# Podcast Episode Scraper (RSS & Apple) (`seemuapps/podcast-rss-scraper`) Actor

Extract every episode from any podcast RSS feed or Apple Podcasts show  title, publish date, duration, audio URL, transcript link, season/episode numbers, and cover art, one row per episode.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/seemuapps/podcast-rss-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Seemu Scraping](https://apify.com/seemuapps) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, E-commerce, Developer tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 4 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 1 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 podcast episodes

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 Episode Scraper (RSS & Apple)

Extract the full episode list of any podcast - from a direct RSS feed or an Apple Podcasts link - with no API key. Get one clean row per episode with title, publish date, duration, audio URL, transcript link, season/episode numbers, and cover art.

### What you get

- **Podcast title and author** for every episode row
- **Episode title, publish date, and duration** (normalized to seconds)
- **Audio URL and MIME type** - the direct media enclosure
- **Transcript URL** - when the feed publishes a `<podcast:transcript>` tag
- **Season and episode numbers** (where tagged)
- **Explicit flag**, episode web page link, and GUID
- **Cover art image** and a clean plain-text description

### Use cases

- **Podcast analytics & catalog building** - pull an entire show's back catalog into a spreadsheet
- **Content research** - track release cadence, episode lengths, and guest cadence across shows
- **Transcript pipelines** - collect audio + transcript URLs to feed downstream processing
- **Media monitoring** - watch a set of shows and capture new episodes as they publish
- **Dataset creation** - build podcast datasets for search, recommendation, or ML

### How to use

1. Add one or more **feeds**. Each can be:
   - a direct **RSS feed URL** - `https://feeds.megaphone.fm/your-show`
   - an **Apple Podcasts URL** - `https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/name/id1234567890`
   - an **`apple:<id>`** shortcut - `apple:1234567890`
2. Optionally set **Max Episodes Per Feed** and/or a total **Max Items** cap
3. Run the actor - results land in the **Dataset** tab
4. Export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or Google Sheets directly from the Apify console

#### Example input

```json
{
  "feeds": [
    "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl",
    "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736"
  ],
  "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 50,
  "maxItems": 0
}
```

### Output format

One dataset record per episode:

```json
{
  "podcastTitle": "The Example Show",
  "podcastAuthor": "Example Media",
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl",
  "episodeTitle": "Episode 42: A Great Conversation",
  "pubDate": "Wed, 28 May 2026 09:00:00 -0000",
  "durationSeconds": 3120,
  "season": 2,
  "episode": 42,
  "explicit": false,
  "audioUrl": "https://cdn.simplecast.com/audio/.../episode.mp3",
  "audioType": "audio/mpeg",
  "episodeUrl": "https://example.com/episodes/42",
  "guid": "abcd-1234",
  "transcriptUrl": "https://example.com/episodes/42/transcript.vtt",
  "imageUrl": "https://image.simplecastcdn.com/.../cover.jpg",
  "description": "In this episode we talk about ..."
}
```

### Notes

- Apple Podcasts links are resolved to the show's underlying RSS feed automatically via the public iTunes lookup - Apple does not host the audio itself, the RSS feed does.
- Episodes are read in feed order (newest first for most shows); **Max Episodes Per Feed** keeps that many from the top.
- `transcriptUrl` is only present when the publisher includes a transcript tag in the feed.

# Actor input Schema

## `feeds` (type: `array`):

One entry per podcast. Accepts a direct RSS feed URL (e.g. 'https://feeds.megaphone.fm/show'), an Apple Podcasts URL (e.g. 'https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/name/id1234567890'), or an 'apple:<id>' shortcut (e.g. 'apple:1234567890').

## `maxEpisodesPerFeed` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of (most recent) episodes to extract from each feed. 0 = all episodes in the feed.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum total number of episodes to push across all feeds. 0 = no limit.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feeds": [
    "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"
  ],
  "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 0,
  "maxItems": 0
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Each record: { podcastTitle, podcastAuthor, feedUrl, episodeTitle, pubDate, durationSeconds, season, episode, explicit, audioUrl, audioType, episodeUrl, guid, transcriptUrl, imageUrl, description }

# 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 = {
    "feeds": [
        "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"
    ],
    "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 0,
    "maxItems": 0
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("seemuapps/podcast-rss-scraper").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 = {
    "feeds": ["https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"],
    "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 0,
    "maxItems": 0,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("seemuapps/podcast-rss-scraper").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 '{
  "feeds": [
    "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"
  ],
  "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 0,
  "maxItems": 0
}' |
apify call seemuapps/podcast-rss-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/uLu3Pv3dGReHDUy6J/builds/7pSEX2tf8QiINdB5p/openapi.json