Smart Builders

Smart Builders allow Plex Meta Manager to create Smart Collections in two different ways.

** Smart Builders do not currently work with Playlists **

Smart Label

A Smart Label Collection is a smart collection that grabs every item with a specific label generated by the program. That label is added to all the items the Collection Builders find instead of being added to a normal collection.

To make a collection a Smart Label Collection, the smart_label attribute must added to the collection definition. It functions in two different ways:

1. Define the sort using the Movies/Shows column of the Sorts Table below along with any other builder to make that collection a Smart Label Collection.

   collections:
     Marvel Cinematic Universe:
       trakt_list: https://trakt.tv/users/jawann2002/lists/marvel-cinematic-universe-movies?sort=rank,asc
       smart_label: release.desc
   

2. Provide a whole smart_filter to determine exactly how the smart collection should be built, ensuring to include label: <<smart_label>>, which will link it to the collection labels.

   collections:
     Unplayed Marvel Cinematic Universe:
       trakt_list: https://trakt.tv/users/jawann2002/lists/marvel-cinematic-universe-movies?sort=rank,asc
       smart_label:
         sort_by: release.desc
         all:
           label: <<smart_label>>
           unplayed: true
   

This is extremely useful because smart collections don’t follow normal show/hide rules and can eliminate the need to have Plex Collectionless when used correctly. To fix the issue described in Plex Collectionless you would make Marvel Cinematic Universe a Smart Label Collection and all other Marvel collection just normal collections, and they will show/hide all the movie properly.

To have the Smart Label Collections to eliminate Plex Collectionless you have to go all in on using them. A good rule of thumb to make sure this works correctly is that every item in your library should have a max of one non-smart collection.

Reach out on the Plex Meta Manager Discord or in the GitHub Discussions for help if you’re having any issues getting this to work properly.

Smart Filter

Uses Plex’s Advanced Filters to create a smart collection based on the filter parameters provided.

Any Advanced Filter made using the Plex UI should be able to be recreated using smart_filter. If you’re having trouble getting smart_filter to work correctly, build the collection you want inside of Plex’s Advanced Filters and take a screenshot of the parameters in the Plex UI and post it in either the Discussions or on Discord, and I’ll do my best to help you.

like Plex’s Advanced Filters you have to start each filter with either any or all as a base. You can only have one base attribute and all filter attributes must be under the base.

Inside the base attribute you can use any filter below or nest more any or all. You can have as many nested any or all next to each other as you want. If using multiple any or all you will have to do so in the form of a list.

Note: To search by season, episode, album, or track you must use the builder_level Detail to change the type of items the collection holds.

There are a couple other attributes you can have at the top level only along with the base attribute are:

Special Attributes

Attribute	Description & Values
limit	Description: The max number of item for the filter. Default: all Values: all or a number greater than 0
sort_by	Description: This will control how the filter is sorted in your library. You can do a multi-level sort using a list. Default: random Values: Any sort options for your filter type in the Sorts Options Table
validate	Description: Determines if a collection will fail on a validation error Default: true Values: true or false

