PodLearn
Search 4M+ podcasts & YouTube, transcribe any episode, search transcripts, generate AI lessons.
Install
Add this to your client's MCP configuration (Claude Desktop: claude_desktop_config.json; Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json; VS Code and others use the same "mcpServers" shape).
claude mcp add --transport http podlearn 'https://podlearn.ai/mcp' --header 'Authorization: <Optional: Bearer pl_mcp_... personal token for headless clients. Interactive clients sign in with OAuth.>'
{
"mcpServers": {
"podlearn": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://podlearn.ai/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "<Optional: Bearer pl_mcp_... personal token for headless clients. Interactive clients sign in with OAuth.>"
}
}
}
}
Documentation
From the project's README on GitHub, refreshed weekly. Links open on GitHub.
Contents
🎧 PodLearn for Claude Code
Stop listening. Start learning.
The podcast & video knowledge engine, right inside Claude Code. Drop a link. Get a verbatim transcript, a searchable archive, and an AI lesson in seconds.
Some of the best thinking on the planet is locked inside hours of audio you'll never have time for. PodLearn unlocks it. Hand Claude any podcast or YouTube URL and it transcribes the whole thing (yes, even long talks with no captions), makes every word searchable, and distills the ideas into a structured lesson. No tab-switching, no copy-paste, no "I'll get to it later."
One install adds the PodLearn skill and MCP server to Claude Code. The skill handles the routing; the MCP does the work. You just talk.
✨ Why people use it
- ⏱️ Hours → minutes. A 2-hour interview becomes a transcript + lesson you skim in five.
- 🔎 Find the exact moment. Full-text search across every transcript, with citations. "Where did they talk about pricing?" jumps you straight there.
- ▶️ YouTube that actually works. Paste any video, captions or not. Conference talks, lectures, channel deep-dives, all transcribed natively.
- 📚 Bulk a whole season.
transcribe_feedingests an entire podcast feed in one shot, not episode-by-episode. - 🧠 Lessons, not just text. Auto-generated key takeaways and structured notes you can act on.
- 🤖 Agent-native. It's a real MCP server, so every call composes with the rest of your Claude workflow (turn a lesson into a LinkedIn post, feed quotes into a doc, whatever).
💬 What you can ask
"What podcasts do you have about AI agents?" "Transcribe this and make me a lesson: ‹youtube or podcast URL›" "Find the best quotes about pricing from ‹episode›" "Transcribe the last 10 episodes of ‹podcast› and summarize the themes." "Turn that lesson into a LinkedIn post."
⚡ Install (60 seconds)
1. Have a PodLearn account (free, 2 credits to try) at podlearn.ai. No token needed: you sign in once in your browser.
2. Add the marketplace — in Claude Code (run this on its own, wait for confirmation):
/plugin marketplace add blutrich/podlearn-plugin
3. Install the plugin — then run:
/plugin install podlearn@podlearn
⚠️ Run them one at a time — they're two separate slash commands. Pasting both lines at once makes Claude treat the second as part of the first.
4. Restart Claude Code (or claude reload).
5. Sign in. Run /mcp, pick podlearn, choose Authenticate, and
approve PodLearn in the browser. Approve both read and write if you want
Claude to transcribe and save things for you (it still asks before spending
credits). Then start asking.
That's it. The plugin ships the skill and the MCP, so there's no separate
claude mcp add step and nothing to wire up by hand.
📦 What's inside
Skill (podlearn) | Routes your intent through the MCP tools so you never think about which one to call. |
| MCP server | search_podcasts · search_youtube · search_episodes · list_feed_episodes · transcribe_url · transcribe_feed (bulk/season) · get_transcription · search_transcription · generate_lesson · generate_linkedin_post · and more. |
🔌 Just the MCP server (without the plugin)
The plugin already bundles the server, so most people don't need this. But if you want the MCP on its own — in Claude Desktop, Cursor, ChatGPT, or any other MCP client, or in Claude Code without the skill — add it directly.
Claude app (web, desktop, mobile): Settings → Connectors → Add custom
connector → paste https://podlearn.ai/mcp → Connect, and sign in.
Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http podlearn https://podlearn.ai/mcp
Then /mcp → podlearn → Authenticate.
Codex:
codex mcp add podlearn --url https://podlearn.ai/mcp
codex mcp login podlearn --scopes mcp:read,mcp:write
Any MCP client — point it at the Streamable HTTP endpoint and sign in with OAuth:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Transport | Streamable HTTP (http) |
| URL | https://podlearn.ai/mcp |
| Auth | OAuth (sign in with your PodLearn account) |
Headless client that can't open a browser? Create a personal token in
Settings → API Tokens and send it as the
Authorization: Bearer … header. Never put it in the URL: tokens in the
query string are ignored, and calls will hang waiting for a sign-in.
Full setup guide: podlearn.ai/mcp-docs.
🔄 Manage
/plugin marketplace update podlearn # pull the latest
/plugin uninstall podlearn@podlearn # remove the plugin
/plugin marketplace remove podlearn # remove the marketplace
🔐 Notes
- Your account, your permissions. The MCP signs in with OAuth; you choose
read-only or read + write in the browser. Auth error or "insufficient scope"?
Run
/mcp→ podlearn → re-authenticate. To get write access after a read-only sign-in, remove and re-add the server first. - Upgrading from 1.0.x? The old token prompt is gone. Update the
marketplace, reinstall, restart, then sign in with
/mcp. You can revoke the oldpl_mcp_…token in Settings → API Tokens. - Transparent pricing. Reading and searching transcripts already in your
library is free. Paid actions (
transcribe_url,transcribe_feed,generate_lesson) spend PodLearn credits, and the skill confirms the cost before charging. Start with 2 free credits; top up or subscribe at podlearn.ai.
🌐 Also available
PodLearn runs as a web app at podlearn.ai and as an MCP server for Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible client. This plugin is the fastest way to use it from Claude Code.
📄 License
AGPL-3.0 — © 2026 Ofer Blutrich. Built on the PodLearn platform.
Frequently asked questions
What is PodLearn?
Search 4M+ podcasts & YouTube, transcribe any episode, search transcripts, generate AI lessons.
How do I install PodLearn?
It runs as a remote server. In Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http podlearn 'https://podlearn.ai/mcp' --header 'Authorization: <Optional: Bearer pl_mcp_... personal token for headless clients. Interactive clients sign in with OAuth.>'. For other clients, paste the JSON configuration from this page into their MCP settings.
Does PodLearn need an API key?
Yes. It expects Authorization, which you set in its configuration.
Is PodLearn open source?
Its code is public on GitHub, but the repository does not declare a standard license.
Who maintains PodLearn?
It is published by blutrich. AI.tn lists it but does not maintain or endorse it.
From the official MCP Registry. Listing is not an endorsement: review a server's code and permissions before giving it access to your data.