Each podcast has an RSS feed URL and a browser preview URL. Podcast apps read the RSS feed. Humans can use the preview page to inspect the show.
Feed URL formats
With pretty permalinks enabled:
https://example.com/feed/podcast-slug
Without pretty permalinks:
https://example.com/?feed=podcast-slug
For Pro private podcasts, the tokenized feed URL uses:
https://example.com/shp-private-podcast/podcast-slug/token
For migrated podcasts with feed takeover enabled, the public feed URL can remain the original source feed URL.
Preview URL
The preview URL adds shp_preview=1 to the feed URL.
Example:
https://example.com/feed/podcast-slug?shp_preview=1
The preview page is generated from the same podcast and episode data but is served as HTML. The XML feed remains unchanged for podcast apps.
Feed Settings
Open a podcast and go to Feed Settings.
Maximum number of episodes in the feed
Use this to control feed length.
0: show all published episodes.- Any positive number: show only that many newest published episodes.
This affects the RSS feed and the preview because both read the same prepared episode list.
Show website link in preview
Controls whether the preview sidebar displays the podcast website link.
Show feed link in preview
Controls whether the preview sidebar displays the RSS feed URL for copying.
Show notes modal in preview
Controls whether visitors can open full episode show notes inside the preview page.
Episode summary style
Choose whether episode cards show:
- Excerpt: a shortened summary.
- Full Content: the full feed description content.
This setting affects preview display, not the podcast RSS description.
Apple Podcasts URL
Add the public Apple Podcasts show URL after the show is approved. The preview can show it as a listening option.
Spotify URL
Add the public Spotify show URL after the show is approved. The preview can show it as a listening option.
XML feed contents
The feed includes common RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Podcasting 2.0 metadata, including:
- Show title, link, description, language, copyright, author, owner, artwork, categories, GUID, funding, lock status, and verification tags.
- Episode title, link, summary, description, author, publish date, enclosure, duration, artwork, episode number, season, episode type, GUID, explicit flag, block flag, and transcript metadata.
If the feed does not load
Try these checks:
- Save Settings > Permalinks.
- Confirm the podcast slug exists.
- Confirm the podcast has required show data.
- Confirm at least one episode is published.
- Disable caching or security rules that rewrite feed responses.
- Check for PHP warnings printed before XML output.
- Open the browser preview to see whether the show data can be rendered as HTML.