Podcasting · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Alitu?

KINDA· weekend project

Alitu's loop is a chain of known steps: convert the recording, clean and level the voice, cut it by editing a transcript, add music, export an mp3 and publish an RSS feed. An agent can wire that together in a weekend from ffmpeg, a local Whisper model and a feed library. The weekend goes on the edges: noise reduction that sounds good on your voice, cuts that don't click, a transcript editor that stays in sync with the audio, and remote guest recording, which stays out of reach.

$38/moprice

$456you'd save a year

weekendbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

TimeA weekend; tuning the cleanup chain to your voice takes the longest

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Python 3.12 and uvfaster-whisper downloads its model on first run.
ffmpeg 7Check that `ffmpeg -filters` lists arnndn, and download an RNNoise model file.
A place to publish the feedCloudflare R2, S3 or any static host; the feed URL goes to Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Before you buildAlitu has no free plan, but Audacity and a free podcast host cover recording, cleanup and a feed at no cost if you don't need cutting by transcript.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a podcast episode maker to replace Alitu. Requirements:

- Python 3.12 + FastAPI with a plain HTML and JavaScript front end; `uv run alitu` serves
http://localhost:4810. ffmpeg 7 and ffprobe must be on PATH.
- Storage: SQLite (stdlib sqlite3) at ./data/pod.db for shows, episodes (number, title, notes, status)
and files; audio under ./data/audio/<episode>/ as original, cleaned and final.
- Input: upload mp3, m4a, wav or mp4 and convert to 48 kHz mono WAV with ffmpeg, or record in the
browser with MediaRecorder and upload on stop. Reject files over 2 GB.
- Cleanup: one ffmpeg chain per file: highpass at 80 Hz, `arnndn` noise reduction with an RNNoise model
from ./models, two-pass `loudnorm` to -16 LUFS, then `alimiter`. Show before and after with a player
and the measured loudness.
- Transcript: `faster-whisper` (model `small`, local) with word timestamps. The editor shows the words;
selecting a span and pressing Delete cuts it, and a button cuts "um" and "uh". Render cuts with
ffmpeg using 30 ms crossfades and keep the edit list so every cut can be undone.
- Assembly: optional intro and outro from ./music, with the voice ducking the music
(`sidechaincompress`). Export mp3 at 128 kbps with ID3 tags, cover art and typed-in chapters (`mutagen`).
- Publish: write an RSS 2.0 feed with iTunes tags (`feedgen`) to ./site/feed.xml and copy the mp3s to
./site/ or to an S3-compatible bucket (`boto3`, keys in .env). Print the feed URL to submit.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first; outbound calls only to the bucket.
- Out of scope: remote guest recording, download statistics, a music library, video, social clips.
- README: installing ffmpeg and the RNNoise model, bucket setup, submitting the feed to Apple Podcasts
and Spotify, and a warning that every automatic cut and cleanup needs a listen before publishing.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Alitu.

Extend the podcast episode maker in this folder. Requirements:

- A "Suggest chapters" button splits the transcript at pauses over 1.5 seconds and at topic
  shifts found by comparing sentence embeddings of neighbouring paragraphs
  (`sentence-transformers`, model all-MiniLM-L6-v2, local).
- Show the proposed chapters with timestamps and one-line titles taken from the first sentence;
  let me rename, merge or delete them before export.
- Write the result into the mp3 as ID3 CHAP and CTOC frames with `mutagen`.
- Update the README with the limits of the method.

Add simple download statistics to the podcast episode maker in this folder. Requirements:

- Serve the mp3s from a small redirect route `/dl/<episode>.mp3` that logs a row (time, episode,
  hashed IP plus user agent for the day) in SQLite and then redirects to the bucket URL.
- Count one download per hashed visitor per episode per 24 hours and ignore known bot user
  agents; keep the list in a file I can edit.
- A page `/stats` with downloads per episode and per week as inline SVG bars.
- Update the README with the new enclosure URL in the feed and the privacy tradeoff.

Add a feed importer to the podcast episode maker in this folder. Requirements:

- `alitu import-feed <rss-url>` downloads every enclosure (3 at a time, resumable), reads
  title, description, date, season, episode number and artwork with `feedparser`, and creates
  episodes marked published.
- Keep each episode's original GUID in the new feed so directories don't show duplicates.
- Print the lines to add on the old host for a redirect (itunes:new-feed-url) and do not
  modify anything remote.
- Update the README with the redirect steps and a warning to keep the old feed up for weeks.

