diff --git a/surfsense_web/hooks/use-podcast-live.ts b/surfsense_web/hooks/use-podcast-live.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e0a30e05b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/surfsense_web/hooks/use-podcast-live.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+"use client";
+
+import { useQuery } from "@rocicorp/zero/react";
+import { useMemo } from "react";
+import { type PodcastSpec, type PodcastStatus, podcastSpec } from "@/contracts/types/podcast.types";
+import { queries } from "@/zero/queries";
+
+/**
+ * Thin live row sourced from Zero's `podcasts` publication. Drives the
+ * lifecycle UI by push (no polling); heavy fields (transcript, audio) stay on
+ * REST and are fetched lazily when a gate or the player needs them.
+ */
+export interface LivePodcast {
+	id: number;
+	title: string;
+	status: PodcastStatus;
+	spec: PodcastSpec | null;
+	specVersion: number;
+	durationSeconds: number | null;
+	error: string | null;
+	searchSpaceId: number;
+	threadId: number | null;
+}
+
+interface UsePodcastLiveResult {
+	podcast: LivePodcast | undefined;
+	isLoading: boolean;
+}
+
+export function usePodcastLive(podcastId: number | undefined): UsePodcastLiveResult {
+	const [row, result] = useQuery(queries.podcasts.byId({ podcastId: podcastId ?? -1 }));
+
+	const podcast = useMemo<LivePodcast | undefined>(() => {
+		if (!podcastId || !row) return undefined;
+		return {
+			id: row.id,
+			title: row.title,
+			status: row.status as PodcastStatus,
+			spec: parseSpec(row.spec),
+			specVersion: row.specVersion,
+			durationSeconds: row.durationSeconds ?? null,
+			error: row.error ?? null,
+			searchSpaceId: row.searchSpaceId,
+			threadId: row.threadId ?? null,
+		};
+	}, [podcastId, row]);
+
+	// Pre-hydration window: no row AND Zero hasn't confirmed completeness yet.
+	const isLoading = !!podcastId && !row && result.type !== "complete";
+
+	return { podcast, isLoading };
+}
+
+/** The JSONB column holds the snake_case spec; reject anything malformed. */
+function parseSpec(raw: unknown): PodcastSpec | null {
+	if (raw == null) return null;
+	const parsed = podcastSpec.safeParse(raw);
+	return parsed.success ? parsed.data : null;
+}