opml-to-spotify

opml-to-spotify allows you to import and export your current podcast library into and out of Spotify. It's a super simple command-line tool which runs on your own machine.

Usage

⚠️ until opml-to-spotify is approved by Spotify you will need to follow the additional instructions for using your own application below

Export your podcast library out of your old podcast app as an OPML (.opml) file
Download the binary for your OS from the latest release on the releases page
Run the following:

$ ./opml-to-spotify import {filename}.opml

Using your own application

During local development, and until the official opml-to-spotify application is approved, it will be necessary for you to use your own Spotify developer application to call the spotify API

Create an application on Spotify
- Obtain the Client ID
- Add a redirect URI for http://localhost:8080/callback
When running the application, specify the client ID ith either flags (-c {id}) or environment variables (SPOTIFY_ID)

How it works

opml-to-spotify is a Spotify application, and when run it will ask you to log in to it via your Spotify account by providing you a link to open in your browser.

Commands which require access to the Spotify API will require you to log in. It implements the Authorization Code Flow with PKCE extension, which is documented here

Importing

$ ./opml-to-spotify import --help

As you're unable to add a podcast to Spotify via RSS, opml-to-spotify searches the Spotify API for shows matching the title of your current list. This means you're likely to miss shows (it'll log when this happens and you can use the -m flag to specify a file to output these to), but it's Better Than Nothing :tm:! A couple reasons it might not show up include:

Private RSS feeds
Shows which aren't in the Spotify catalog

sequenceDiagram
  participant o as opml-to-spotify
  participant f as .opml file
  participant s as Spotify
  
  o ->> f: Read file
  f ->> o: OPML library
  
  loop For each show
    o ->> s: Search for show by name
    s ->> o: Results
    o ->> o: Find match
    o ->> s: Save show (subscribe)
  end

Exporting

It is also possible via opml-to-spotify to go the other way, spotify-to-opml!

There's currently no official way to export your shows from Spotify, and the API doesn't expose enough information required to build an OPML file, so opml-to-spotify makes use of the iTunes Search API and again searches for shows exactly matching by title. This means that your show won't get exported if it's:

Spotify exclusive :(
Not in the iTunes Podcast directory

sequenceDiagram
  participant o as opml-to-spotify
  participant s as Spotify
  participant i as iTunes Search API
  participant f as .opml file
  
  o ->> s: Get user's shows
  s ->> o: Shows
  loop For each show
    o ->> i: Search
    i ->> o: Results
    o ->> o: Match
  end
  o ->> f: Build & write .opml file

Support

You can support this project by:

Using it and reporting bugs
Contributing (ideas and code!)
Buying me a beer
Donating to a small/local charity of your choice