What you lose

Recording remote guests and calls inside the app
Hosting with download statistics and help submitting to directories
The built-in royalty-free music library
The polish of a tested cleanup chain and transcript editor
Chapter and social-clip tools, and the transcript used for show notes

Why people still pay

Alitu bundles the steps a new podcaster would otherwise stitch together from a recorder, an audio editor and a host, and it aims at people who never want to open an audio program. A script of your own removes the subscription but also the guide rails: you own the settings and the mistakes.

Moatexecution polish content & rights

Do the math

Alitu or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time12h ×$/h

Alitu, 1 yr$456

Your own copy, 1 yr$38running + build session

You keep$419pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Whisper and ffmpeg run on your machine. A static host or R2 bucket is free to a few dollars a month at podcast volumes. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Alitu

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Alitu

1The help center had no export article in what we read. Download every episode's audio and your show notes from the app before you cancel.
2To move hosting, open Show Settings > Show Details and check that nothing locks the feed from being transferred, then import the show into your new host using your Alitu RSS feed.
3In Show Distribution, copy your Alitu podcast feed URL into the matching box at the new host.
4Then go to Show Settings > Show Hosting, click Stop hosting show, and enter the new host's RSS feed when asked so Alitu creates the redirect; directories then pick up the new feed.

2 · Cancel Alitu

1Open the Account page (app.alitu.com/my-account) and click the cancel button; answer the reason screen and click through every screen until the cancellation confirmation appears.
2Cancel at least two days before the renewal date to avoid being billed. Monthly plans can instead be paused for 1, 2 or 3 months, once.
3Access continues to the end of the billing period; the subscription doesn't renew.
4To stop only the hosting, use Show Settings > Show Hosting > Stop hosting show for each show.

Files are deleted automatically 3 months after cancellation; if you come back within that time they are kept.
Refunds are available only inside the money-back guarantee window, which the pricing page puts at 30 days from the first charge.
If you return later you pay the current price, not your old one.
Set up the redirect before you stop hosting so Apple Podcasts and Spotify follow your feed to the new host.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Alitu's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

AudacityOpen sourceGPL audio editor with noise reduction, leveling and multitrack editing; a waveform editor with no transcript or hosting.★ 19k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
macOS, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗AudapolisOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 editor for spoken-word audio with automatic transcription: delete text to cut the recording.★ 1.9k · active Jun 2026 · one-click install
macOS, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗CastopodOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 podcast hosting platform for your own server with an RSS feed, a podcast site and audience features; no recording or editing.★ 876 · active Jun 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗

The numbers

Alitu pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free trial	$0	$0	7 days with all features, up to 2 hours of processed audio, and you can publish an episode.
Standard	$38	$32	All features: recording, editing, audio cleanup, music library and hosting. Unlimited episodes and storage under a fair-usage policy, 12 hours of transcription per billing period.
Two shows	$63	—	Standard for two shows.
Done-for-you editing	$295	—	Weekly or fortnightly editing by Alitu's team with a 4-day turnaround.

Free tier: No free tier; the trial runs 7 days.
Billing: Monthly or yearly in USD, GBP, EUR, AUD or CAD; paying yearly gives two months free. A 30-day guarantee runs from the first charge, and you can pause a monthly plan for 1 to 3 months, once. Cancel at least two days before renewal.
Hidden costs: Podcast hosting is optional and billed on top by monthly downloads: free up to 1,000 downloads a month, then $10 a month for up to 10,000. Transcription is capped at 12 hours per billing period. You still supply the microphone, artwork and plan.
Source: alitu.com

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Questions

Alitu, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

No free plan; a 7-day trial lets you publish an episode and, per the pricing page, process up to 2 hours of audio.

Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Recording remote guests and calls inside the app, Hosting with download statistics and help submitting to directories.

About $38 a month on the Standard plan, $456 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Recording remote guests and calls inside the app; Hosting with download statistics and help submitting to directories; The built-in royalty-free music library; The polish of a tested cleanup chain and transcript editor; Chapter and social-clip tools, and the transcript used for show notes. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.