Sort Options

Sort Option	Description	Movies	Shows	Seasons	Episodes	Artists	Albums	Tracks
title.asc title.desc	Sort by Title	✅	✅	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
season.asc season.desc	Sort by Season	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
show.asc show.desc	Sort by Show	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
album_artist.asc album_artist.desc	Sort by Album Artist	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅
artist.asc artist.desc	Sort by Artist	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
album.asc album.desc	Sort by Album	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
year.asc year.desc	Sort by Year	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌
release.asc release.desc	Sort by Release Date (Originally Available)	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌
episode_release.asc episode_release.desc	Sort by Episode Release Date (Originally Available)	❌	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌
critic_rating.asc critic_rating.desc	Sort by Critic Rating	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	✅	❌
audience_rating.asc audience_rating.desc	Sort by Audience Rating	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
user_rating.asc user_rating.desc	Sort by User Rating	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
content_rating.asc content_rating.desc	Sort by Content Rating	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
duration.asc duration.desc	Sort by Duration	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅
progress.asc progress.desc	Sort by Progress	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
played.asc played.desc	Sort by Date Last Played	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
plays.asc plays.desc	Sort by Number of Plays	✅	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅
unplayed.asc unplayed.desc	Sort by Unplayed	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
episode_added.asc episode_added.desc	Sort by Last Episode Date Added	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
added.asc added.desc	Sort by Date Added	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
viewed.asc viewed.desc	Sort by Date Last Viewed	✅	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
rated.asc rated.desc	Sort by Date Last Rated	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
popularity.asc popularity.desc	Sort by Popularity	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
resolution.asc resolution.desc	Sort by Resolution	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
bitrate.asc bitrate.desc	Sort by Bitrate	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	❌	✅
random	Sort by Random	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Filters

There are three fields per filter option when using Plex’s Advanced Filters in the Web UI.

1. Attribute: What attribute you wish to filter.

2. Modifier: Which modifier to use.

3. Value: Actual value to filter.

Example: Attribute.Modifier: Value

String Filters

String filters can be used with either no modifier or with .not, .is, .isnot, .begins, or .ends.

String filter can take multiple values only as a list.

String Modifiers

String Modifier	Description	Plex Web UI Display
No Modifier	Matches every item where the attribute contains the given string	contains
.not	Matches every item where the attribute does not contain the given string	does not contain
.is	Matches every item where the attribute exactly matches the given string	is
.isnot	Matches every item where the attribute does not exactly match the given string	is not
.begins	Matches every item where the attribute begins with the given string	begins with
.ends	Matches every item where the attribute ends with the given string	ends with

String Attributes

String Search	Description	Movie Libraries	Show Libraries	Music Libraries
title	Uses the title attribute to match	✅	✅	❌
episode_title	Uses the title attribute of the show’s episodes to match	❌	✅	❌
studio	Uses the studio attribute to match	✅	✅	❌
edition	Uses the edition attribute to match	✅	❌	❌
artist_title	Uses the Artist’s Title attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_title	Uses the Album’s Title attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_title	Uses the Track’s Title attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_record_label	Uses the Album’s Record Label attribute to match	❌	❌	✅

Tag Filters

Tag filters can be used with either no modifier or with .not except for decade and resolution which can only be used with no modifier.

Tag filter can take multiple values as a list or a comma-separated string.

Tag Modifiers

Tag Modifier	Description	Plex Web UI Display
No Modifier	Matches every item where the attribute matches the given string	is
.not	Matches every item where the attribute does not match the given string	is not

Tag Attributes

Tag Search	Description	Movie Libraries	Show Libraries	Music Libraries
actor	Uses the actor tags to match	✅	✅	❌
audio_language	Uses the audio language tags to match	✅	✅	❌
collection	Uses the collection tags to match for top level collections	✅	✅	❌
season_collection	Uses the collection tags to match for season collections	❌	✅	❌
episode_collection	Uses the collection tags to match for episode collections	❌	✅	❌
content_rating	Uses the content rating tags to match	✅	✅	❌
country	Uses the country tags to match	✅	✅	❌
decade1	Uses the year tag to match the decade	✅	❌	❌
director	Uses the director tags to match	✅	❌	❌
genre	Uses the genre tags to match	✅	✅	❌
label	Uses the label tags to match for top level collections	✅	✅	❌
season_label	Uses the label tags to match for season collections	❌	✅	❌
episode_label	Uses the label tags to match for episode collections	❌	✅	❌
network	Uses the network tags to match Only works with the New Plex TV Agent	❌	✅	❌
producer	Uses the actor tags to match	✅	❌	❌
resolution	Uses the resolution tags to match	✅	✅	❌
subtitle_language	Uses the subtitle language tags to match	✅	✅	❌
writer	Uses the writer tags to match	✅	❌	❌
year1	Uses the year tag to match	✅	✅	❌
episode_year1	Uses the year tag to match	❌	✅	❌
artist_genre	Uses the Artist’s Genre attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
artist_collection	Uses the Artist’s Collection attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
artist_country	Uses the Artist’s Country attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
artist_mood	Uses the Artist’s Mood attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
artist_style	Uses the Artist’s Style attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
artist_label	Uses the Artist’s Label attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_genre	Uses the Album’s Genre attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_mood	Uses the Album’s Mood attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_style	Uses the Album’s Style attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_format	Uses the Album’s Format attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_type	Uses the Album’s Type attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_collection	Uses the Album’s Collection attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_source	Uses the Album’s Source attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_label	Uses the Album’s Label attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_mood	Uses the Track’s Mood attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_source	Uses the Track’s Source attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_label	Uses the Track’s Label attribute to match	❌	❌	✅

