capers

Caption Extractors for Podcasts - A Rust CLI tool to extract transcripts from Apple Podcasts on macOS.

Features

• List all episodes with available transcripts in your Apple Podcasts library
• Export transcripts to plain text with optional speaker labels and timestamps
• Batch export all transcripts at once
• Search across all transcripts for keywords

Installation

From source

# Clone or navigate to the project
cd ~/Developers/experiments/capers

# Build and install
cargo install --path .

# Or just build
cargo build --release
# Binary will be at: target/release/capers

Requirements

• macOS (Apple Podcasts desktop app)
• Rust toolchain (for building from source)

Usage

List episodes with transcripts

# List all episodes that have transcripts
capers list

# Filter by podcast or episode title
capers list --filter "My Favorite Podcast"

Output:

ID     EPISODE                                  PODCAST                          DURATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14     Episode Title Here                       Podcast Name                     01:34:14
...

Export a transcript

# Export by episode ID (shown in list output)
capers export 14

# Export by title search
capers export "Episode Title"

# Save to file
capers export 14 -o transcript.txt

# Include timestamps
capers export 14 --timestamps

# Without speaker labels
capers export 14 --no-speakers

# Both timestamps and no speakers
capers export 14 --timestamps --no-speakers

Output formats:

Default (with speakers):

[SPEAKER_1]
Hello and welcome to the show...

[SPEAKER_2]
Thanks for having me...

With timestamps:

[SPEAKER_1] [0:00] Hello and welcome to the show...

[SPEAKER_2] [0:15] Thanks for having me...

Plain text (no speakers):

Hello and welcome to the show... Thanks for having me...

Export all transcripts

# Export to default ./transcripts directory
capers export-all

# Custom output directory
capers export-all -o ~/Documents/podcast-transcripts

# With timestamps
capers export-all --timestamps

Files are named: Podcast Name - Episode Title.txt

Search transcripts

# Search for a keyword
capers search "artificial intelligence"

# Adjust context window (characters around match)
capers search "keyword" --context 100

Output:

Podcast Name - Episode Title (3 matches)
------------------------------------------------------------
  ...context around the first match with keyword highlighted...
  ...context around the second match...
  ... and 1 more matches

Total: 3 matches

How it works

Apple Podcasts stores transcripts locally in TTML (Timed Text Markup Language) format. capers reads:

1. SQLite database at ~/Library/Group Containers/243LU875E5.groups.com.apple.podcasts/Documents/MTLibrary.sqlite - contains episode metadata and transcript file paths

2. TTML cache at ~/Library/Group Containers/243LU875E5.groups.com.apple.podcasts/Library/Cache/Assets/TTML/ - contains the actual transcript files

Important limitation

Transcripts are only available for episodes you've opened in Apple Podcasts. The app downloads transcripts on-demand when you view an episode. To get a transcript:

1. Open Apple Podcasts
2. Navigate to the episode
3. Play it or view the transcript in the app
4. Now capers can access it

Troubleshooting

"No episodes with transcripts found"

• Make sure you've opened some episodes in Apple Podcasts that have transcripts
• Not all podcasts have transcripts - Apple generates them automatically for supported languages

"Apple Podcasts data not found"

• This tool only works on macOS with the Apple Podcasts app installed
• Make sure you've used Apple Podcasts at least once

"Transcript file not found"

• The transcript may not be cached yet - open the episode in Apple Podcasts first
• The cache may have been cleared - reopen the episode in Apple Podcasts

License

MIT