Podcast Production Assistant: Show Notes, Mastering and Distribution
A Claude Code workflow for podcast post-production: master audio to -16 LUFS, generate chapters and timestamped show notes from a transcript, draft promo posts, and run a distribution checklist for every episode.
After every episode, you spend 3 hours writing show notes, creating social clips, drafting the email blast, and uploading to 4 platforms. Recording the episode was the fun part — everything after is a production tax that makes you want to quit podcasting.
Who it's for: independent podcasters handling production solo, podcast networks managing multiple shows, content teams repurposing podcast episodes into written content, marketing teams running branded podcast series, podcast editors streamlining post-production workflows
Example
"Here's the transcript and audio for episode 45 — prep it for release" → Loudness-normalized MP3, chapter markers, timestamped show notes, guest links section, three social posts with pull quotes, and a release checklist
CLAUDE.md Template
New here? 3-minute setup guide → | Already set up? Copy the template below.
npx ccplaybooks add podcast-automation# Podcast Automation
Comprehensive workflow for automating podcast production and distribution.
## Core Workflows
### 1. Production Pipeline
```
PODCAST PRODUCTION FLOW:
┌─────────────────┐
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What This Does
Gives Claude Code a production checklist for a podcast episode, from raw recording to published and promoted. The template defines target specs (loudness, bitrate, artwork size, RSS fields) and fill-in structures for show notes, chapters, guest outreach and social posts. Claude uses those to do the post-production work you'd otherwise do by hand.
It's a reference and a set of templates, not a hosted automation service. Claude produces the files and copy; you (or your podcast host) still publish them.
Quick Start
Step 1: Create a Project Folder
mkdir -p ~/Documents/PodcastAutomation
Step 2: Download the Template
Click Download above, then:
mv ~/Downloads/CLAUDE.md ~/Documents/PodcastAutomation/
Step 3: Start Working
cd ~/Documents/PodcastAutomation
claude
Put each episode in its own subfolder (ep045/) with the raw audio and, if you have one, the transcript.
A Realistic Per-Episode Workflow
What Claude Code can do end to end, assuming ffmpeg is installed:
- Master the audio. Ask Claude to normalize to the template's targets of -16 LUFS integrated and -1 dBTP true peak. It runs ffmpeg's
loudnormfilter and exports a 128 kbps MP3 named to the template's{{show}}_E{{number}}.mp3pattern. That puts you at the loudness level Apple Podcasts recommends, so listeners don't have to adjust volume between your show and the next. - Transcribe. If you don't have a transcript, have Claude run a local speech-to-text model such as Whisper, or paste the one your recording platform produced.
- Chapters and show notes. From the transcript, Claude finds topic changes, writes chapter titles with timestamps, and fills in the show-notes template: summary, guest bio and links, key takeaways, resources mentioned.
- Promo copy. The template's social section becomes three posts per episode: an announcement, a pull-quote post, and a LinkedIn version built around the takeaways.
- Release checklist. Episode number, season, explicit flag, episode type (full, trailer, bonus) and artwork, checked against the RSS fields the template lists.
The audio editing itself (cutting mistakes, removing long pauses) is still yours. Claude can suggest cut points from the transcript, but listen before you trust them.
Corrections to the Template's Platform List
The distribution section was written before some platforms closed. Before acting on it:
- Google Podcasts shut down in 2024. Listeners were moved to YouTube Music; submit your RSS feed to YouTube instead.
- Stitcher shut down in 2023. Remove it from your checklist.
- Apple Podcasts and Spotify read your RSS feed. In practice you publish once to your podcast host and both pick up the new episode. Neither needs a per-episode upload from Claude.
Getting Good Show Notes
- Give it the guest's real links. Without them you'll get placeholders at best and plausible-looking wrong URLs at worst. Paste the guest's site and social handles and check the links before publishing.
- Ask for searchable episode titles. "E45: Interview with CEO" (the template's own example) tells nobody what the episode covers. Ask Claude for three title options that name the topic.
- Keep the analytics block as a format only. The download numbers in the template's dashboard are illustrative sample data, not benchmarks. Paste your host's real stats if you want a monthly report.
Related Playbooks
- Podcast Creator System — the pre-production side: episode ideation, guest research and SEO planning
- Audio Transcription Automation — batch transcription and subtitle generation
- Content Repurposer — turn each episode into a week of platform-native posts