Pocket Casts MCP Server
An MCP server that connects AI assistants to your Pocket Casts account. Browse your subscriptions, read episode details, and retrieve transcripts — with automatic transcription via AssemblyAI when no native transcript exists.
Built with Bun and FastMCP. Deployable to Railway or any Docker host.
Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
list-podcasts | List all subscribed podcasts (includes folder UUIDs) |
new-episodes | Get recent episodes from your subscriptions |
get-episode | Get details about a specific episode by UUID |
get-transcript | Get an episode's transcript (falls back to AssemblyAI if none exists) |
check-transcripts | Check transcript availability across all podcasts or a specific folder |
Setup
Prerequisites
- Bun v1.3+
- A Pocket Casts account (Plus required for API access)
Install and authenticate
bun install
bun run login
The login command will prompt for your Pocket Casts email and password, then save tokens to auth.json.
Configure environment
Create a .env file:
MCP_API_KEY=your-secret-key-here
ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY=your-assemblyai-key # optional, enables transcription fallback
Run
bun run start
The server starts on port 3001 (override with PORT env var) using HTTP stream transport.
Connecting to an MCP client
Point your MCP client at:
http://localhost:3001/mcp
Authenticate with either:
Authorization: Bearer <MCP_API_KEY>header?api_key=<MCP_API_KEY>query parameter
Deploy to Railway
The included Dockerfile is Railway-ready. Set these environment variables in your Railway project:
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
MCP_API_KEY | Yes | Bearer token for MCP client auth |
POCKETCASTS_ACCESS_TOKEN | Yes | From auth.json after login |
POCKETCASTS_REFRESH_TOKEN | Yes | From auth.json after login |
POCKETCASTS_EXPIRES_AT | Yes | From auth.json after login |
ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY | No | Enables transcription for episodes without native transcripts |
PORT | No | Railway sets this automatically |
How transcripts work
- Checks for Pocket Casts-generated transcripts first
- Falls back to RSS-sourced transcripts if available
- If neither exists and
ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEYis set, submits the audio URL directly to AssemblyAI for transcription (no file download required)