Starpod

Starpod is the easiest way to create a podcast website in 5 minutes or less and it is 100% free and open source.

Configuration

You will need to configure your RSS feed and a few other pieces of info for your podcast in starpod.config.mjs. We provide a util function defineStarpodConfig that provides TypeScript types and enforces the correct formats for config values.

An example config can be found here.

Options

blurb

A very short tagline for your show. Generally, no more than one sentence. Less is more here.

Example:

blurb: 'A whiskey fueled fireside chat with your favorite web developers.',

description

A somewhat longer description of what your show is about. This should still ideally be fairly short, and should usually be 2-4 sentences.

Example:

description:
  'Veteran web developers RobbieTheWagner, Charles William Carpenter III, and Adam Argyle host this informal, whiskey-fueled fireside chat with your favorite web devs. They discuss all things web development including JavaScript, TypeScript, EmberJS, React, Astro, SolidJS, CSS, HTML, Web3, and more. They take a unique approach and focus on getting to know the human side of developers and their hobbies outside of work, all while sampling a new whiskey that they rate on their unique tentacle scale.',

hosts

A list of your show's hosts and their info.

Example:

hosts: [
  {
    name: 'RobbieTheWagner',
    bio: 'Huge Ember and Tailwind fanboy. I used to work at Netflix btw.',
    img: '/src/img/people/robbiethewagner.jpg',
    github: 'https://github.com/RobbieTheWagner',
    twitter: 'https://twitter.com/RobbieTheWagner',
    website: 'https://robbiethewagner.dev'
  },
  {
    name: 'Charles William Carpenter III',
    bio: 'Third of his name, user of gifs, hater of ESM.',
    img: '/src/img/people/chuckcarpenter.jpg',
    github: 'https://github.com/chuckcarpenter',
    twitter: 'https://twitter.com/CharlesWthe3rd'
  },
  {
    name: 'Adam Argyle',
    bio: 'Devigner unicorn, CSS dork, punky but nice.',
    img: 'argyleink.jpg',
    github: 'https://github.com/argyleink',
    twitter: 'https://x.com/argyleink',
    website: 'https://nerdy.dev'
  }
],

platforms

Links to the platforms your show is available on.

Example:

platforms: {
  apple:
    'https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whiskey-web-and-whatnot/id1552776603?uo=4?mt=2&ls=1',
  overcast: 'https://overcast.fm/itunes1552776603',
  spotify: 'https://open.spotify.com/show/19jiuHAqzeKnkleQUpZxDf',
  youtube: 'https://www.youtube.com/@WhiskeyWebAndWhatnot/'
},

rssFeed

The url to the RSS feed where your podcast is hosted.

Example:

rssFeed: 'https://feed.cdnstream1.com/zjb/feed/download/62/bd/69/62bd6905-0edc-44dd-b865-a7e365e16828.xml';

Setting up the contact form

The contact form hits an APIRoute at /api/contact. It is currently configured to send the form data to a Slack channel webhook I had setup. It reads the url from import.meta.env.SLACK_WEBHOOK, so if you define a SLACK_WEBHOOK environment variable it should work for you. Of course, feel free to customize the code here to send the data elsewhere as you see fit.

Configuring guests

We use Turso and Astro DB to setup guests per episode. If you would also like to do this, you will need a Turso account.

Polar.sh Checkout Integration

This site uses Polar.sh for sponsor checkout. To set it up:

1. Get your Polar credentials:

   • Log in to your Polar dashboard
   • Go to Settings → API to get your access token
   • Create two products for your sponsorship packages (30-second and 60-second ads)
   • Note the product IDs from each product's page

2. Configure environment variables: Create a .env file in the root directory with:

   POLAR_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_polar_access_token_here
   POLAR_30SEC_PRODUCT_ID=your_30sec_product_id_here
   POLAR_60SEC_PRODUCT_ID=your_60sec_product_id_here
   POLAR_SUCCESS_URL=https://whiskey.fm/sponsor/success

3. Test the integration:

   • For testing, you can set PUBLIC_POLAR_SERVER=sandbox in your .env
   • Visit /sponsor and click on either sponsorship option
   • You'll be redirected to Polar's checkout page
   • After successful payment, users return to /sponsor/success

4. Go live:

   • Remove PUBLIC_POLAR_SERVER or set it to production
   • Ensure your product IDs are for production products
   • Test with a real payment to confirm everything works

The integration uses the @polar-sh/astro package which provides:

• Server-side checkout session creation at /api/checkout
• Automatic tax compliance through Polar's Merchant of Record service
• Support for multiple products and dynamic pricing