Listen Notes

What Listen Notes MCP server does

The Listen Notes MCP server exposes podcast-directory data to MCP-compatible clients. Its tools cover keyword and filtered searches, individual podcast and episode records, genre listings, ranked podcast discovery, and recommendations based on an existing podcast or episode.

Search accepts a query and optional filters including result type, publication-date sorting, language, episode length limits, genre IDs, and pagination offset. Podcast rankings can be filtered by genre and region, with sorting and page options. The underlying data source is the Listen Notes API at https://listen-api.listennotes.com/api/v2/.

The service is intended for agents that need current directory lookups rather than a local podcast database. A free Listen Notes API tier is available with a limit of 300 requests per month.

How it works

The package speaks Model Context Protocol and exposes the Listen Notes operations as callable tools. A client can connect to the hosted Pipeworx route:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "listen-notes": {
      "url": "https://gateway.pipeworx.io/listen-notes/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The hosted route is a scoped gateway connection. In addition to this pack's tools, its tools/list response includes shared Pipeworx meta-tools such as ask_pipeworx, discover_tools, search_within, remember, and recall. The exact tool set is returned by the connection's initialize response and can change. The full Pipeworx gateway exposes all catalog packs directly, while ask_pipeworx can route questions across the catalog from either endpoint.

For an isolated connection, run the package as a local stdio server. That mode exposes only the Listen Notes pack's tools and does not include the gateway meta-tools or cross-catalog routing.

Setup and configuration

The hosted and local modes both require access to a Listen Notes API key. The documented platform variable is PLATFORM_LISTENNOTES_KEY; a bring-your-own key can also be supplied with the _apiKey parameter. The free API tier allows 300 requests per month.

Add the local package to an MCP client with:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "listen-notes": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@pipeworx/mcp-listen-notes"]
    }
  }
}

The package can also be started directly with npx -y @pipeworx/mcp-listen-notes. It communicates over stdin and stdout and does not require a Pipeworx account. The hosted option uses the gateway URL instead.

Tools and capabilities

The Listen Notes MCP server provides these operations:

• search: Find podcasts or episodes using a query and optional language, duration, genre, date-order, type, and offset filters.
• podcast: Retrieve one podcast by ID.
• episode: Retrieve one episode by ID.
• genres: List available podcast genres.
• best_podcasts: Retrieve top podcasts with optional genre, region, sort, and page parameters.
• recommendations_for_podcast: Find podcasts related to a specified podcast.
• recommendations_for_episode: Find episodes related to a specified episode.

These tools support workflows such as podcast discovery, episode lookup, genre-based browsing, and related-content suggestions. On the gateway route, ask_pipeworx can select and populate a tool from a plain-English request instead of requiring direct tool calls.

Limitations and notes

An API key is required; the package does not provide an unrestricted key for HTTP calls. The free Listen Notes plan is limited to 300 requests per month, so high-volume agents may need to account for that quota.

The hosted pack endpoint includes shared gateway schemas in addition to the Listen Notes tools. If that extra context is undesirable, the local stdio mode exposes only this pack. The standalone package and hosted route use the same Listen Notes source, but only the hosted route provides Pipeworx routing through ask_pipeworx.

The project is licensed under MIT.