Core Concepts
Podwise stores one kind of object in several shapes. The web app, the MCP server, the CLI, and the APIs all read the same data — only the names of the pieces change. These are the terms the rest of the documentation uses.
| Term | One line | Where you see it |
|---|---|---|
| Podcast | A show, as published in its RSS feed | Search, Library › Podcasts |
| Episode | One episode of a show, identified by its seq | Search, episode page, every API call |
| Processing | Running AI on an episode to create its content | The AI Process button, process_episode |
| Transcript | The full text, with speaker labels and timestamps | Transcript tab, get_episode_transcript |
| Summary | The overview, takeaways, chapters, and Highlights | Summary tab, get_episode_summary |
| Mind map | The episode's structure as a tree | Mindmap tab, sections: ["mindmap"] |
| Highlights | The most quotable lines, with timestamps | Summary tab, Highlights |
| Clips | Moments you saved, with audio and a short note | Library › Clips, create_clip |
| Credits | What processing costs | Billing page, get_me |
Podcast and episode
A podcast is a show. Podwise indexes shows from Apple Podcasts, and you can also import an RSS feed, an OPML file, a YouTube channel, or a Xiaoyuzhou podcast. A private podcast is one you imported from a private feed; it stays yours.
An episode is one item of a show. Episodes are addressed by their seq — the number in a Podwise episode URL:
https://app.podwise.ai/dashboard/episodes/7360326Every surface takes either that URL or the number: podwise get summary <url>, get_episode({ seq }), and GET /api/open/v1/episodes/<seq>/summary are the same episode. Imported episodes get a seq too once they are processed.
Processing
Processing is the step that creates an episode's AI content: transcript, summary, mind map, keywords, and highlights. Until an episode is processed, Podwise has the audio and the show notes but no AI content to read.
Processing a podcast episode or a YouTube video costs 1 AI processing credit. An uploaded audio file costs credits by length: 1 for the first hour, then 1 for every additional 30 minutes. Credits are taken only when processing succeeds.
Episodes that are already processed — including most episodes of popular shows, which Podwise processes automatically — are free to open and never spend credits. That distinction explains most "why does this episode cost credits and that one doesn't" questions.
Transcript
The transcript is the episode as text, split into segments with start and end timestamps and speaker labels. In the web app, clicking a line seeks the player to that moment. Transcripts can be exported as SRT or Markdown, and translated.
A transcript is what every other feature reads: highlights are quoted from it, Clips are cut around it, Ask and Chat answer from it.
Summary
The summary is a set of sections generated from the transcript:
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
overview | A short description of the episode |
takeaways | The main points, as a list |
chapters | Timestamped sections of the episode |
highlights | Quotable lines with timestamps |
qa | Questions the episode answers, with answers |
keywords | Key terms and concepts |
mindmap | The episode's structure as a tree |
The web app shows all of these as tabs. get_episode_summary returns the overview, takeaways, chapters, and highlights by default, and adds qa, keywords, and mindmap when you ask for them with sections.
Translations
A processed episode can be translated into any language Podwise processes: English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Czech, and Hindi. Translation covers the transcript and the summary, and you can switch between the original and the translation.
Translations are unlimited for subscribers and never use processing credits. An episode can have several.
Highlights, keywords, and show notes
- Highlights are the episode's most memorable quotes and insights, each with a timestamp.
- Keywords are the terms and concepts worth knowing from the episode.
- Show notes are the publisher's original notes, not AI-generated.
Clips
A Clip is a moment you save from an episode: a quote, an insight, an idea. Podwise finds the valuable part around the moment you marked, cuts the audio to it, and writes a short summary. Clips can be played on their own, shared as a link or an image, collected in Lists, and sent to Markdown, Notion, or Readwise.
Clips need a subscription. In the API and MCP they are a resource of their own (create_clip, list_clips, export_clips_markdown) and can be attached to an episode or to your whole library.
Ask AI and Chat
Two features answer questions from podcast content, and they are not the same:
- Ask AI answers across the podcasts in Podwise — "what do investors say about AI agents?" Your questions are saved in Ask AI history.
- Chat answers about one episode, from that episode's transcript only.
Ask AI has a daily limit that depends on your plan, and Pro and Enterprise include it unlimited. Chat needs a subscription. Neither spends processing credits.
Library, Lists, and the queue
Your Library is where episodes you added, followed, starred, read, processed, played, imported, or uploaded live. It has four sections: Episodes, Podcasts, Clips, and Lists. A List is your own collection, and each List holds one type of content — episodes, podcasts, or Clips.
The play queue and play history each keep up to 100 episodes. In the mobile apps you can also download an episode for offline reading.
Accounts, plans, and entitlements
One account can hold one plan: Standard, Pro, or Enterprise.
- Standard covers the web and mobile apps: processing credits, imports, Clips, translations, and exports.
- Pro adds the Open API, the MCP server, the CLI, and agent skills, plus more credits, unlimited Ask AI, and cheaper extra credits.
- Enterprise adds unlimited processing of public episodes under fair use, the Enterprise API for your own audio, and organization billing.
Plan prices and credit amounts change; the plan comparison page is the current source. Credits reset on the first day of each month (UTC+0), and extra credit packs never expire — see Plans, Credits & Billing.
Credentials
Three kinds of credential show up in these docs, and they are not interchangeable:
- A browser session — how you sign in to the web app and how you approve an OAuth request from an AI app.
- An OAuth grant — what the hosted MCP server gets when you allow an app; revoke it in Settings › Connections.
- An API access token — a
Bearertoken from Settings › Developer, for the Open API, the Enterprise API, and MCP clients that cannot do OAuth.
Authentication covers where each one is created and when to use it.