Overview

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Selfhost Podcasting is a WordPress podcast feed manager for creating, editing, previewing, and publishing podcast RSS feeds from your WordPress admin.

It stores podcast data in WordPress, generates Apple/Spotify-compatible RSS, and gives each podcast its own management workspace. The plugin now uses a redesigned backend UI with a podcast library, per-podcast overview, list-table episode management, service connection screens, feed settings, and optional Pro private access panels.

Introductory video: https://youtu.be/IPdc4naKSaY

What the plugin manages

  • Podcasts: show-level records stored as sh_podcasting_pod posts. A podcast contains the feed slug, show metadata, artwork, categories, owner details, settings, integrations, and attached episode list.
  • Episodes: episode-level records stored either as the plugin episode post type sh_podcasting_epi or, for some migrated sites, as normal WordPress post records with Selfhost episode metadata attached.
  • Feeds: RSS URLs generated from each podcast slug. Public feeds usually use /feed/podcast-slug; private Pro feeds use protected routes.
  • Preview pages: browser-friendly HTML previews generated from the same podcast data, available by adding shp_preview=1 to the feed URL.

Current admin workflow

Open Selfhost Podcasting in the WordPress admin. The main screen is the podcast library. It shows podcast cards, search, and filters for native, private, and imported podcasts when those states exist. From each card you can open the feed, preview, manage the podcast, delete it, or use migration controls on imported podcasts.

Each podcast opens on Overview. The overview shows:

  • Primary RSS Feed URL.
  • Web Preview URL.
  • Directory readiness checklist.
  • Published episode stats.
  • Quick links to podcast sections.
  • Public/private status when Pro is active.

The podcast sections are:

  • Podcast Information: show-level RSS metadata.
  • Manage Episodes: create, import, edit, filter, search, paginate, detach, trash, and inspect feed readiness.
  • Connect Services: Podcast Player, Third Party Analytics, and S3 Buckets.
  • Feed Settings: feed length and preview-page options.
  • Private Podcasting and Subscribers when the Pro module is active.
  • Error Log when background jobs have recorded errors.

The admin menu also includes All Episodes, a global screen for episodes across every podcast and supported episode storage type.

Main features

  • Manage multiple podcast feeds from one WordPress site.
  • Create audio or video podcast episodes.
  • Store separate feed descriptions and website post content.
  • Use feed-ready indicators to find incomplete episodes.
  • Import episodes from external RSS feeds.
  • Migrate from supported WordPress podcast plugins.
  • Serve source-compatible feed URLs after supported migrations.
  • Preview podcast pages in the browser without changing the XML feed.
  • Add Apple Podcasts and Spotify preview links.
  • Connect Podcast Player for website playback.
  • Add analytics prefixes for providers such as Podtrac, Blubrry, or OP3.
  • Upload episode media to S3-compatible storage including Cloudflare R2, Amazon S3, and Wasabi.
  • Use background jobs for uploads, deletion cleanup, and missing duration repair.
  • Use tokenized private RSS or website-only private listening with Pro.

Requirements

  • WordPress 6.0 or newer.
  • PHP 7.4 or newer.
  • Administrator access for plugin management.
  • HTTPS for production feeds.
  • Working WP-Cron or loopback requests for background work.
  • Enough server upload, memory, execution time, and temporary disk space for podcast media.

Optional integrations have their own requirements: Podcast Player must be installed for player syncing, an analytics provider must provide a valid prefix URL, S3 storage requires valid bucket credentials, and Pro e-commerce access requires one of the supported commerce or membership plugins.