Skills / Podcast episode
Podcast episode
Record and publish one podcast episode. Format chosen, a light edit, free hosting, RSS live in a podcast app. Use when they say "I want to start a podcast" or have been planning a show for weeks without shipping.
Use this skill. Nothing to install.
Don't have an agent? · Raw file: skills/podcast-episode.md
Watch the first two minutes
This is how a session goes when the planning has gone on longer than the podcast. Click through it.
Scripted example of a real session.
I keep planning, but I never record anything
This skill is designed for exactly that problem: make one episode, from recording to publication, ideally in one long sitting. It chooses a format based on what you can do today, not what an imaginary future show might require. Solo commentary is easy to schedule but hard to perform; an interview with someone available today often carries itself. Decide whether to make a second episode only after the first one exists. If you need a concrete subject for the first episode, start with one of these projects.
What you end up with
One published episode playing on your own phone from a real RSS feed. Here is the episode sheet from the session above.
- Beats, never a script. Five lines you glance at, so the episode stays a conversation. A script read aloud sounds like a script read aloud.
- Edited lightly on purpose. The skill chases restarts and dead ends, and leaves the person in. Sanding out every hesitation removes the reason anyone listens.
- The feed is the finish line. Directories can take hours to list a new show, but the RSS feed is live the moment you publish, and hearing it play on your own phone is the proof.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need a mic or a mixer?
No. A phone per person a hand-span away, in a quiet soft room, is enough for a first episode. The record-clean-audio skill covers the whole setup, including levels and room tone.
How do I record someone who isn't in the room?
Record the video call, and ask the guest to also record a voice memo on their own phone as backup. Free remote-recording tiers exist too. For a first episode, the call recording is usually fine.
Where does it get hosted, and is that free?
Free hosts with real RSS feeds exist: Spotify for Creators, RSS.com's free tier, or Acast free. You create the account yourself; the agent walks you through the fields and stays away from your credentials.
Should I edit out every um and pause?
No. Cut the restarts, the dead ends, and the awkward first minute, and keep natural pauses. A first episode that sounds like a person beats one sanded to nothing.
How long until it shows up in Spotify or Apple Podcasts?
The RSS feed itself is live immediately, and you can add it to any podcast app by URL right away. Directory listings can take hours or a few days to appear.
Where to go from here
Before you hit record, get the sound and the art right:
Episode one is live? These give a show something to grow into:
Ideas to use it on
- One episode with your best friend — You and your best friend already have this conversation; this time you record it.
- Interview a grandparent — One recorded conversation with a grandparent about their life, edited into an episode someone outside the family could listen to.
- How your parents met — Both parents interviewed about how they met: separately first, then together, with the versions edited against each other.
- An oral history from your street — One recorded conversation with someone who holds your neighborhood's memory: the shop owner, the crossing guard, the neighbor who has been here forty years.
Curious? Read the full skill — the exact instructions your agent gets
--- name: podcast-episode category: media description: Record and publish one podcast episode. Format chosen, a light edit, free hosting, RSS live in a podcast app. Use when they say "I want to start a podcast" or have been planning a show for weeks without shipping. --- # podcast-episode Make and publish one podcast episode, from recording through publication, ideally in one long sitting. Do not stop at a podcast plan or a trailer. Finish with one real episode in an RSS feed they can open in a podcast app. Decide whether to make episode two only after episode one exists. ## Format and prep - Pick the format that matches what they have today: solo commentary on something they know, an interview with a friend or family member who is reachable now, or two-person conversation with a co-host who is in the room. Solo is hardest to perform and easiest to schedule; interviews carry themselves. - Length: 10–20 minutes for a first episode. Long enough to be a real episode, short enough to edit today. - Prep is bullet points, never a script read aloud — five beats on paper: opening line, three things to cover, how it ends. They should glance at it, not perform it. - Name the show something they can live with; it can change later. One-line show description in their words. ## Record Use the record-clean-audio skill for the setup: dead room, phone or earbud mic a hand-span away, levels checked with a real test, ten seconds of room tone. Additions for podcasting: - Remote guest: record a video call and ask the guest to also record a voice memo on their own phone as backup; or use a free remote-recording tier. Get the guest's explicit consent to record and publish before recording, and state where the episode will appear. - Two people, one room: one phone between you sounds echoey; two phones, one per person, synced with a loud clap at the start, sounds much better and edits together in Audacity. - Let them restart a sentence when they stumble — pause, clap once (an edit marker you can see in the waveform), say it again. ## Edit lightly In Audacity: noise reduction from room tone, cut the restarts at the clap marks, trim the awkward first minute and any dead ends. Do not chase every "um" — a first episode that sounds like a person beats one sanded to nothing. Loudness Normalization to -16 LUFS, export MP3 at 128–192 kbps. Cover art: 3000x3000 JPG/PNG, show name readable at thumbnail size — Canva free, ten minutes, their words and colors (make-a-thumbnail thinking applies). ## Publish 1. Compare current hosting plans on official sites. Require a real RSS feed, export access, clear storage limits, and no unexpected payment-card requirement. They create the account themselves; do not handle credentials. 2. Show setup: name, description, cover art, category. All true. 3. Upload the episode: title says what the episode is about, not just "Episode 1"; description carries the two-sentence version and any links mentioned. 4. Publish, then open the RSS feed URL in a browser to see it is real, and add the feed to a podcast app on their phone. Some directories take hours to list; the feed itself is live now. ## Done - One episode published, playing on their own phone from the feed - RSS URL saved, plus the host dashboard login noted by them - Raw audio and Audacity project kept - Guest recording and publication consent recorded when another person appears - They know the loop now — the only question left is whether episode two is worth their time, which is theirs to answer