Welcome to Noctua. This guide walks through the first ten minutes — from your account to your first edition playing in your podcast app of choice.
Whether you listen in a queue, on a commute, or while doing the dishes, by the end of this guide your reading list will be playing through your earbuds.
What Noctua Does
Noctua takes a written source — an article, a blog post, a newsletter — and prepares it as an audio edition. Each edition appears in a private podcast feed only you control. You listen to it in whichever podcast app you already use — Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts — no new app, no curated service, no algorithm. Your sources, your feed, your pace.
There are two ways to add sources to your collection:
- Paste a URL — copy the link to any source and add it directly from your dashboard.
- Forward an email — send any newsletter to your Noctua address and it is prepared automatically.
This guide sets up both. First, your first edition.
Step 1: Prepare your first edition
This is the step that makes everything click. Do it now, before anything else.
- Open your Noctua dashboard.
- Find a source you have been meaning to read — anything with a URL.
- Paste the URL into the add-source box and submit.
Noctua fetches the source, strips the clutter (ads, navigation, sidebars), and reads the prose into a natural-sounding edition. Most sources are ready in under a minute. Each reading uses one credit — some are waiting for you when you sign up.
Once prepared, the edition appears in your collection on the dashboard. You can play it there for a quick preview.
What prepares well: long-form essays, engineering write-ups, industry analysis, opinion pieces, newsletters — anything primarily prose. Skip step-by-step code tutorials and content that relies heavily on diagrams; those are better read at a desk.
Step 2: Connect your podcast app
The dashboard player is useful for previews. The real value is listening on the move — in your podcast app, on your phone, through your car speakers or headphones.
Noctua generates a private podcast feed just for you. Every edition you prepare appears there, picked up automatically by your podcast app.
Find your feed URL:
- In your dashboard, open the podcast feed card.
- Copy your personal feed URL.
Add it to your podcast app:
- Apple Podcasts — Library → tap the
+icon → “Add a Podcast by URL” → paste your feed URL. - Overcast — tap the
+button at the top right → “Add URL” → paste your feed URL. - Pocket Casts — tap the search icon → “Add via URL” → paste your feed URL.
- Castro — tap Discover → “Add by URL” → paste your feed URL.
Once added, new editions appear in your app automatically. The next time you add a source, it will be waiting by the time you pick up your phone.
A note on Spotify: Spotify does not support custom podcast feeds, so it will not work there. Any of the apps above will give you the best experience.
Step 3: Set up email forwarding
The second way to fill your listening queue — and the one that runs entirely on its own once configured.
Any newsletter that arrives in your inbox can become an edition with a single forward. Send the email to:
carrier-pigeon@noctua.uno
Noctua receives it, reads the content, and adds the edition to your feed. One rule: the email must come from the address you registered with. Emails from other addresses are rejected for security.
Automatic forwarding (the clever way):
Most email clients support filter rules that auto-forward emails from specific senders. Find the newsletter you want as editions, create a filter for the sender, and forward to carrier-pigeon@noctua.uno. From that point on, every issue lands in your feed without you lifting a finger.
- Gmail: Settings → See all settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses → Create a new filter → set “From” to the sender → “Forward it to” your Noctua address.
- Apple Mail: Mail → Settings → Rules → Add Rule → sender condition → forward to
carrier-pigeon@noctua.uno.
Step 4: Start listening
Your first edition is prepared. Your podcast feed is connected. Email forwarding is running. From here, the workflow is:
- See an interesting source? Copy the URL, paste it into your dashboard. It will be in your feed.
- Newsletter arrives? Forward it to
carrier-pigeon@noctua.uno. It will be in your feed. - On the move? Open your podcast app. Your queue is waiting.
A few tips:
- Playback speed — once your ear adjusts, 1.3–1.5x is a sweet spot for most prose. Start at 1.0x and nudge it up.
- Queue a few sources at once — add three to five in one sitting so your feed is always full. The hands-free hours deserve a full queue.
- Best times to listen — commute, morning routine, gym, cooking, dog walks. There is more audio-available time in the day than most people think.
You are set up
That is everything. If anything did not work as expected — or you just want to say hello — the team is easy to reach.
Now find a source that has been sitting in your reading list too long. Paste the URL. Let it be read to you.
— The Noctua team