podcastindexlisted

# Podcast Index Four million podcasts, plus the Podcasting 2.0 data attached to them: transcripts, chapters, guest credits, highlight clips and payment splits. The thing worth knowing first: **this server reads transcripts.** Podcast Index publishes a link to an episode's transcript file and stops. `get_transcript` fetches that file and parses it, and `search_transcript` finds the moment a phrase was said. So "when did they talk about X" is answerable here, and it is not answerable from metadata. ## Reach for these first Only the non-obvious routing is here. The tool list already tells you what each tool does. `get_show_profile` returns the whole picture in one call. Building the same answer from four separate calls is four requests and a slower reply. `get_chapters` before `get_transcript` when the question is "what is in this episode". Chapters are a fraction of the tokens and usually answer it. `search_podcasts` first whenever you only have a name. Every other tool wants a feed id or a feed URL, so guessing one wastes a turn. ## The rules that prevent wrong answers **Absence is the normal case.** Transcripts, chapters, person credits, soundbites and value blocks are all optional RSS tags, and most feeds carry none. An empty result is a fact about that show. Do not retry, and do not fall back to summarising an episode from its show notes as though you had read it. **Nothing here transcribes audio.** If a show publishes no transcript, there is no transcript. Say so