The visualizer's PCM cache decoded the entire episode into RAM (22050 Hz
mono s16 ~160 MB/hr of audio) and held it until stop() — a 3-hour episode
pinned ~500 MB and long-form content hit 2.5 GB. The 4x decode also pulled
the whole remote file even when only minutes were listened to.
- audio-pcm-cache: sliding window around the playback position — the
decode head caps at maxAheadSec (600s) ahead of the cursor, segments
older than keepBehindSec (300s) are pruned, and the tail refills as
playback advances. Steady state ~40 MB regardless of episode length;
a backward seek past the window restarts a segment there (the existing
seek-hole mechanism, no new failure mode).
- feed: cap the full-parse episode cache at 1000 episodes/feed so
archive-heavy subscriptions can't pin their entire history in RAM;
the visible list stays bounded by the user's cache preference and
fetch-more keeps working within the ceiling.
- tests: pin the new head-cap and prune contracts (8/8 in
audio-pcm-cache.test.ts; full suite 193 pass).
Also includes the in-flight cleanup/refactor pass (cover-art resolve
helper, page and comment tightening, ESLint config removal).
The card put the podcast name in the title slot ('Podcast — Episode'
prefix truncating on long names) with an empty artist slot for local
playback — the downloaded files carry no artist tag. Now:
- mediaTitle is the episode title only (UI + CLI); streams keep their
artist from stream tags, matching Apple Podcasts' title/artist layout.
- downloads are tagged at completion (ffmpeg -c copy, atomic rename):
title=episode, artist=podcast — verified on a real 72MB file in 1.5s.
The Fifth Column (and any feed added by URL) had NO coverUrl — the RSS
parser never captured channel artwork, so Now Playing had nothing to show.
- rss-parser: parseChannelCoverUrl (<itunes:image href> / RSS2 <image><url>);
parseRSSFeed sets it on the Podcast.
- feed store: fetchEpisodes returns the channel cover; subscribe + both
refresh paths backfill coverUrl when missing (no second fetch).
- useAudio + CLI --play: cover resolves feed.podcast.coverUrl ?? episode.imageUrl,
so episodes without channel art still get their own image.
- useAudio play/load/switchBackend: prefer the downloaded file
(getDownloadedFilePath) over the stream URL — downloaded episodes now
play from disk.
Verified: Fifth Column episode, cold cache -> cover-art-files set at load
-> albumart track present.
The cover was previously only wired through the UI hook; --play skipped it.
Also: Bun's fetch hangs in compiled binaries (Bun 1.3.8) — every cover
download silently failed in shipped builds, timing out against any host.
Cover staging now shells out to curl (present on macOS/Linux, 8s bound),
shared via src/utils/cover-art.ts so the UI and CLI paths stage the same
temp file and pass it to mpv as --cover-art-files (albumart track).
