The command line, too.

In progress

aludel-cli is under active development. macOS Apple Silicon only, no Windows/Linux build, no shell completions/man pages yet — see the bottom of this page for what's still missing.

What it is

aludel is a command-line binary that runs Aludel's six-stage pipeline (ingest → normalize → script → voice → mix → export) without opening the app. Convert a file, a URL, or pasted text to an MP3 episode in one call — good for scripting, batch conversion, or a headless machine.

Install

Homebrew (macOS, Apple Silicon) — bundles a signed, notarized Piper + ffmpeg, no separate install needed:

brew install totanus/aludel/aludel

Installing by this fully-qualified name auto-taps and auto-trusts just this formula (Homebrew 6+ requires trusting non-official taps before loading them — see Tap Trust). The shorter brew tap totanus/aludel && brew install aludel form works too, but hits Refusing to load formula ... from untrusted tap and needs an extra brew trust totanus/aludel step.

Or build from source (any platform Rust/Cargo supports — you'll need your own ffmpeg and Piper/cloud-TTS setup):

git clone https://github.com/totanus/Aludel.git
cd Aludel
cargo build --release -p aludel-cli
./target/release/aludel --version

Requires ffmpeg on PATH (or --ffmpeg /path/to/ffmpeg), and a TTS backend — Piper (local, free) or a cloud provider.

Quickstart

# 1. Write a config template
aludel --init-config

# 2. Edit it: add an API key, or point at a local Piper install
$EDITOR ~/Library/Application\ Support/podcastgen/config.json

# 3. Convert something
aludel article.md

episode.mp3 lands in the current directory.

One config, one license — shared with the app

aludel reads the same config file the desktop app does, and enforces the same Free/Pro gate: local-only providers (Ollama, Osaurus, Piper) are always free; cloud providers and intro/outro music need Pro. The CLI can activate a license key, but not obtain one — get a license key first (pay what you want, including nothing, while in beta), then activate it from either the CLI or the app:

aludel --activate-license YOUR-LICENSE-KEY

Examples

# Convert a URL, output in Italian
aludel https://example.com/post --lang it

# Preview the script only — no TTS/mix/export cost
aludel article.md --dry-run

# Same, as JSON for scripting
aludel article.md --dry-run --json | jq '.script.segments | length'

# Multiple providers configured — pick one by id or label
aludel article.md --llm anthropic --tts piper

# Add intro/outro music (Pro)
aludel article.md --intro jingle.mp3 --intro-length 8 --outro outro.mp3

Run aludel --help for the full flag reference.

What's not here yet

Windows/Linux support (macOS Apple Silicon only today), CI-built releases (packages are built and published by hand), and shell completions/man pages.