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Podcast Feeds & Tags

Roe generates a standards-compliant podcast RSS feed for each podcast you configure. These feeds work with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and any other podcast app that supports the iTunes namespace.

Feed URLs

Each podcast gets two feed URLs, derived from the podcast’s key (set in Admin → Settings → Podcasts):

Feed URL Who can access it
Public feed /podcast/{podcast-key}.xml Everyone
Private feed /podcast/{podcast-key}/private.xml?token={member-token} Paid members only

Public Feed

Contains all published episodes with audience: everyone. If Show Paid Content is enabled in your Members settings, paid episodes are included as teasers — title and description are shown but the audio enclosure is omitted, and a “subscribers only” note is added to the description.

Private Feed

Contains all episodes, including paid ones with full audio enclosures. Each paid member gets a unique private feed URL using their personal access_token. Members can find their private feed URL on their account page.

Admins can access the private feed directly without a token.

Note: If a podcast’s audience is set to paid in podcast.yml, no public feed exists at all — only the private feed.


Channel-Level (Podcast Configuration)

Required

iTunes Tag Roe Field Description
title title Podcast name
link link Podcast website URL
description description Podcast description
language language Language code (e.g., “en”)
itunes:author author Show creator/host
itunes:image artwork Artwork (1400x1400 to 3000x3000 px, JPG/PNG)
itunes:category category At least one iTunes category
itunes:explicit explicit true/false
itunes:owner owner_name (or author) + email Contact name and email. Uses owner_name if set, otherwise falls back to author.
iTunes Tag Roe Field Description
itunes:type type “episodic” or “serial”
copyright copyright Copyright notice
itunes:summary description Longer description (same as description)

Situational

iTunes Tag Roe Field Description
itunes:category category_secondary Secondary category
subcategories subcategory, subcategory_secondary Up to 2 subcategories per category (where available in iTunes taxonomy)

Item-Level (Episode Metadata)

Required

iTunes Tag Roe Field Description
title title Episode title
enclosure audio Audio file path
guid guid Permanent unique ID (auto-generated)
pubDate date Publication date
iTunes Tag Roe Field Description
description content Show notes (HTML supported)
itunes:summary excerptsubtitle → first sentence Plain text summary. Resolved in that order; markdown is stripped.
itunes:duration duration Episode length (HH:MM:SS or seconds)
itunes:image image Episode-specific artwork
itunes:explicit explicit true/false
itunes:episodeType episode_type “full”, “trailer”, or “bonus”

Situational

iTunes Tag Roe Field Description
itunes:episode episode_number Episode number (for episodic shows)
itunes:season season Season number (for seasonal shows)
itunes:subtitle subtitle Short teaser/tagline
itunes:author author Override podcast default author