Search & Browse

Plank provides two powerful ways to discover content: browsing curated collections from TMDB and searching your personal library or the web.

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Browse for New Content

The browse view helps you discover new movies and TV shows to add to your library.

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Content Sources

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Browse Features

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Infinite Scroll

The browse view loads content progressively:

• Initial page loads 20 items
• Automatically loads more as you scroll
• Smooth loading with skeleton placeholders
• Caches pages for instant navigation

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Filter by Type

Use the filter dropdown to narrow results:

• All: Movies and TV shows together
• Movies: Movies only
• TV Shows: TV shows only

Filters persist when switching between trending and popular tabs.

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Rich Metadata

Each browse card shows:

• High-quality poster image
• Title and release year
• MPAA rating badge (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17)
• TMDB rating
• Overview/description
• Genres

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Lazy Detail Enrichment

Browse uses a two-stage loading strategy for optimal performance:

1. Initial Load: Basic metadata from TMDB (fast)
2. Background Enrichment: IMDB IDs, certifications, and cached magnet links loaded in batches

This provides instant browsing while enriching data in the background.

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Adding Content from Browse

When you find something you want to watch:

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Movies

1. Click the plus icon on any movie card
2. Plank automatically:
   • Resolves IMDB ID from TMDB
   • Searches Prowlarr for high-quality torrents
   • Filters for trusted release groups (YTS, BONE, etc.)
   • Selects best quality torrent (1080p preferred)
   • Adds to your library
   • Starts downloading

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TV Shows

TV shows have additional options:

1. Click the three-dot menu on a TV show card
2. Select “Add Season”
3. Choose which season(s) to add
4. Plank resolves the season torrent and adds it

When adding seasons:

• First season: Creates new show entry
• Additional seasons: Merges into existing show (if same TMDB ID)
• Episode mapping: Automatically maps files to episodes

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Watch Now

For instant gratification:

1. Click “Watch Now” on any movie
2. Adds to library and immediately navigates to player
3. Starts streaming as soon as buffer is ready

Perfect for “I want to watch this right now” moments.

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Torrent Resolution

Plank intelligently finds torrents for browse content:

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Prowlarr Integration

Browse uses Prowlarr to search multiple torrent indexers:

• Queries by IMDB ID or title + year
• Filters by minimum seeders (configurable, default 5)
• Trusts specific release groups (configurable)
• Selects highest quality available (up to 1080p)
• Caches results for 24 hours

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Quality Priority

Torrent selection prioritizes quality in this order:

1. 1080p (highest priority for compatibility and quality)
2. 720p (fallback for smaller files)
3. 2160p/4K (only if no 1080p available, may have compatibility issues)

Lower quality releases are ignored unless configured otherwise.

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Trusted Groups

By default, Plank trusts these release groups:

• YTS: High-quality movie encodes with small file sizes
• BONE: Popular scene group
• (Configurable via settings)

You can modify trusted groups in the Prowlarr configuration.

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Prefetching

Browse aggressively prefetches data for instant interactions:

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Magnet Link Prefetch

On hover over a movie card:

• Resolves magnet link in background
• Caches result in React Query
• Makes “Add to Library” instant on click

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Season Prefetch

On hover over a TV show menu:

• Fetches season list from TMDB
• Caches season metadata
• Makes season selector instant

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Season Torrent Prefetch

On hover over individual seasons:

• Resolves season torrent in background
• Caches magnet link
• Makes “Add Season” instant on click

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Tab Prefetch

When viewing trending, popular is prefetched (and vice versa):

• Next tab loads in background
• Tab switches are instant
• Seamless browsing experience

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Search Your Library

Quickly find content you’ve already added.

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Full-Text Search

Library search uses SQLite FTS5 (Full-Text Search):

• Instant results: As you type
• Fuzzy matching: Finds partial matches
• Ranked results: Most relevant first
• Fallback: Uses LIKE queries if FTS fails

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Search Scope

Library search is profile-scoped:

• Only searches your active profile’s library
• Isolated from other profiles
• Fast queries with indexed lookups

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Search Fields

Search queries match against:

• Media title
• Overview/description
• (Additional metadata can be added)

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Search UI

The search interface provides:

• Real-time results grid
• Same card layout as library
• Direct navigation to media pages
• Quick play access

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Browse Performance

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Caching Strategy

Browse data is heavily cached for performance:

• TMDB API results: 30 minutes
• Torrent resolution: 24 hours (in database)
• Season metadata: 1 hour
• Detail enrichment: 30 minutes

Caching reduces API calls and provides instant browsing.

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Infinite Scroll Optimization

• Intersection Observer: Triggers next page 300px before bottom
• Deduplication: Prevents duplicate items across pages
• Skeleton Loading: Shows placeholders during fetch
• Query Dedup: React Query prevents redundant fetches

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Image Loading

Poster images are optimized:

• Lazy loading: First 18 items load eagerly, rest lazy load
• TMDB CDN: Images served from fast TMDB CDN
• Size optimization: Requests optimal poster size (w500)
• Cached locally: Downloaded images cached in library/images

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Prowlarr Setup

Browse requires Prowlarr to be configured:

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Configuration Steps

1. Enter Prowlarr URL in Plank settings
2. Add Prowlarr API key
3. Configure indexers in Prowlarr
4. Set trusted release groups (optional)
5. Set minimum seeders threshold (optional)

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Indexer Requirements

For best results, configure indexers that support:

• IMDB ID search
• Good seeder counts
• Trusted release groups
• 1080p releases

Recommended public indexers:

• YTS (movies)
• EZTV (TV shows)
• 1337x (both)

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Advanced Features

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Context Menus

Right-click or long-press on browse cards for:

• Add to library
• Watch now
• View on TMDB
• Copy TMDB/IMDB ID
• (TV shows) Season selector

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Season Selection

TV show season selection shows:

• Season number and name
• Episode count
• Air year
• Season poster

Select multiple seasons to add them all at once (each as separate torrent).

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Error Handling

Browse gracefully handles errors:

• No Prowlarr: Shows setup instructions
• No torrents found: Displays helpful message
• API failures: Retries with exponential backoff
• Network offline: Shows offline indicator

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Next Steps