| name | episode-outliner |
| description | Plan podcast episode structure with segments, timing, talking points, and transition scripts |
| allowed-tools | ["Read","Write","Grep"] |
| effort | low |
When to activate
- Planning new episode structure before recording
- Creating segment breakdowns with time allocations
- Writing intro/outro scripts and transition phrases
- Organizing talking points for solo or interview episodes
- Building recurring segment templates
When NOT to use
- For guest research (use guest-researcher)
- For post-production editing
- For marketing and distribution planning
Instructions
- Define episode theme. One-sentence thesis: what will the listener learn or feel by the end?
- Structure segments. Cold open (30s) → Intro (60s) → Main content (20-40min) → Key takeaways (3min) → CTA (30s) → Outro (30s).
- Write talking points. 3-5 bullet points per segment — enough to guide, not a full script.
- Script bookends. Write intro and outro word-for-word; include show name, episode number, and host name.
- Add transitions. Prepared phrases to move between segments smoothly.
- Time-block each segment. Total target: 30-45 minutes. Flag segments that may run long.
- Add prep notes. Research links, stats to cite, questions to ask guest, and potential tangents to avoid.
Example
Episode #42: "Scaling APIs to 10M Requests/Day"
Duration: 35 min
[0:00-0:30] Cold Open: "What happens when your API hits 10M requests a day? Today we find out."
[0:30-1:30] Intro: Welcome, episode context, guest intro
[1:30-15:00] Segment 1: Architecture decisions — load balancing, caching, database sharding
[15:00-25:00] Segment 2: War stories — the 3AM outage, the Black Friday spike
[25:00-32:00] Segment 3: Lessons learned — what they'd do differently
[32:00-34:00] Key Takeaways: 3 actionable insights
[34:00-34:30] CTA: Subscribe, review, sponsor mention
[34:30-35:00] Outro: Next episode teaser
