API Overview

The PodAnchor API is the audio primitive for AI-native products. Convert any URL, text, or content feed into a podcast episode and deliver it to per-user private RSS feeds with no audio infrastructure required. Built for agents that deliver personalized episodes, developers adding audio to their products, and teams that want their users listening instead of reading.

Authentication

Include your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header of every request.

Authorization: Bearer pa_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

API keys start with pa_live_ for production and pa_test_ for sandbox. Get your key from the account dashboard at app.podanchor.com.

Quick Start

Create your first episode in under 60 seconds.

# Create an episode
curl -X POST https://api.podanchor.com/v1/episodes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pa_live_xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com/article"}'

# Response
{
  "episode_id": "ep_7f3k9m2n",
  "status": "processing",
  "poll_url": "https://api.podanchor.com/v1/episodes/ep_7f3k9m2n"
}

from podanchor import PodAnchor

client = PodAnchor(api_key="pa_live_xxxx")

# Create episode (async — returns immediately)
episode = client.episodes.create(
    url="https://example.com/great-article",
    webhook_url="https://yourdomain.com/webhook",
)
print(episode.episode_id)   # ep_7f3k9m2n
print(episode.status)       # processing

# Or wait synchronously (polls every 5s, up to timeout)
episode = client.episodes.wait("ep_7f3k9m2n", timeout=120)
print(episode.audio_url)    # https://cdn.podanchor.com/...

Create Episode

{
  "url": "https://example.com/article",        // required
  "feed_id": "feed_abc123",                   // optional
  "title": "My Custom Episode Title",          // optional
  "voice": "zoe",                              // optional: marcus|zoe|maren|grant|finn
  "quality": "hd",                             // optional: "standard" | "hd"
  "webhook_url": "https://..."                  // optional
}

{
  "episode_id": "ep_7f3k9m2n",
  "status": "processing",
  "feed_id": "feed_abc123",
  "created_at": "2026-02-22T10:00:00Z",
  "estimated_ready_at": "2026-02-22T10:02:00Z",
  "poll_url": "https://api.podanchor.com/v1/episodes/ep_7f3k9m2n"
}

Get Episode

{
  "episode_id": "ep_7f3k9m2n",
  "status": "ready",
  "title": "The Future of AI Agents",
  "description": "A deep dive into how AI agents...",
  "url": "https://example.com/article",
  "audio_url": "https://cdn.podanchor.com/episodes/ep_7f3k9m2n.mp3",
  "audio_duration_seconds": 312,
  "audio_size_bytes": 4981760,
  "feed_id": "feed_abc123",
  "created_at": "2026-02-22T10:00:00Z",
  "ready_at": "2026-02-22T10:01:47Z",
  "voice": "zoe",
  "quality": "hd"
}

List Episodes

Query params:
  feed_id=feed_abc123     # filter by feed
  limit=20                # default 20, max 100
  cursor=ep_abc           # pagination cursor

Delete Episode

Create Feed

Create isolated podcast feeds per user. Available to API customers.

{
  "title": "Alice's Podcast",
  "user_ref": "alice_001",   // your internal user ID
  "description": "...",      // optional
  "language": "en"            // optional; default "en"
}

{
  "feed_id": "feed_xyz789",
  "rss_url": "https://api.podanchor.com/feeds/feed_xyz789.xml",
  "title": "Alice's Podcast",
  "user_ref": "alice_001",
  "created_at": "2026-02-22T10:00:00Z",
  "episode_count": 0
}

List Feeds

Delete Feed

Account Info

Webhooks

Provide a webhook_url when creating an episode to receive a POST when it's ready. Useful for agents that want to proactively notify users.

{
  "event": "episode.ready",
  "episode_id": "ep_7f3k9m2n",
  "feed_id": "feed_abc123",
  "audio_url": "https://cdn.podanchor.com/episodes/ep_7f3k9m2n.mp3",
  "title": "Article Title Here",
  "duration_seconds": 312,
  "timestamp": "2026-02-22T10:01:47Z"
}

# Verify signature (HMAC-SHA256)
X-PodAnchor-Signature: sha256=abc123...

The difference a listener profile makes

A basic API call turns any article into audio.

What makes the episode feel like it was made for someone — the greeting, the framing, the topics emphasized — comes from a listener profile. Name, bio, interests. PodAnchor uses it to write the intro and weight what matters.

A default request produces a solid episode. Add a listener profile and your user gets their name at the top, context that fits their background, and more of what they actually care about. Pair it with a host profile. Give your user's narrator a name and a style, and the whole thing feels like a show made for them.

// Without a listener profile
{
  "url": "https://example.com/article",
  "feed_id": "feed_abc"
}
// → "Here's today's episode on AI infrastructure..."

// With a listener profile
{
  "url": "https://example.com/article",
  "feed_id": "feed_abc",
  "listener_profile_id": "lp_sarah_k"
}
// → "Sarah, here's today's episode on AI infrastructure..."

Listener profiles are created once per user and reused across every episode. One profile for Alice. One for Bob. Every episode they receive is written for them specifically.

MCP Server Coming soon

The PodAnchor MCP server is available in the open-source repo. The npm package shown below is not yet published. The config below previews the planned install experience.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "PodAnchor": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@podanchor/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "PODANCHOR_API_KEY": "pa_live_xxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available MCP Tools

OpenClaw Skill

PodAnchor is available as an OpenClaw skill. Any OpenClaw agent can convert URLs to podcast episodes and deliver them to a user's private RSS feed. Requires an API key. View on ClawHub →

# Install the PodAnchor skill in your OpenClaw config
skills:
  - name: PodAnchor
    env:
      PODANCHOR_API_KEY: "pa_live_xxxx"

Once installed, your OpenClaw agent can convert any URL to a podcast episode and deliver it to a user's private RSS feed with no additional configuration required beyond the API key.

Errors

All errors follow RFC 7807 (Problem Details for HTTP APIs).

{
  "type": "https://api.podanchor.com/errors/quota_exceeded",
  "title": "Monthly quota exceeded",
  "status": 402,
  "detail": "Your Obsessed plan includes a daily episode. Next episode scheduled for tomorrow.",
  "reset_date": "2026-03-01T00:00:00Z"
}

API Pricing

Pay-as-you-go credit packs. No monthly subscription, no expiry (12-month rolling). 1 credit = 1 minute of audio output (rounded up).

Rate Limits

Rate limit info is returned in every response via X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, and X-RateLimit-Reset headers.