¹ You can use current_year to have PMM use the current years value. This can be combined with a -# at the end to subtract that number of years. i.e. current-2

Date Filters

Date filters can be used with either no modifier or with .not, .before, or .after.

No date filter can take multiple values.

Date Modifiers

Date Modifier	Description	Plex Web UI Display
No Modifier	Matches every item where the date attribute is in the last X days Format: number of days Example: 30	is in the last
.not	Matches every item where the date attribute is not in the last X days Format: number of days Example: 30	is not in the last
.before	Matches every item where the date attribute is before the given date Format: MM/DD/YYYY or today for the current day Example: 01/01/2000	is before
.after	Matches every item where the date attribute is after the given date Format: MM/DD/YYYY or today for the current day Example: 01/01/2000	is after

Date Attributes

Date Search	Description	Movie Libraries	Show Libraries	Music Libraries
added	Uses the date added attribute to match	✅	✅	❌
episode_added	Uses the date added attribute of the show’s episodes to match	❌	✅	❌
release	Uses the release date attribute (originally available) to match	✅	✅	❌
episode_air_date	Uses the air date attribute (originally available) of the show’s episodes to match	❌	✅	❌
last_played	Uses the date last played attribute to match	✅	✅	❌
episode_last_played	Uses the date last played attribute of the show’s episodes to match	❌	✅	❌
artist_added	Uses the Artist’s date added attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
artist_last_played	Uses the Artist’s last played attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_last_played	Uses the Album’s last played attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_added	Uses the Album’s date added attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
album_released	Uses the Album’s release date attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_last_played	Uses the Track’s date last played attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_last_skipped	Uses the Track’s date last skipped attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_last_rated	Uses the Track’s date last rated attribute to match	❌	❌	✅
track_added	Uses the Track’s date added attribute to match	❌	❌	✅

Number Filters

Number filters must use .gt, .gte, .lt, or .lte as a modifier only the rating filters can use .rated.

No number filter can take multiple values.

Number Modifiers

Number Modifier	Description	Plex Web UI Display
.gt	Matches every item where the number attribute is greater than the given number Format: number Example: 30, 1995, or 7.5	is greater than
.gte	Matches every item where the number attribute is greater than or equal to the given number Format: number Example: 30, 1995, or 7.5	N/A
.lt	Matches every item where the number attribute is less than the given number Format: number Example: 30, 1995, or 7.5	is less than
.lte	Matches every item where the number attribute is less than or equal to the given number Format: number Example: 30, 1995, or 7.5	N/A
.rated	Matches every item either rated or not rated Format: true or false	N/A

