QR Codes for Marketing and Press Kits
Benecaster generates a public QR code for every show — one that encodes the show’s public subscriber signup page, not a private feed URL. Use it on landing pages, press kits, show notes, and anywhere you want a visitor to scan and subscribe.
This page covers the admin Dashboard tools for copying and downloading the marketing QR, the embed snippet format, and the public endpoint behind it.
Getting the QR from the Dashboard
Open the Benecaster admin, navigate to your show’s Dashboard, and find the Your RSS feed URL card. Below the QR image are three buttons:
Copy image
Writes a 120 × 120 PNG to your clipboard. Paste it directly into an email, design file, or document. If your browser blocks clipboard image writes, the button shows “Could not copy image — use Download instead.”
Copy embed link
Copies an HTML <img> snippet to your clipboard:
<img src="https://yoursite.com/wp-json/benecaster/v1/shows/3/qr.png"
alt="Subscribe to Your Show Name"
width="240"
height="240" />
Paste this into a page, a press kit website, or any HTML context where the QR should appear. The image loads directly from your WordPress site — no external service involved.
If clipboard access is blocked, the button shows “Could not copy automatically — select and copy the snippet manually.”
Download PNG
Downloads the QR as your-show-slug-feed-qr.png at 240 × 240 px — suitable for print and digital use.
The Public Endpoint
The embed link uses the public REST endpoint:
GET /wp-json/benecaster/v1/shows/{id}/qr.png
- Returns raw PNG bytes with
Content-Type: image/png - Cached for 24 hours (
Cache-Control: public, max-age=86400) - Requires no authentication
- Returns 404 for unknown or unpublished show IDs
- Supports
If-None-Match— returns 304 on a cache hit
You can use this URL directly in <img> tags, in email templates, or in any context that accepts an image URL. The endpoint requires the GD PHP extension to generate PNG output; if GD is unavailable it returns HTTP 500.
Where to Use the Embed Snippet
Press kit pages — add the embed snippet to a static press kit page so journalists and collaborators can scan directly from the page.
Show notes pages — paste the snippet into your podcast host’s show notes HTML to give listeners a one-scan subscribe option.
Third-party sites — because the endpoint is a standard image URL, it works anywhere an <img> tag is accepted: Squarespace, Notion, Webflow, email newsletters, and similar.
Print materials — for print use, the Download PNG button gives a 240 × 240 image that renders crisply up to roughly business-card size. For larger print (posters, banners), use the SVG download from the [benecaster_qr_code type="signup"] shortcode instead.
A Note on Public Visibility
The QR encodes your show’s public signup page URL — not a private subscriber feed URL. Anyone who scans it sees the public signup page, exactly as intended. There is no private information in the QR image.
Because the endpoint is public and unauthenticated, it can be embedded freely without exposing any subscriber data.
Using the Shortcode Instead
If you want to embed the QR directly in a WordPress page rather than copying the image URL, use the shortcode:
[benecaster_qr_code type="signup" show_id="3" size="240" download="false"]
The shortcode renders an inline SVG or PNG at the size you specify, with optional download buttons. See Shortcodes Reference for all parameters.
For developers building the embed snippet programmatically, see the embed-show-qr-code-on-marketing-page recipe.