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