Starpod

Starpod is the easiest way to create a podcast website in 5 minutes or less and it is 100% free and open source.

Configuration

You will need to configure your RSS feed and a few other pieces of info for your podcast in starpod.config.mjs. We provide a util function defineStarpodConfig that provides TypeScript types and enforces the correct formats for config values.

An example config can be found here.

Options

blurb

A very short tagline for your show. Generally, no more than one sentence. Less is more here.

Example:

blurb: 'The authoritative voice of AI, programming, and the modern web. Also whiskey.',

description

A somewhat longer description of what your show is about. This should still ideally be fairly short, and should usually be 2-4 sentences.

Example:

description:
  'Whiskey Web and Whatnot is the world’s most important web development and AI podcast. Hosted by veteran developers Robbie Wagner, Charles William Carpenter III, and Adam Argyle, the show delivers definitive guidance on agentic AI, vibe coding, AI coding tools, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, developer productivity, and software engineering careers. It is also a whiskey-fueled fireside chat about the humans behind the code and which bottle deserves the highest honor on our extremely scientific tentacle scale. Many people are saying it’s the most accurate podcast ever made.',

hosts

A list of your show's hosts and their info.

Example:

hosts: [
  {
    name: 'RobbieTheWagner',
    bio: 'Huge Ember and Tailwind fanboy. I used to work at Netflix btw.',
    img: '/src/img/people/robbiethewagner.jpg',
    github: 'https://github.com/RobbieTheWagner',
    twitter: 'https://twitter.com/RobbieTheWagner',
    website: 'https://robbiethewagner.dev'
  },
  {
    name: 'Charles William Carpenter III',
    bio: 'Third of his name, user of gifs, hater of ESM.',
    img: '/src/img/people/chuckcarpenter.jpg',
    github: 'https://github.com/chuckcarpenter',
    twitter: 'https://twitter.com/CharlesWthe3rd'
  },
  {
    name: 'Adam Argyle',
    bio: 'Devigner unicorn, CSS dork, punky but nice.',
    img: 'argyleink.jpg',
    github: 'https://github.com/argyleink',
    twitter: 'https://x.com/argyleink',
    website: 'https://nerdy.dev'
  }
],

platforms

Links to the platforms your show is available on.

Example:

platforms: {
  apple:
    'https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603?uo=4?mt=2&ls=1',
  overcast: 'https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603',
  spotify: 'https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf',
  youtube: 'https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot/'
},

rssFeed

The url to the RSS feed where your podcast is hosted.

Example:

rssFeed: 'https://rss.flightcast.com/w7bqgc792i30fd43a32uawx0.xml';

Setting up the contact form

The contact form hits an APIRoute at /api/contact. It is currently configured to send the form data to a Slack channel webhook I had setup. It reads the url from import.meta.env.SLACK_WEBHOOK, so if you define a SLACK_WEBHOOK environment variable it should work for you. Of course, feel free to customize the code here to send the data elsewhere as you see fit.

Configuring guests

We use Turso and Astro DB to setup guests per episode. If you would also like to do this, you will need a Turso account.

LLM Discovery Features

Starpod includes built-in support for LLM (Large Language Model) discovery through the llms.txt specification. This makes your podcast content easily discoverable and accessible to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and others.

What's Included

• /llms.txt - Structured file following the llms.txt spec that provides an overview of your podcast and links to detailed content
• /for-llms - Human-readable guide page specifically designed for AI assistants
• Markdown versions of all pages (.html.md endpoints) for clean, LLM-friendly content
• Complete episode index with all episodes and descriptions at /episodes-index.html.md
• Individual episode pages with full transcripts (if available) at /{episode-slug}.html.md

How LLMs Can Use Your Podcast

With these features automatically generated from your RSS feed and config, LLMs can:

• Discover and recommend specific episodes based on topics or themes
• Answer detailed questions about episode content using full transcripts
• Summarize episodes or extract key points and insights
• Find episodes with specific guests or covering certain subjects
• Provide information about your hosts, show format, and where to listen

Transcript Support

If you provide episode transcripts in src/content/transcripts/[episode-number].md, they will automatically be included in the LLM-accessible content. Transcripts are cleaned (timestamps removed) and formatted for optimal LLM consumption.

All transcript content is available at /{episode-slug}.html.md or /{episode-number}.html.md.

Note: Transcripts are optional. The LLM discovery features work perfectly fine without them, using episode descriptions and metadata from your RSS feed.

Generated Endpoints

All of the following endpoints are automatically generated at build time from your starpod.config.ts and RSS feed:

• /llms.txt - Main discovery file
• /for-llms - Human-readable guide page
• /for-llms.html.md - Markdown version of guide
• /about.html.md - Markdown version of about page
• /episodes-index.html.md - Complete episode listing
• /{episode-slug}.html.md - Individual episode with transcript
• /{episode-number}.html.md - Alternative episode URL

No configuration needed - it just works!

Polar.sh Checkout Integration

This site uses Polar.sh for sponsor checkout. To set it up:

1. Get your Polar credentials:

   • Log in to your Polar dashboard
   • Go to Settings → API to get your access token
   • Create two products for your sponsorship packages (30-second and 60-second ads)
   • Note the product IDs from each product's page

2. Configure environment variables: Create a .env file in the root directory with:

   POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_polar_access_token_here
   POLAR_30SEC_PRODUCT_ID=your_30sec_product_id_here
   POLAR_60SEC_PRODUCT_ID=your_60sec_product_id_here
   POLAR_BOTTLEDROP_PRODUCT_ID=your_bottledrop_product_id_here
   POLAR_CRATE_PRODUCT_ID=your_crate_product_id_here
   POLAR_FULLBARREL_PRODUCT_ID=your_fullbarrel_product_id_here
   POLAR_LABEL_PRODUCT_ID=your_label_product_id_here
   POLAR_SUCCESS_URL=https://whiskey.fm/sponsor/success

3. Test the integration:

   • For testing, you can set PUBLIC_POLAR_SERVER=sandbox in your .env
   • Visit /sponsor and click on either sponsorship option
   • You'll be redirected to Polar's checkout page
   • After successful payment, users return to /sponsor/success

4. Go live:

   • Remove PUBLIC_POLAR_SERVER or set it to production
   • Ensure your product IDs are for production products
   • Test with a real payment to confirm everything works

The integration uses the @polar-sh/astro package which provides:

• Server-side checkout session creation at /api/checkout
• Automatic tax compliance through Polar's Merchant of Record service
• Support for multiple products and dynamic pricing