PodcastIndex API
57
AI ReadinessFoundational (C+)57/100
Community OpenAPI document · agent-readyMediaPodcastsapiKey52 EndpointsREST
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For Agents
Search and look up podcasts and episodes through the PodcastIndex API: find feeds by term, title, or person, resolve podcasts and episodes by id, feed url, or GUID, and read trending and recent listings. Some endpoints are public; most take an API key.
Use for: Search for a podcast by name, Find episodes of a specific podcast, Look up a podcast by its feed URL, Get trending podcasts
Not supported: Does not host audio, manage subscriptions, or handle playback. Use for podcast and episode search, lookup, and metadata only.
The PodcastIndex API is a search and discovery interface over an open index of podcasts and episodes. It searches feeds by term, title, or person, looks up podcasts and episodes by feed id, feed url, GUID, or iTunes id, and returns trending feeds, recent episodes, categories, and value-for-value payment data. Some endpoints, including search and lookup, are public, while most require an API key. It suits applications that find, enrich, or monitor podcast metadata.
Install Jentic One Beta
Connect the PodcastIndex API to your agent
Jentic One is a self-hosted execution layer for AI agents. It lets your agent call the PodcastIndex API, or any other public or private API you need. You set the rules, the agent never sees your credentials, and every call is logged.
Two steps, two machines. Install the instance in a safe environment, then register your agent from wherever it runs.
1
Step 1: Jentic One Host machine
# On the machine that will host your Jentic One instance:
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fpodcastindex.org%2Fmain" | sh2
Step 2: Agent machine
# On the machine where your agent runs (keep this separate from the instance):
curl -fsSL "https://jentic.com/install.sh?src=apis&api=%2Fapis%2Fpodcastindex.org%2Fmain" | sh
jentic register # connects your agent to your Jentic One instanceJentic One is in public beta. The setup above keeps your agent separate from the instance, which is what you want before using real credentials: an agent running as the same OS user as Jentic One can read its stored keys directly. Just evaluating? A single local install is fine to start. See the secure deployment guide for the tiers.
Capabilities
What an agent can do with PodcastIndex API.
Search podcast feeds by term, title, or person
Look up a podcast by feed id, feed url, GUID, or iTunes id
Look up episodes by feed, GUID, id, or iTunes id
Retrieve trending feeds and recently updated episodes
Read podcast categories and value-for-value payment data
Use Cases
Patterns agents use PodcastIndex API for, with concrete tasks.
★ Agent-Driven Podcast Search
An AI agent finds a podcast a user describes by calling the PodcastIndex search operations, then resolves the matching feed and its recent episodes. Search and lookup are among the public endpoints, so a read-only discovery agent can run without a key, and a keyed agent unlocks the fuller catalog. This fits assistants that answer 'find me a podcast about X' requests.
Call the search-by-term endpoint for the user's query and return the matching feeds with their recent episodes
Feed Metadata Enrichment
A media application enriches a stored podcast reference by resolving its full metadata from the PodcastIndex. Given a feed url, GUID, or iTunes id, the API returns the canonical feed and episode records so the application can display accurate titles, artwork, and descriptions. This suits catalogs that ingest feeds from mixed sources.
Resolve a stored feed url or GUID through the lookup endpoints and update the local record with the returned metadata
Trending and Recent Monitoring
A discovery feature surfaces what is trending and what has been recently published across the index. The PodcastIndex API returns trending feeds and recent episodes as dedicated read operations, so a scheduled job can refresh a 'new and notable' list. This fits editorial and recommendation surfaces.
Poll the trending-feeds and recent-episodes endpoints on a schedule and update the featured list
Key Endpoints
52 endpoints — the podcastindex api is a search and discovery interface over an open index of podcasts and episodes.
METHOD
PATH
DESCRIPTION
GET
/search/byterm
Search feeds by term
GET
/podcasts/byfeedid
Look up a podcast by feed id
GET
/episodes/byfeedid
Look up episodes by feed id
GET
/podcasts/trending
Retrieve trending feeds
GET
/recent/feeds
Retrieve recently updated feeds
GET
/search/byterm
Search feeds by term
GET
/podcasts/byfeedid
Look up a podcast by feed id
GET
/episodes/byfeedid
Look up episodes by feed id
GET
/podcasts/trending
Retrieve trending feeds
GET
/recent/feeds
Retrieve recently updated feeds
Jentic AI Readiness Score
This API is usable in Jentic One now. Its AI-readiness score against Jentic's framework shows where it stands today and where improvements would make it even easier for agents to use.
P
PodcastIndex.org API
- Foundational (C+)57/100
82
Foundational Compliance74
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility34
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience93
Agent Usability50
Security63
AI DiscoverabilityPowered by JenticScoring Framework 1.0.0 | Scoring Engine 0.4.2
Show dimension breakdown
82
Foundational Compliance
Base layer of spec validity and structural soundness.
