ipodderx-rs/README.md

# ipodderx-rs

A headless podcatcher: scans RSS/Atom feeds, downloads enclosures (HTTP and BitTorrent),
files them into per-feed folders, and reaps old episodes to stay under a disk quota.
Runs as a one-shot CLI or as a daemon with a Unix-socket JSON event stream for a UI to attach to.

## Lineage

This is 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), which was
open-sourced under the MIT License in 2010.

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.

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).

## Quickstart

```sh
cargo install --path .

ipx add https://atp.fm/rss          # names the feed from its own title
ipx list
ipx fetch                           # scan now
ipx daemon                          # or run continuously, honouring each feed's <ttl>
```

Config lives at `~/.config/ipx/config.toml` (mode 0600, since it may hold feed passwords);
state at `~/.local/share/ipx/state.db`. Override with `IPX_CONFIG` and `IPX_DATA_DIR`.
Set `IPX_LOG=ipx=debug` for verbose logging on stderr.

## Commands

| command | what it does |
|---|---|
| `ipx add <url> [--folder X] [--keywords a,b]` | subscribe; the id comes from the feed title |
| `ipx rm <feed>` | unsubscribe; downloads and history are kept |
| `ipx list` / `ipx status` | subscriptions and their state |
| `ipx fetch [FEED] [--force]` | scan; `--force` ignores the TTL |
| `ipx reap [--dry-run]` | run retention now |
| `ipx import/export <file.opml>` | move subscriptions in or out |
| `ipx daemon` | scheduler plus the control socket |

Any command with a wire form probes the socket first: if a daemon is running it does the work,
and the CLI just renders the events it streams back. `--local` forces in-process execution.

## Configuration

```toml
[general]
download_dir   = "~/Podcasts"
socket         = "/run/user/1000/ipx.sock"   # default: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ipx.sock
interval_mins  = 60          # default poll; a feed's own <ttl> wins when longer
organize       = "feed"      # "feed" | "date"
max_total_gb   = 50          # 0 = unlimited
max_age_days   = 30          # 0 = keep forever
max_new_per_check = 3        # per feed, per scan. 0 = unlimited (pulls whole back catalogues)

[torrent]
enabled        = true
seed_ratio     = 1.0         # stop seeding at this ratio ...
seed_time_mins = 60          # ... or after this long, whichever comes first
port_range     = "6881-6889"
stall_mins     = 30          # give up on a torrent making no progress

[feeds.atp]
url                = "https://atp.fm/rss"
folder             = "Accidental Tech Podcast"  # default: the feed title
keywords           = ["deep dive"]   # OR across keywords, AND within one
allow_explicit     = false
auto_download      = true
max_new_per_check  = 3        # the rest wait for the next scan
username           = "ray"                  # optional HTTP basic auth
password_env       = "IPX_ATP_PASS"         # or a literal `password`
```

Retention keeps files that are `flagged` in the database, and deletes read episodes before unread
ones, oldest first.

## Socket protocol

Newline-delimited JSON over a Unix socket, both directions.

```sh
$ printf '{"cmd":"fetch","force":true}\n' | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ipx.sock
{"ev":"feed_start","feed":"atp"}
{"ev":"progress","feed":"atp","url":"...","file":"ep1.mp3","done":8192,"total":3000000}
{"ev":"download_done","feed":"atp","url":"...","path":"...","bytes":3000000}
{"ev":"feed_done","feed":"atp","new":1,"downloaded":1,"failed":0,"torrents":0}
{"ev":"scan_done","feeds":1}
```

Commands: `fetch` (optional `feed`, `force`), `reap` (optional `dry_run`), `status`.
Events: `feed_start`, `feed_skip`, `feed_done`, `feed_error`, `progress`, `download_done`,
`download_error`, `torrent_deferred`, `reaped`, `reap_done`, `scan_done`, `status`, `error`.
`scan_done`, `reap_done` and `status` are terminal -- a client that asked for work stops there.

Progress is throttled to whole percents. The stream is a broadcast, so a client attached to a busy
daemon also sees that daemon's other work.

## OPML

Two different things, both supported:

**Importing and exporting** a file copies subscriptions in or out once — `ipx import subs.opml`,
`ipx export subs.opml`, or the OPML button 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 feed list in step. An OPML is recognised by its
content, so a URL without a `.opml` extension still works.

The feeds inside it 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. Your config keeps only what you chose. They show
as a collapsible folder in the sidebar, download into one nested folder, and newly listed ones are
scanned in the same run rather than waiting for the next interval. They inherit the subscription's
settings; change anything on one and it gets its own config entry from then on.

When a feed drops out of the OPML upstream:

| it has downloads | what happens |
|---|---|
| no | unsubscribed and removed from the config |
| yes | kept, flagged in the UI as no longer listed |

A downloaded file is never left behind with nothing explaining where it came from.

## Web UI

```toml
[web]
enabled = true
bind    = "0.0.0.0:8080"   # 127.0.0.1:8080 by default
token   = ""               # generated and written back on first run
```

`ipx daemon` then serves it in the same process (`ipx daemon --web ADDR` overrides the bind for one
run). On first start it mints a token, saves it to config.toml, and prints the URL to open:

```
web ui token generated. Open:
  http://0.0.0.0:8080/?token=1f4c…
```

`?token=` sets a year-long cookie, so you only paste it once per browser. Everything is behind that
token, including `/media/...` — a cookie rather than a header precisely because an `<audio>` element
cannot send headers.

Browse feeds, read show notes, play episodes in the browser (Range requests are served, so seeking
works), download or delete individual files, mark episodes read or flag them to keep, and edit a
feed's folder/keywords/explicit/auto-download/limit settings. Config edits are written to
config.toml and hot-reloaded — no daemon restart.

Show notes are feed-supplied HTML from an untrusted source; they are sanitized with `ammonia`
server-side before they reach the page.

**It is plain HTTP.** On a LAN bind, the token and everything else crosses the network in the
clear — and a feed URL can itself contain a credential (Patreon's, for one, carries an auth token).
Put it behind a reverse proxy with TLS if that matters to you.

## Log view

The **Log** button in the sidebar shows the running daemon's output live: feed scans, downloads,
torrent activity and every HTTP request, with level and text filters and a copy button. It reads a
2000-line ring buffer held inside the process (`/api/logs`), not a file — so it works the same under
Docker, where logs go to stdout and there is no file to tail. `IPX_LOG=ipx=debug` adds detail;
`IPX_LOG=ipx=info,librqbit=info` shows what torrents are doing.

## Docker

```sh
docker compose up -d          # builds the image and starts it
docker compose logs -f ipx    # the token is printed on first start
```

`docker-compose.yml` mounts `./config`, `./data` and a downloads directory, 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. On first start the entrypoint writes a config bound to
`0.0.0.0`, since a container's loopback is not reachable from outside it, and prints the URL with
its generated token.

The healthcheck runs `ipx status`, which goes through the control socket to the command worker — so
it catches a daemon that is alive but wedged, not 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).

## License

MIT. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).