Server settings

Every setting on the server, tab by tab: what it does, what it starts as, and who can change it. All of them are under Settings in a browser.

1. Library Folders
2. Region & Metadata
3. Users & Devices
4. Library Maintenance
5. Seasons
6. Server
7. Preferences
8. Security
9. About
10. Set when installing

Library Folders Curators

The folders the library is read from. Each holds one kind of media, and a kind can have several, across drives: when one fills up, add another and new media can go there.

Add a Folder Administrator

Choose the kind (films, television, music, music videos, or home videos once they are switched on under Server), then the folder, typing its path or using Browse. New Folder in Browse makes an empty folder inside the one you're looking at, if it doesn't exist yet. It never replaces anything, and it refuses system folders and the server's own. An example of the layout each kind expects is shown beside it. Then run a scan. System folders, the server's own folders and anything overlapping a folder already added are refused.

Check

Looks again for a folder marked Not connected, such as a drive that was unplugged. A folder that can't be reached isn't scanned, and nothing in it is lost meanwhile.

Re-point… Administrator

Tells the server a folder now lives somewhere else, for a drive that came back at a different path. No files are copied. It reports what it found there and what is missing.

Move files… Administrator

Moves a folder's media to another place: everything is copied, the copy is checked, and only then are the originals removed. It carries on if the page is closed.

Remove Administrator

Takes the folder's titles out of the library. Nothing on the drive is deleted, but watch history, favourites and playlist entries for those titles are lost.

Drives

How full each drive is, by kind of media. Nothing to set.

Region & Metadata Curators

TMDb API Key

Film and television details and artwork come from TMDb, which needs a key. It is free from themoviedb.org. Without one there are no posters or details for films and shows, and no In Theatres page. Age ratings come from TMDb too, so without a key child accounts see no films or TV. Age ratings don't apply to music: child accounts see all of it. Music details come from MusicBrainz and need no key.

Artwork

Normal (the default) keeps up to 5 backdrops per film at 1280 wide, which suits 1080p screens, phones and tablets. High keeps up to 10 at full resolution: best on a 4K television, and about six times the disk. Applies to artwork fetched from now on.

Region

Where the server is. Films and shows take their age rating from this country first, a record pressed in several countries prefers the local pressing, and In Theatres lists this country's cinemas. Starts as Follow this machine. After changing it, use Update Metadata so stored ratings are read again.

Users & Devices Everyone

Pair a device

Signs in a television or another browser as you: enter the code it is showing, check which device asked and whether it asked from your home, then approve. A code lasts 10 minutes. It can also be done on iPhone and iPad, under Settings → Pair a Device.

Your Devices

Everywhere your account is signed in. End signs one out immediately; Sign Out Everywhere Else signs out all but this browser.

People Administrator

Everyone with access. For each person: Make Curator or Remove Curator; Revoke Access, which stops them signing in but keeps their history and playlists, so giving access back restores everything; Set Password… for someone who signs in with a password; Remove Child Flag; Remove Picture; and Delete, which erases their favourites, playlists, watch list and history for good. The administrator account looks after the server and isn't for watching: invite your own account like anyone else.

Child accounts can choose their own picture

Off to start with. When on, children can set their own picture.

Invitations Administrator

Create a code for each person, say who it is for, and pass it on however you like. A code lasts 7 days. Tick Child account for a child: they see only what is rated 12 or under, and nothing unrated. Tick Can curate for someone who will help look after the library. A child can't also curate. The person redeems the code in the app when they first sign in with Apple, or in a browser under I have an invite code with a username and password.

Library Maintenance Curators

One job runs at a time; the others wait until it finishes.

Library Scan

Finds new and missing media, looking only at folders that have changed. Full Library Scan checks every file, for after a restore or a drive swap. A scan never moves, renames or rewrites a file; something that has gone is marked missing, not removed.

Schedule Scans

Scans every so many minutes, from 5 to 1440, so files copied to the drive appear by themselves. Empty means no schedule, which is how it starts. A scheduled scan only adds.

New Arrivals

Anything added is marked New for a month. Clear Scan Marks, Clear Upload Marks and Clear Both put the marks away sooner; nothing else changes.

Update Metadata

Fills in whatever is missing (posters, ratings, episode details, artist photos and biographies) without rescanning the files.

Re-read Music Tags

Reads each track's title, number and disc again from the tags inside the files. Nothing on the drive changes, and tracks edited by hand are left alone.

Seasons Curators

Use seasons when suggesting and shuffling

On to start with. Music and films that belong to a season (Christmas, say) are left out of shuffle and suggestions for the rest of the year, and brought forward while their season is on. They can always be played and searched. While a season is on, up to three of its films and shows lead the Home banner, different ones each day; one you've watched this season isn't featured for you again until next year.

Seasons

Each season has a name, dates and an On switch. Manage… searches for titles by words you choose and lets you tick what really belongs; nothing is decided for you. Delete removes the season and its list, not the media. Add a season with a name and its start and end dates.

Server Curators

Let apps find this server automatically

On to start with. Announces the server on your home network so the apps find it without anybody typing an address. Only that a server is there, and its port, is announced, and it lets nobody in. Needs Avahi on a Linux machine; the screen explains if it is missing. See the installation guide.

Show trailers from YouTube

On to start with. Off hides YouTube trailers for everyone in the household; each person can also turn them off for themselves under Preferences. Trailers saved in your library still appear.

Next Episode Countdown

30 seconds to start with; 60 or 80 for shows with long credits. How long before an episode ends the next one is offered, for everyone. Each person turns the countdown on or off under Preferences. The Apple TV doesn't show a countdown yet; it plays the next episode when one ends.

Keep home videos on this server

Off to start with. Turns on a place for the household's own recordings, kept apart from films and television and never put on the home screen. Child accounts never see them, nor the way in; only curators add or change them. Turning it off hides them and deletes nothing.

Software Update

Shows the server's version and its database's, when updates were last checked for and installed, and how long it has been running. Install updates at chooses the hour (4:00 AM to start with) when the host's update timer may install a new version, which restarts the server. Release Notes lists what changed in each version.

Preferences Everyone

Your own settings. They follow you to every device, except Appearance.

Your Picture

Shown beside your name, here and in the apps. A child can set one only if the administrator allows it.

Your Name

What the rest of the household sees.

Appearance

System, Light or Dark, for this browser only, so each screen in the house can differ. Starts as System.

Play the next episode automatically

On to start with. Shows the next episode near the end of this one and plays it when the countdown finishes. The length of the countdown is set for everyone under Server.

Show trailers from YouTube

On to start with. Shows a trailer button on film pages; these play from YouTube. Trailers saved in your library always appear. Greyed out when trailers are turned off for the whole household.

Show the In Theatres page

On to start with. What's on at the cinema, read from TMDb; nothing is added to your library. Not shown to children, or without a TMDb key.

Security Everyone

Your Password

At least 10 characters. Changing it signs out your other devices. Accounts that sign in with Apple have no password here.

Two-Factor Authentication

A six-digit code from an authenticator app, asked for after your password. It works offline and nothing is sent anywhere. Set-up gives you ten single-use backup codes, shown once: keep them somewhere safe. Recommended, especially for the administrator. Apple accounts already have Apple's own second step.

About Everyone

The server's version and where its details come from. Nothing to set.

Set when installing

A few things are set in the .env file beside the server rather than in a browser, because nobody in the household should be able to change them from a screen. Change one, then run docker compose up -d.