imposter.fm

imposter.fm is a podcast website + admin CMS built with TanStack Start.

What the app does

• Serves a public podcast site (homepage latest episode, archive, detail, embed widget)
• Generates a podcast RSS feed at /rss.xml
• Streams audio through /api/stream/:episodeId with range request support
• Generates per-episode Open Graph images (/api/og/episode/:slug)
• Provides a persistent mini player that continues across route navigation
• Saves listener playback preferences (speed, volume) in local storage
• Tracks listens with a lightweight endpoint (POST /api/listen)
• Includes admin auth + episode management (create, edit, publish, delete)
• Supports both uploading audio files and recording audio directly in-app
• Supports admin password changes (/admin/password)

Tech stack

• TanStack Start + TanStack Router + React 19
• TanStack Query + tRPC
• Drizzle ORM + PostgreSQL
• Better Auth (email/password)
• Tailwind CSS v4
• Biome (lint/format)
• Optional PostHog analytics

Requirements

• Bun
• PostgreSQL

Environment variables

Copy .env.example to .env.local and fill values.

Required:

• DATABASE_URL - PostgreSQL connection string
• BETTER_AUTH_SECRET - Better Auth secret

Recommended in production:

• BETTER_AUTH_BASE_URL - canonical auth base URL (for redirects/callbacks)
• BETTER_AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS - comma-separated trusted origins

Runtime/platform provided:

• PORT - server port (defaults to 3000 locally)
• NODE_ENV - environment mode (development or production)

Optional admin bootstrap values:

• ADMIN_EMAIL (default admin@imposter.fm)
• ADMIN_PASSWORD (default changeme123)
• ADMIN_NAME (default Admin)

Optional frontend/site values:

• VITE_SITE_URL - canonical site URL used for metadata/share links

Optional analytics values:

• VITE_POSTHOG_KEY - PostHog project key (phc_...)
• VITE_POSTHOG_HOST - defaults to https://us.i.posthog.com

Optional production object storage values (S3 or R2 compatible):

• S3_BUCKET_NAME or R2_BUCKET_NAME
• S3_ENDPOINT or R2_ENDPOINT
• S3_REGION (defaults to auto)
• S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID or R2_ACCESS_KEY_ID
• S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY or R2_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
• S3_FORCE_PATH_STYLE (true for providers like Railway bucket storage)

Storage behavior:

• Development uses local uploads at ./uploads via /api/upload
• Production uses S3/R2 signed upload URLs
• uploads/ is gitignored and removed from git history

Local development

1. Install dependencies:

bun install

2. Create .env.local with required values.

3. Push schema to database:

bun run db:push

4. Create an initial admin user:

bunx tsx scripts/create-admin.ts

5. Start dev server:

bun run dev

App URL: http://localhost:3000

Admin login: /login

Scripts

bun run dev
bun run build
bun run start
bun run preview
bun run test
bun run lint
bun run format
bun run check
bun run db:generate
bun run db:migrate
bun run db:push
bun run db:pull
bun run db:studio

Important routes

Public:

• /
• /episodes
• /episodes/:slug
• /embed/:slug
• /rss.xml

Admin:

• /login
• /admin
• /admin/episodes
• /admin/episodes/new
• /admin/episodes/:id/edit
• /admin/password

API:

• /api/stream/:episodeId
• /api/listen
• /api/upload (development local upload target)
• /api/og/episode/:slug
• /api/trpc/*

Notes

• RSS feed falls back to defaults if no podcast settings row exists.
• PostHog initialization is skipped when key is missing or placeholder (phc_xxx).
• Upload signing only accepts audio MIME types and validated storage keys.