maxEpisodesPerShow": 20,
    "searchLimitPerKeyword": 10,
    "maxConcurrency": 4,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
    "maxRetries": 2,
    "maxFeedBytes": 5000000
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "searchKeywords": [
        "rachel maddow",
        "this american life",
    ],
    "podcastIds": ["1222114325"],
    "feedUrls": [{ "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510318/podcast.xml" }],
    "country": "us",
    "includeEpisodes": True,
    "maxShows": 50,
    "maxEpisodesPerShow": 20,
    "searchLimitPerKeyword": 10,
    "maxConcurrency": 4,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
    "maxRetries": 2,
    "maxFeedBytes": 5000000,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchKeywords": [
    "rachel maddow",
    "this american life"
  ],
  "podcastIds": [
    "1222114325"
  ],
  "feedUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510318/podcast.xml"
    }
  ],
  "country": "us",
  "includeEpisodes": true,
  "maxShows": 50,
  "maxEpisodesPerShow": 20,
  "searchLimitPerKeyword": 10,
  "maxConcurrency": 4,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
  "maxRetries": 2,
  "maxFeedBytes": 5000000
}' |
apify call ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ingenious_quip_bxq/podcast-metadata"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/6bLdttqJxQfJS6b0j/builds/b8IhfOtjc35nc03HK/openapi.json