Getting Started
PinePods is a Rust based podcast management system that manages podcasts with multi-user support and relies on a central database with clients to connect to it. It's browser based and your podcasts and settings follow you from device to device due to everything being stored on the server. It works on mobile devices and can also sync with a Nextcloud server so you can use external apps Like Antennapod as well!
Features#
Pinepods is a complete podcast management system and allows you to play, download, and keep track of podcasts you (or any of your users) enjoy. It allows for searching new podcasts using The Podcast Index or Itunes and provides a modern looking UI to browse through shows and episodes. In addition, Pinepods provides simple user managment and can be used by multiple users at once using a browser or app version. Everything is saved into a Mysql (alternative database support is on the roadmap) database including user settings, podcasts and episodes. It's fully self-hosted, open-sourced, and I provide an option to use a hosted search API or you can also get one from the Podcast Index and use your own. There's even many different themes to choose from! Everything is fully dockerized and I provide a simple guide found below explaining how to install and run Pinepods on your own system.
Try it out! ⚡#
I try and maintain an instance of Pinepods that's publicly accessible for testing over at try.pinepods.online. Feel free to make an account there and try it out before making your own server instance. This is not intended as a permanant method of using Pinepods and it's expected you run your own server so accounts will often be deleted from there.
Installing 🏃♂️#
There's potentially a few steps to getting Pinepods fully installed. After you get your server up and running fully you can also install the client editions of your choice. The server install of Pinepods runs a server and a browser client over a port of your choice in order to be accessible on the web. With the client installs you simply give the client your server url to connect to the database and then sign in.
Server Installation 💾#
First, the server. It's hightly recommended you run the server using docker compose. Here's a template compose file to start with.
Compose File#
version: '3'services: db: image: mariadb:latest command: --wait_timeout=1800 environment: MYSQL_TCP_PORT: 3306 MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: myS3curepass MYSQL_DATABASE: pypods_database MYSQL_COLLATION_SERVER: utf8mb4_unicode_ci MYSQL_CHARACTER_SET_SERVER: utf8mb4 MYSQL_INIT_CONNECT: 'SET @@GLOBAL.max_allowed_packet=64*1024*1024;' volumes: - /home/user/pinepods/sql:/var/lib/mysql ports: - "3306:3306" restart: always pinepods: image: madeofpendletonwool/pinepods:latest ports: # Pinepods Main Port - "8040:8040" environment: # Basic Server Info SEARCH_API_URL: 'https://search.pinepods.online/api/search' # Default Admin User Information USERNAME: myadminuser01 PASSWORD: myS3curepass FULLNAME: Pinepods Admin EMAIL: user@pinepods.online # Database Vars DB_TYPE: mariadb DB_HOST: db DB_PORT: 3306 DB_USER: root DB_PASSWORD: myS3curepass DB_NAME: pypods_database # Enable or Disable Debug Mode for additional Printing DEBUG_MODE: False volumes: # Mount the download and the backup location on the server if you want to. You could mount a nas to the downloads folder or something like that. # The backups directory is used if backups are made on the web version on pinepods. When taking backups on the client version it downloads them locally.
- /home/user/pinepods/downloads:/opt/pinepods/downloads - /home/user/pinepods/backups:/opt/pinepods/backups depends_on: - dbMake sure you change these variables to variables specific to yourself.
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: password SEARCH_API_URL: 'https://search.pinepods.online/api/search' USERNAME: pinepods PASSWORD: password FULLNAME: John Pinepods EMAIL: john@pinepods.com DB_PASSWORD: password # This should match the MSQL_ROOT_PASSWORDMost of those are pretty obvious, but let's break a couple of them down.
Admin User Info#
First of all, the USERNAME, PASSWORD, FULLNAME, and EMAIL vars are your details for your default admin account. This account will have admin credentails and will be able to log in right when you start up the app. Once started you'll be able to create more users and even more admins but you need an account to kick things off on. If you don't specify credentials in the compose file it will create an account with a random password for you but I would recommend just creating one for yourself.
Note on the Search API#
Let's talk quickly about the searching API. This allows you to search for new podcasts and it queries either itunes or the podcast index for new podcasts. The podcast index requires an api key while itunes does not. If you'd rather not mess with the api at all simply set the API_URL to the one below.
SEARCH_API_URL: 'https://api.pinepods.online/api/search'Above is an api that I maintain. I do not guarantee 100% uptime on this api though, it should be up most of the time besides a random internet or power outage here or there. A better idea though, and what I would honestly recommend is to maintain your own api. It's super easy. Check out the API docs for more information on doing this. Link Below -
https://www.pinepods.online/docs/API/search_api
Start it up!#
Either way, once you have everything all setup and your compose file created go ahead and run
sudo docker-compose upTo pull the container images and get started. Once fully started up you'll be able to access pinepods at the port you configured and you'll be able to start connecting clients as well. Check out the Tutorials on the documentation site for more information on how to do basic things.
https://pinepods.online/tutorial-basic/sign-in-homescreen.md
Linux Client Install 💻#
Any of the client additions are super easy to get going. First head over to the releases page on Github
https://github.com/madeofpendletonwool/PinePods/releases
Grab the latest linux release. There's both an app image and a deb. Use the appimage of course if you aren't using a debian based distro. Change the permissions if using the appimage version to allow it to run.
sudo chmod +x pinepods.appimage^ The name will vary slightly based on the name so be sure you change it or it won't work.
Once started you'll be able to sign in with your username and password. The server name is simply the url you browse to to access the server.
Windows Client Install 💻#
Any of the client additions are super easy to get going. First head over to the releases page on Github
https://github.com/madeofpendletonwool/PinePods/releases
There's a exe and msi windows install file.
The exe will actually start an install window and allow you to properly install the program to your computer.
The msi will simply run a portable version of the app.
Either one does the same thing ultimately and will work just fine.
Once started you'll be able to sign in with your username and password. The server name is simply the url you browse to to access the server.
Mac Client Install 💻#
Any of the client additions are super easy to get going. First head over to the releases page on Github
https://github.com/madeofpendletonwool/PinePods/releases
There's a dmg and pinepods_mac file.
Simply extract, and then go into Contents/MacOS. From there you can run the app.
The dmg file will prompt you to install the Pinepods client into your applications fileter while the _mac file will just run a portable version of the app.
Once started you'll be able to sign in with your username and password. The server name is simply the url you browse to to access the server.
Android Install 📱#
Coming Soon - The web app works great for phones. Otherwise, if you sync using Nextcloud you can use the AntennaPods app and your podcasts will sync between Antennapod and Pinepods.
ios Install 📱#
Coming Soon - The web app works great for phones.
Pinepods Firewood#
A CLI only client that can be used to remotely share your podcasts to is in the works! Check out Pinepods Firewood!
Platform Availability#
The Intention is for this app to become available on Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, and IOS. Windows, Linux, Mac, and web are all currently available and working. For Android you can use AntennaPod and sync podcasts between AntennaPod and Pinepods using the Nextcloud sync App.