Question 1

What is Castopod?

Accepted Answer

Castopod is a self-hosted podcast hosting platform. It stores your audio, organises it into shows, and generates the standards-compliant RSS feeds that podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify read. Its distinctive feature is ActivityPub federation: each podcast is also a fediverse account, so people can follow your show and comment on episodes from Mastodon. This install runs it on port 8305 with MariaDB and Redis.

Question 2

Why self-host instead of using a commercial podcast host?

Accepted Answer

The main reason is ownership: you control the RSS feed and the audio files outright, with no per-episode or bandwidth fees and no third party inserting ads. You also get privacy-respecting analytics and fediverse federation. The trade-off is that you take on storage, bandwidth, and maintenance yourself — a commercial host absorbs all of that for a monthly fee, so it comes down to control versus convenience.

Question 3

Which port does it use?

Accepted Answer

Castopod is published on host port 8305, mapped from the container's internal port 8000. Point your reverse proxy at 8305. Its MariaDB and Redis containers stay on the internal Docker network and should not be exposed. Because a podcast feed is public, you will ultimately front port 8305 with a reverse proxy and TLS rather than exposing it directly.

Question 4

How does the fediverse integration work?

Accepted Answer

Castopod is built on ActivityPub, so each podcast is also an actor in the fediverse — the same network as Mastodon. That means listeners can follow your show from their Mastodon account and receive new episodes in their feed, and likes and comments from across the fediverse appear attached to your episodes. It turns podcasting, normally a one-way medium, into something social without a separate comment system.

Question 5

Why does the base URL matter so much?

Accepted Answer

Castopod bakes its base URL (CP_BASEURL) into the RSS feed and every media link at install time, and podcast directories and apps cache those URLs. If you change the address after publishing — for example moving from an IP to a domain — existing feeds and media references break and you can lose subscribers. Decide on your final public address, ideally a real domain over HTTPS, before you go live.

Port	Purpose
8305	Castopod web app, dashboard, feeds, and web player (mapped from container port 8000)
3306	MariaDB — internal to the Docker network, not exposed to the host
6379	Redis cache — internal to the Docker network, not exposed to the host

🟣 Setup Castopod — Self-Hosted Podcast Hosting with Fediverse Federation

📦 Resources & Setup Scripts

Quick Install:

Tutorial Steps

1 Download the Script

2 Make it Executable

3 Run the Installer

4 Complete the Web Installer

Ports Used

Overview

Why Use It

When You Need It

Who Should Use It

Real Use Cases

Main Features

How to Use After Installation

Security Best Practices

Ports and Firewall Notes

Backup and Maintenance

Common Mistakes

Troubleshooting

Alternatives

When Not to Use It

PrismaTechWork Professional Help

Frequently Asked Questions