PodPast.ai
Log inStart free

Your podcasts, inside Claude.

PodPast.ai ships a hosted Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects your entire podcast and YouTube vault to Claude. Paste your personal connector URL into Claude's settings (or add two lines to the config file), and Claude can search your transcripts, synthesize answers across episodes, and cite the exact timestamp — all from within any conversation.

Fastest path: add it as a custom connector (no config file)

In Claude.ai or Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, paste the personal connector URL from your PodPast account, and sign in. That's the whole install — no file editing.

On Claude Code, add it in one line:

claude mcp add --transport http podpast YOUR_MCP_URL

Prefer editing the config file directly? The five steps below cover the claude_desktop_config.json route.

Config-file install in 5 steps

  1. Create a PodPast.ai account and add your first podcast feed

    Sign up at podpast.ai and paste any YouTube URL or podcast RSS feed. The first batch of episodes will begin transcribing immediately. Add at least one feed before testing the MCP connection.

  2. Copy your personal MCP URL

    After signing up, your unique MCP URL is shown in your account dashboard — it looks like: https://api.podpast.ai/mcp/YOUR_TOKEN. Copy the full URL.

  3. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config

    Open Claude Desktop on macOS or Windows. Go to Settings (⌘, on Mac), click the Developer tab, then 'Edit Config'. This opens claude_desktop_config.json.

  4. Add the PodPast MCP server entry

    Add this JSON block inside the mcpServers object in your config file:

    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "podpast": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.podpast.ai/mcp/YOUR_MCP_TOKEN"
    }
  }
}

    Replace YOUR_MCP_TOKEN with the token from your account dashboard (the UUID at the end of your MCP URL).

  5. Restart Claude Desktop — your Pod is searchable from any conversation

    Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. The hammer icon in the chat toolbar confirms active MCP tools. Test with: 'Search my pod for [any topic from a podcast you added]'.

Using Claude Code? One command: claude mcp add --transport http podpast https://api.podpast.ai/mcp/YOUR_MCP_TOKEN

MCP tools exposed by PodPast.ai

search_pod

Semantic search across your vault. Returns ranked transcript chunks with timestamps, episode name, feed name, and a direct link to the source.

ask_pod

Synthesized answer with inline citations and timestamps. Claude calls this tool, PodPast retrieves relevant chunks, and Claude composes a grounded answer — similar to RAG but natively integrated.

add_to_pod

Add a new YouTube URL or RSS feed mid-conversation. Useful when you encounter a new source during research and want to ingest it without leaving Claude.

get_pod_info

Returns a summary of your vault: total feeds, total episodes, processing status, and transcription-minute balance. Use it to check what's in your library.

search_podcasts

Find a podcast by name in the directory. Returns matches with feed details so you can add the right show.

analyze_podcast

Check a show before adding it: how many episodes already have free transcripts and how many would need transcription minutes. Costs nothing to run.

get_episode_transcript

Pull a single episode's full transcript into the conversation.

refresh_pod

Fetch the latest episodes for a show you already follow.

remove_episode

Remove an episode from your vault.

retry_podcast

Retry a failed transcription.

check_pod_credits

Check your transcription-minute balance.

buy_credits

Top up transcription minutes without leaving the conversation.

Claude MCP questions

What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard, developed by Anthropic, that lets external tools expose data and capabilities to Claude (and other LLMs) in a structured way. MCP servers register a list of tools that Claude can call mid-conversation. PodPast.ai's MCP server is a hosted connector (HTTP + OAuth) exposing twelve tools to search your vault, ask questions with cited answers, add and manage podcasts, pull an episode transcript, and check your transcription credits — no local install. The full tool list is below.
Does PodPast.ai work with Claude Code?
Yes. Claude Code reads the same claude_desktop_config.json as Claude Desktop. If you have the PodPast MCP server configured, you can reference your podcast vault from within Claude Code sessions — useful for research-heavy engineering or documentation tasks where you want to pull in context from technical podcast content.
Can I use PodPast.ai inside Claude Projects?
Claude Projects can access MCP servers configured at the account level in Claude Desktop. If your PodPast server is running, it is available within any project conversation. This lets you pre-load a Project with podcast context relevant to a specific research area and then ask synthesis questions across both the Project files and your vault.
How does PodPast.ai compare to ChatGPT's built-in transcript reading?
ChatGPT can read a transcript if you paste it directly into the context window — which is bounded by the model's context limit and requires manual effort for every session. PodPast.ai maintains a persistent vector index of your entire library and retrieves only the relevant chunks per query, so you never hit context limits and the retrieval is automatic from within any conversation.

Connect your podcasts to Claude today

Free tier. MCP access included. No credit card required.

Start free