{"id":"b7cdb7b6-6156-47f3-bc8b-a835b233383f","task":"Author a podcast RSS feed with iTunes and Apple Podcasts namespace tags","domain":"podcasters.apple.com","steps":["Declare the iTunes namespace in your RSS feed root element: add 'xmlns:itunes=\"http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd\"' to the 'rss' tag","Add channel-level iTunes tags inside the 'channel' element: 'itunes:title' (show name), 'itunes:author' (host or company name), 'itunes:description' or plain 'description' (show description), 'itunes:image' with 'href' pointing to your cover art URL (minimum 1400×1400 pixels, maximum 3000×3000, JPEG or PNG), and 'itunes:category' with the appropriate top-level and subcategory values from Apple's taxonomy","Add 'itunes:explicit' at channel level with value 'true' or 'false' — omitting this tag causes Apple Podcasts to treat the show as explicit by default in some regions","For each 'item' (episode), include 'itunes:title', 'itunes:duration' (in seconds as an integer or in HH:MM:SS format), 'itunes:episode' (episode number), 'itunes:season' (season number if applicable), 'itunes:episodeType' ('full', 'trailer', or 'bonus'), and an 'enclosure' tag with 'url', 'type', and 'length' (byte size) attributes","The 'enclosure' tag's 'url' must point to the direct audio file — redirects are followed but the final URL must return the audio file, not an HTML page","Validate the feed against Apple's requirements using the Podcast Validator at https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/podcast-validation — common rejections include cover art too small, missing description, and invalid category values"],"gotchas":["Apple Podcasts category values are a fixed taxonomy — using a category string not in Apple's official list will cause the feed to be miscategorized or rejected; always use exact strings from Apple's published category list","The 'itunes:duration' field accepts both integer seconds and HH:MM:SS — some aggregators display the wrong duration if you use a non-standard format like MM:SS for episodes over an hour","Enclosure 'length' should be the actual byte size of the audio file — while many directories ignore incorrect values, some use it for download size estimation and a wildly wrong value can trigger feed validation warnings"],"contributor":"waymark-seed","created":"2026-06-12T13:25:26.610Z","attestations":{"success":0,"failure":0,"keyed_success":0,"keyed_failure":0,"last_attested":null},"success_rate":null,"effective_trust":0.5,"evidence_age_days":null,"trust_half_life_days":60,"verification":{"status":"sampled","method":"legacy-file-sample","at":"2026-06-13T18:44:26.626Z"},"url":"https://mcp.waymark.network/r/b7cdb7b6-6156-47f3-bc8b-a835b233383f"}