HN Podcast Archive

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name: hn-podcast-archive description: Build and operate an automated archive workflow for the Hacker News podcast/feed: detect new episodes from RSS, download audio, transcribe locally with Whisper, generate markdown archives with metadata, and keep an index/history for repeatable ingestion. Use when setting up or maintaining a podcast transcription/archive pipeline, especially for RSS-based podcasts and local file archives.

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HN Podcast Archive

Set up or maintain a repeatable pipeline that: 1. reads an RSS feed, 2. detects new episodes, 3. downloads audio, 4. transcribes with local Whisper, 5. writes a markdown archive per episode, 6. updates index/state files.

Workflow

1. Read references/layout.md to understand the expected archive layout and outputs. 2. Use scripts/hn_podcast_archive.py as the primary implementation. 3. Run python3 scripts/hn_podcast_archive.py --help to inspect options. 4. For first-time setup, ensure required binaries and Python modules exist. 5. For automation, schedule the script on a recurring cadence with a stable output directory.

Required runtime dependencies

The script expects:

ffmpeg in PATH

whisper in PATH

Python 3.10+

Python package feedparser

If any dependency is missing, surface a clear setup note instead of pretending the pipeline is ready to execute.

Recommended command

python3 skills/hn-podcast-archive/scripts/hn_podcast_archive.py \
  --feed-url "https://example.com/podcast.rss" \
  --output-dir ./data/hn-podcast-archive \
  --whisper-model turbo

Output expectations

For each ingested episode, create:

downloaded audio under audio/

transcript under transcripts/

markdown archive under episodes/

Keep these shared files current:

index.md

state.json

run-log.jsonl

Automation guidance

For automation, prefer a cron/standing-order style trigger that runs every few hours. The script is idempotent at the episode level by tracking processed GUIDs/URLs in state.json.

Safe operating rules

Never overwrite unrelated archive content.

Skip already-processed episodes unless explicitly forced.

Preserve source metadata (title, published date, audio URL, guid).

If transcription fails after download, keep the audio and record the failure in the log/state.

Customization points

Useful flags:

--limit N to ingest only recent items during testing

--force to reprocess already-seen items

--dry-run to inspect actions without writing outputs

--whisper-model to trade speed vs accuracy

Packaging/publishing

Package the skill from its folder. Publish with ClawHub only after local validation passes and authentication is available.