pocket-casts

What This Skill Does

The pocket-casts skill enables OpenClaw users to bridge the gap between YouTube content and their personal podcast library. By automating the extraction, remuxing, and cloud-upload workflow, it allows you to consolidate long-form YouTube content—such as video essays, lectures, or interviews—directly into the Pocket Casts "Files" section. The skill handles the complexity of authentication, API handshake, and media processing, turning a technical multi-step task into a simple command-line operation or an automated agent task. It is designed for personal content archival and offline consumption, respecting the privacy of your Pocket Casts account while leveraging powerful tools like yt-dlp and ffmpeg for high-quality file preparation.

Installation

To get started, first ensure your system is equipped with the core dependencies: yt-dlp, ffmpeg, curl, and jq. Installation can be handled via standard package managers like apt. Next, configure the mandatory credentials. Create the directory ~/.clawdbot/credentials/pocket-casts and apply strict permissions (chmod 700). Within this folder, you must place two critical files: a config.json containing your Pocket Casts refresh token and a cookies.txt file exported from a browser session logged into YouTube. This ensures that the downloader can bypass basic anti-bot protections and interact with the Pocket Casts API securely.

Use Cases

This skill is ideal for power users who maintain a curated library of educational or creative content. Common use cases include: migrating saved "Watch Later" educational videos to an audio-focused player for commuting, creating a private "playlist" of videos that lack official podcast RSS feeds, and ensuring your favorite content is available offline without relying on YouTube Premium's specific app limitations. It is particularly effective for listeners who prefer the Pocket Casts playback experience (skip silence, volume boost) for video-based educational content.

Example Prompts

1. "OpenClaw, download the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example and add it to my Pocket Casts library."
2. "Please save the latest video from the tech talk channel as 'Cloud Computing 101' in my Pocket Casts Files."
3. "Upload the YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sample to my Pocket Casts account so I can listen to it while I'm offline."

Tips & Limitations

Be aware that YouTube's cookie security is dynamic; if the skill fails to download, you likely need to export a fresh cookies.txt from your browser. Performance and upload success depend heavily on your Pocket Casts subscription tier, which determines storage limits. Always verify your rights to the content you are uploading, as the skill does not verify copyright status. Using this tool for large-scale redistribution or public sharing may violate terms of service and legal standards.