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README: a short overview that points into docs/

Browse Source 
It described the layout from before 0.4.0 (items across the top, a
player below), and carried long sections on OPML, the log view and
this server's own deploy steps, all of which docs/ and CLAUDE.md cover.
It now says what ipx does, how to run it with Docker or from source,
the first sign-in, the TLS caveat, where the docs are, and the tests.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_0173mGu6rK18Ne7UGTwAaVJV
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Ray Slakinski
2026-09-11 17:36:34 +00:00
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## [Unreleased]
### Changed
- The README is a short overview of what ipx does and how to run it, and points into `docs/` for
the rest. It still described the layout from before 0.4.0.
## [0.4.0] - 2026-09-11
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# ipodderx-rs
A headless podcatcher: scans RSS/Atom feeds, downloads enclosures (HTTP and BitTorrent), files them
into per-feed folders, and reaps old files to stay under a disk quota. Runs as a one-shot CLI or as
a daemon with a web UI, serving any number of people from one copy of the data.
A self-hosted podcatcher for a household. It checks your feeds, downloads the episodes, and serves
a web UI modelled on the 2004 Mac app **iPodderX**, for any number of people sharing one copy of
the files. One Rust binary, `ipx`, is both the daemon and the command line.
## Lineage
It is a rewrite of [ipodderx-core](https://git.sdf1.net/rays/ipodderx-core), the Python engine
behind iPodderX (2004-2008, Ray Slakinski & August Trometer).
A modern Rust rewrite of [ipodderx-core](https://git.sdf1.net/rays/ipodderx-core), the Python 2
engine behind **iPodderX** (2004-2008, Ray Slakinski & August Trometer), open-sourced under the MIT
License in 2010.
## What it does
What carries over: the feed scan and TTL handling, GUID/URL dedupe, per-feed and per-date download
folders, keyword filters, the explicit-content filter, torrent enclosures, and "SmartSpace" -- the
oldest-first disk quota reaper.
- **The web UI.** It has a toolbar, and a feed list that opens with Directory, Popular and All
Subscriptions. Items sit in a sortable table with a Files pane, and there is a player bar. It
comes in Dark, Light and Classic themes, and works on a phone.
- **Several people, one copy.** Each person has their own subscriptions and their own read, kept
and playback state. There is one file on disk per episode, however many people want it. People
sign in with a password or through a proxy (Cloudflare Zero Trust or Authentik), and admins
manage accounts and settings.
- **Scanning.** Feeds are checked on a schedule, globally or per feed, and a feed's own TTL is
honoured. Keyword, explicit-content and media-type filters decide what is downloaded, with a cap
on new downloads per scan.
- **Downloads.** Files come over HTTP or BitTorrent and are filed into a folder per feed.
Retention deletes the oldest files to stay under a disk quota or an age limit, and never touches
an item someone has kept.
- **OPML.** You can import and export your own subscriptions. You can also subscribe to an OPML
URL, which keeps a whole list in step as a folder.
What does not: iTunes and iPhoto export via AppleScript, text-to-speech enclosures, the Windows
WMP/COM paths, XML plists and Python pickles for state, the `directory.iPodderX.com` survey ping,
3DES-encrypted preferences, and the `printMSG` stdout protocol -- replaced by a JSON-lines socket.
## Run it
## Quick start
With Docker:
```sh
docker build -t ipodderx .
docker compose up -d
```
`docker-compose.yml` is set up for the author's own server. Point its `image` and its three volumes
(`/config`, `/data` and `/downloads`) at yours first. The UI is on port 8099. BitTorrent uses 6881
over TCP and UDP. Files are written as `PUID`/`PGID`, 99:100 by default.
From source:
```sh
cargo build --release
install -m755 target/release/ipx ~/.cargo/bin/
ipx add https://atp.fm/rss # subscribe
ipx fetch # scan and download
ipx daemon # scheduler, control socket and web UI
./target/release/ipx daemon
```
On first start with `[web] enabled = true` the daemon mints a token, writes it to config.toml and
prints the URL to open. A database with no accounts starts with **admin / ipodderx** at `/login` --
change it with `echo -n '<password>' | ipx user passwd admin`.
The first start creates **admin / ipodderx**. Sign in at `/login`, then change it:
```sh
echo -n 'a good password' | ipx user passwd admin
```
The UI is plain HTTP, so put TLS in front of it if it is reachable from outside your network.