• .rated only works for rating filters

Number Attributes

Number Search	Description	Movie Libraries	Show Libraries	Music Libraries
duration	Uses the duration attribute to match using minutes Minimum: 0	✅	❌	❌
plays	Uses the plays attribute to match Minimum: 0	✅	✅	❌
episode_plays	Uses the Episode’s plays attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	✅	❌
critic_rating	Uses the critic rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	✅	✅	❌
audience_rating	Uses the audience rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	✅	✅	❌
user_rating	Uses the user rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	✅	✅	❌
episode_user_rating	Uses the user rating attribute of the show’s episodes to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	❌	✅	❌
year1	Uses the year attribute to match Minimum: 0	✅	✅	❌
episode_year1	Uses the Episode’s year attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	✅	❌
album_year1	Uses the Album’s year attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	❌	✅
album_decade1	Uses the Album’s decade attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	❌	✅
album_plays	Uses the Album’s plays attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	❌	✅
track_plays	Uses the Track’s plays attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	❌	✅
track_skips	Uses the Track’s skips attribute to match Minimum: 0	❌	❌	✅
artist_user_rating	Uses the Artist’s user rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	❌	❌	✅
album_user_rating	Uses the Album’s user rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	❌	❌	✅
album_critic_rating	Uses the Album’s critic rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	❌	❌	✅
track_user_rating	Uses the Track’s user rating attribute to match Range: 0.0 - 10.0	❌	❌	✅

¹ You can use current_year to have PMM use the current years value. This can be combined with a -# at the end to subtract that number of years. i.e. current-2

Boolean Filters

Boolean Filters take no modifier and can only be either true or false.

Boolean Attributes

Boolean Search	Description	Movie Libraries	Show Libraries	Music Libraries
hdr	Is HDR	✅	✅	❌
unmatched	Is Unmatched	✅	❌	❌
duplicate	Is Duplicate	✅	❌	❌
unplayed	Is Unplayed	✅	❌	❌
progress	Is In Progress	✅	❌	❌
trash	Is Trashed	✅	✅	❌
unplayed_episodes	Has Unplayed Episodes	❌	✅	❌
episode_unplayed	Has Episodes Unplayed	❌	✅	❌
episode_duplicate	Has Duplicate Episodes	❌	✅	❌
episode_progress	Has Episode Progress	❌	✅	❌
episode_unmatched	Has Episodes Unmatched	❌	✅	❌
show_unmatched	Has Shows Unmatched	❌	✅	❌
artist_unmatched	Is Artist’s Unmatched	❌	❌	✅
album_unmatched	Is Album’s Unmatched	❌	❌	✅
track_trash	Is Track Trashed	❌	❌	✅

Smart Filter Examples

A few examples are listed below:

collections:
  Documentaries:
    smart_filter:
      all:
        genre: Documentary

collections:
  Dave Chappelle Comedy:
    smart_filter:
      all:
        actor: Dave Chappelle
        genre: Comedy

collections:
  Top Action Movies:
    smart_filter:
      all:
        genre: Action
      sort_by: audience_rating.desc
      limit: 20

collections:
  90s Movies:
    smart_filter:
      any:
        year:
          - 1990
          - 1991
          - 1992
          - 1993
          - 1994
          - 1995
          - 1996
          - 1997
          - 1998
          - 1999

collections:
  90s Movies:
    smart_filter:
      any:
        decade: 1990

collections:
  Best 2010+ Movies:
    smart_filter:
      all:
        year.gte: 2010
      sort_by: audience_rating.desc
      limit: 20

If you specify TMDb Person ID’s using the Detail tmdb_person and then tell either actor, director, producer, or writer to add tmdb, the script will translate the TMDb Person IDs into their names and run the filter on those names.

collections:
  Robin Williams:
    smart_filter:
      all:
        actor: tmdb
    tmdb_person: 2157

collections:
  Steven Spielberg:
    smart_filter:
      all:
        director: tmdb
    tmdb_person: https://www.themoviedb.org/person/488-steven-spielberg

collections:
  Quentin Tarantino:
    smart_filter:
      any:
        actor: tmdb
        director: tmdb
        producer: tmdb
        writer: tmdb
    tmdb_person: 138