---
title: "Check a show's sources."
method: POST
path: "/publishing-series/{seriesId}/show/check-sources"
tags: ["Shows"]
---

# Check a show's sources.

`POST /publishing-series/{seriesId}/show/check-sources`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://docs.sleeperhit.studio/api/v1`
- URL: `https://docs.sleeperhit.studio/api/v1/publishing-series/{seriesId}/show/check-sources`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Read the show's sources now, free, making nothing: what each would give an episode (the item titles, authors and links, how much text, whether each is complete), which items earlier episodes already covered, which were passed over and why, and which sources failed and why. Pass `sources` to try ones not saved yet. Each read goes through the guarded fetcher (private addresses refused, at most three redirects, 10 MB). Write scope: a web-search source uses the account's search allowance.

## Request body

- ShowCheckSourcesRequest
  - `sources` union[]: Sources to try instead of the saved ones.
    - union
      - object: An RSS or Atom feed: a blog, a newsletter (Substack: https://<name>.substack.com/feed), an arXiv listing (https://rss.arxiv.org/rss/cs.RO), Product Hunt. Each feed entry is one item.
        - `adapter` 'rss', required
        - `params` object, required
          - `feedUrl` string, uri, required: The feed URL (http or https).
          - `maxItems` integer: The most entries read per run. Default 12.
          - `lookbackDays` integer: How many days back to read. Defaults to the schedule: 1 for a daily one, 7 for a weekly one, 31 for a monthly one.
          - `readArticles` boolean: true reads each entry's linked page whole (the same reader a Hacker News thread's article goes through); an entry whose page is paywalled or unreadable is passed over. Off (the default), an entry is the feed's own text, shortened past 8,000 characters.
          - `order` string: "newest" (the default) reads what the feed published in the window. "oldest" works through the feed's archive instead: the oldest entries no episode has covered yet, whatever their date, so a feed that carries its whole history (a newsletter, a podcast, a blog) becomes a backlog the show reads in order.
        - `label` string
      - object: A topic searched on the web at each run: the newest articles about it, each one item, never one an earlier episode covered. Searches run on Sleeper's own search service (no key needed), up to 40 a day per account.
        - `adapter` 'web-search', required
        - `params` object, required
          - `query` string, required: What to search for, as you would type it ("solid-state battery breakthroughs", "Mars sample return").
          - `topic` string: "news" (the default) searches news coverage; "general" searches the whole web.
          - `site` string: Only results from this site, as a host name ("nasa.gov").
          - `maxItems` integer: The most articles taken per run. Default 5.
          - `lookbackDays` integer: How many days back to read. Defaults to the schedule: 1 for a daily one, 7 for a weekly one, 31 for a monthly one.
        - `label` string
      - object: Hacker News front-page discussions, from the top 100: each story with enough comments is one item, carrying its whole comment thread (every comment, with who replied to whom) and its linked article read whole.
        - `adapter` 'hackernews', required
        - `params` object
          - `count` integer: The most stories taken per run. Default 5.
          - `minComments` integer: A story needs at least this many comments, by Hacker News' own count. Default 10.
          - `itemId` string: One specific story id instead of the front page.
          - `skipObituaries` boolean: true passes over a thread about a real person's death (from its title, the post and the article's opening); the next thread takes its place. Off by default.
        - `label` string
      - object: A public GitHub repository: its releases, merged pull requests and commit flow over the window, as one item.
        - `adapter` 'github', required
        - `params` object, required
          - `repo` string, required: The repository as owner/name.
          - `lookbackDays` integer: How many days back to read. Defaults to the schedule: 1 for a daily one, 7 for a weekly one, 31 for a monthly one.
        - `label` string
      - object: One web page, read whole at each run (a changelog, a status page, a running list).
        - `adapter` 'url-watch', required
        - `params` object, required
          - `url` string, uri, required: The page URL (http or https).
          - `label` string: What to call the page in the episode material.
        - `label` string
      - object: Text the writer supplies once (notes, an archive excerpt). The same text every run, so pair it with another source.
        - `adapter` 'upload', required
        - `params` object, required
          - `text` string, required: The text itself, up to 12,000 characters.
          - `label` string: What to call the text in the episode material.
        - `label` string
  - `lookbackDays` integer

## Response `200`

What the sources would give an episode.

- ShowCheckSourcesResponse: Read the show's sources now, free, making nothing: what each would give an episode (the item titles, authors and links, how much text, whether each is complete), which items earlier episodes already covered, which were passed over and why, and which sources failed and why. Pass `sources` to try ones not saved yet.
  - `seriesId` string, required
  - `lookbackDays` integer, required
  - `items` object[], required
    - `itemKey` string, required
    - `title` string, required
    - `author` string
    - `url` string
    - `publishedAt` string, date-time
    - `label` string, required
    - `chars` integer, required
    - `covered` boolean, required
    - `complete` boolean, required
  - `skipped` object[], required
    - `itemKey` string, required
    - `title` string, required
    - `url` string, nullable, required
    - `why` string, required
  - `failures` string[], required
  - `note` string, required

## Other responses

- `400`: Request payload failed validation. The error message names the offending field.
- `401`: Missing, malformed, revoked, or expired API key.
- `403`: API key is valid but lacks the scope, is blocked by IP allowlist, or the account is disabled.
- `404`: The publishing series, destination, or release does not exist or is owned by another account.
- `429`: Rate limit for this API key + IP + route family was exceeded.
- `500`: The API failed unexpectedly. Safe to retry with the same Idempotency-Key.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/sleeperhit/apis/sleeper-hit-studio-story-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/sleeperhit/apis/sleeper-hit-studio-story-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/sleeperhit/apis/sleeper-hit-studio-story-api/revisions/4534f5d25540?raw)