## Documentation
| | |
|---|---|
| [docs/configuration.md](docs/configuration.md) | Every config key, paths, environment variables |
| [docs/configuration.md](docs/configuration.md) | Every config key, path and environment variable |
| [docs/cli.md](docs/cli.md) | Every command, including `ipx user` |
| [docs/users.md](docs/users.md) | Accounts, and what several people share |
| [docs/sso.md](docs/sso.md) | Cloudflare Zero Trust or Authentik in front |
| [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md) | How it works: modules, schema, socket, HTTP API |
| [docs/sso.md](docs/sso.md) | Signing in through Cloudflare Zero Trust or Authentik |
| [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md) | How it works: modules, schema, control socket, HTTP API |
| [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) | What changed, by release |
| [docs/history.md](docs/history.md) | How it was built: the long form, with what was wrong and why |
| [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) | Notes for anyone (or anything) working on the code |
## The web UI
`ipx daemon` serves it in the same process, so it reads SQLite and the event bus directly.
Feeds down the side; the selected feed's items across the top; the selected item's text and its
enclosures below, which is where you play, download or delete them. The divider drags and its
position is remembered. Playback serves Range requests, so seeking works. An OPML subscription is a
collapsible folder whose page lists the feeds inside it.
An item may carry several enclosures; all of them appear below, and anything that is not audio or
video gets a View link rather than a player -- the publisher's copy until it is downloaded, the
local one after. Opening an item marks it read. Show notes are untrusted feed HTML, sanitized with
`ammonia` server-side before they reach the page.
The **Log** button shows the running daemon live in four tabs: *Daemon I/O* is the control protocol
itself, every command in and event out; *Scans* is feed and download activity; *HTTP* is web
requests; *All* is everything, with level and text filters and a copy button. It reads a ring buffer
held in the process, not a file, so it works the same under Docker.
It is plain HTTP. On a LAN bind the token and everything else cross the network in the clear, and a
feed URL can itself carry a credential. Put TLS in front of it if that matters.
## OPML
**Importing and exporting** a file copies subscriptions in or out once: `ipx import subs.opml`,
`ipx export subs.opml`, or Settings → Subscriptions in the UI.
**Subscribing to an OPML URL** is a live subscription, as iPodderX had. Add the OPML's URL like any
other feed; every scan re-reads it and keeps your list in step. The feeds inside are not written to
config.toml -- the OPML is the source of truth, so they are re-derived each scan and held in the
database. They show as a folder, download into one nested folder, and inherit the subscription's
settings until you change one, which gives it its own entry.
When a feed drops out of the OPML upstream, it is unsubscribed and removed -- unless it has
downloads, in which case it is kept and flagged in the UI as no longer listed. A downloaded file is
never left behind with nothing explaining where it came from.
## Docker
```sh
docker buildx build --tag 192.168.1.130:5000/ipodderx:latest . --push
docker compose pull ipodderx && docker compose up -d ipodderx
docker compose logs -f ipodderx # the first start prints the default admin password
```
`docker-compose.yml` runs the image from the registry above rather than building it, so build and
push first; change the tag in both places to use another registry. It mounts `/config` (config.toml),
`/data` (state.db) and `/downloads` from this install's host paths, which you will want to change for
yours. It publishes 8099 for the
UI and 6881 (TCP **and** UDP -- DHT needs the UDP side), and sets `PUID`/`PGID` to `99:100` so files
land owned the way Unraid shares expect. The healthcheck runs `ipx status` through the control
socket, so it catches a daemon that is alive but wedged rather than merely one that has died.
## Running it as a service
`contrib/` has a systemd user unit for the daemon, and a timer plus one-shot service if you would
rather run periodic scans with no daemon -- in which case there is no socket for a UI to attach to.
| [docs/history.md](docs/history.md) | How it was built, with what was wrong and why |
| [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) | Notes for working on the code, including how production is deployed |
## Tests
```sh
cargo test # the engine: parsing, filters, retention, schedules, SQL, per-user state
node tests/page-smoke.js # the page script loads without throwing
npx playwright test # a real browser against a real daemon
npx playwright test # a real browser against a real daemon on fixture feeds
```
`npm install` gets the test runner; the browser comes from
`npx playwright install --with-deps chromium` (in `install.sh`).
`npm install` gets the test runner, and `npx playwright install --with-deps chromium` gets the
browser.
## License
MIT. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).
The icons are [Font Awesome Free](https://fontawesome.com) 7.3.1 by @fontawesome, under
[CC BY 4.0](https://fontawesome.com/license/free), embedded as SVG in `web/index.html`.
MIT, see [LICENSE](LICENSE). The icons are [Font Awesome Free](https://fontawesome.com) 7.3.1 by
@fontawesome, under [CC BY 4.0](https://fontawesome.com/license/free), embedded as SVG.