Grade: ASignals: 4
97%
Lint Results
Aggregated quality score from linter diagnostics, weighted by severity.
100%
Resolution Completeness
Percentage of `$ref` references that resolve successfully.
100%
Specification Validity
Checks whether the API description parses successfully and conforms to its declared specification (e.g., OpenAPI).
30%
Structural Integrity
Structural correctness score based on schema issues using logarithmic dampening.
74
Developer Experience & Jentic Compatibility
Clarity, completeness, and ingestion readiness for developers and tooling.
Grade: A-Signals: 4
50%
Example Density
How richly the API is illustrated with examples.
98%
Example Validity
Percentage of examples that conform to their schemas.
50%
Response Coverage
Percentage of operations with complete response definitions (success, client error, server error).
100%
Tooling Readiness
Health of API ingestion, bundling, and resolution within Jentic pipelines.
34
AI-Readiness & Agent Experience
Semantic breadth, depth, and agent comprehension for AI systems.
Grade: FSignals: 4
88%
Description Coverage
Coverage of descriptions across API elements.
0%
Error Standardization
Coverage of RFC 9457 Problem Details for error responses.
6%
OperationId Quality
Coverage, uniqueness, and casing consistency of operationIds for AI inference.
44%
Summary Coverage
Coverage of summaries across operations/tags/info.
93
Agent Usability
Functional utility, complexity comfort, and AI orchestration readiness.
Grade: A+Signals: 1
93%
Complexity Comfort
Agent comfort level based on API operational and structural complexity.
50
Security
Trust, risk posture, and security compliance.
Grade: C-Signals: 1
50%
Authentication Strength
Average quality of security schemes based on authentication method strength (weakest link for OAuth2).
63
AI Discoverability
Findability, semantic richness, and reasoning readiness.
Grade: BSignals: 1
63%
Descriptive Richness
Clarity and depth of descriptions across API elements.
Score it yourself
Every API in the directory is allowlisted, so you can re-score it with no key required.
npx @jentic/api-scorecard-cli score <openapi-url>Why Jentic?
What agents get from Jentic-routed access to this vendor.
Setup
Wiring PodcastIndex by hand means building its signed key, date, and hash headers for keyed operations and matching each search to the right endpoint. Through Jentic you install once, import PodcastIndex from the API Directory, store the key and secret once, and your agent calls it.
Permission scoping
PodcastIndex carries its query in the URL and body, so rules bound which operations your agent may call, not which feed it may read. Allow only the search and lookup operations it needs, and the add-feed operations are not included unless you add them.
Credential isolation
Your PodcastIndex API key and secret are stored once, encrypted, by your own Jentic One instance and used to build the signed headers at execution time. They never enter the agent's prompt, logs, or context.
Intent-based discovery
Agents search Jentic by intent such as 'search for a podcast by name' or 'find recent episodes', and Jentic returns the matching PodcastIndex operation with its input schema so the agent calls the right endpoint without reading the reference docs.
Related APIs
Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.
FAQs
Specific to using PodcastIndex API through Jentic.
What authentication does the PodcastIndex API use?
Keyed operations use a signed API-key scheme: you send your API key in the `X-Auth-Key` header, a `X-Auth-Date` timestamp, a `User-Agent`, and an `Authorization` header holding a hash of your key, secret, and the date. Some endpoints, such as search and lookup, are public and need no key. Through Jentic your key and secret are stored encrypted by your own instance and injected at call time, so they never enter the agent's prompt or logs.
Which PodcastIndex endpoints are public?
Several endpoints need no credential: the generic search and lookup operations, value-for-value data, and the static stats files are public in the specification and carry no security requirement. Only the by-term search, trending, recent, and add operations need the signed API-key headers.
What are the rate limits for the PodcastIndex API?
The OpenAPI specification does not state rate limits for the PodcastIndex API. Check the PodcastIndex developer documentation for current limits before running frequent search or trending polls.
How do I search for a podcast with the PodcastIndex API through Jentic?
Search Jentic for an intent like 'search for a podcast by name' and it returns the matching PodcastIndex operation with its input schema, such as GET /search/byterm. To run it on your own infrastructure, install Jentic One from its GitHub repo.
Is there a PodcastIndex MCP server?
You don't need an MCP server to give your agent the PodcastIndex API. Jentic connects it directly from the API Directory: import it, store your credential once, and your agent calls the search and lookup operations it needs, discovered on demand rather than loaded up front.
Can I limit what my agent is allowed to do with the PodcastIndex API?
Yes. Write a rule that allows only the read operations your agent needs, such as search and lookup, so it cannot call the add-feed operations unless you allow them, and every call it makes is logged.
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