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Installation

rpodder can be installed in several ways depending on your needs.

Docker is the easiest way to get started. rpodder provides pre-built images and a docker-compose.yml with multiple profiles.

git clone https://github.com/thekoma/rpodder.git
cd rpodder

SQLite mode (simplest)

Perfect for personal use or a small household. Data is stored in a single file.

docker compose --profile sqlite up -d
docker compose exec rpodder-sqlite rpodder user create myuser mypass --admin

Your server is now running at http://localhost:3005.

For multiple users, more than a few hundred podcasts, or production deployments.

docker compose --profile release up -d

This starts PostgreSQL + rpodder with migrations auto-applied.

Development mode (live reload)

For hacking on rpodder itself:

docker compose up -d   # PostgreSQL + cargo-watch with live reload

Source code is bind-mounted — changes are picked up automatically.

From source

Prerequisites

  • Rust 1.80+ (edition 2024)
  • Bun (for building the web UI)

Build

# Build the web UI first
cd web && bun install && bun run build && cd ..

# Build rpodder
cargo build --release

The binary is at target/release/rpodder.

API-only build (no web UI)

If you don't need the embedded web interface:

cargo build --release --no-default-features

This produces a smaller binary that only serves the API.

Systemd service

For running rpodder as a system service on Linux:

sudo cp target/release/rpodder /usr/local/bin/
sudo cp config/rpodder.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false rpodder
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/rpodder /usr/share/rpodder
sudo cp -r migrations /usr/share/rpodder/
sudo chown rpodder:rpodder /var/lib/rpodder
sudo systemctl enable --now rpodder

The default service file expects:

  • Binary at /usr/local/bin/rpodder
  • Data directory at /var/lib/rpodder
  • Migrations at /usr/share/rpodder/migrations
  • Config at /etc/rpodder/config.toml (optional)

Verify installation

Once running, check the health endpoint:

curl http://localhost:3005/health

{
  "status": "ok",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "database": "sqlite",
  "build_tag": "dev",
  "build_sha": "local"
}