Skip to main content

Introduction

Welcome to homescreen-hero, a self-hosted Plex companion app designed to be your new base of operations for all things Plex. Automatically rotate collections to keep your homescreen fresh and surface forgotten content, manage your server from a sleek web dashboard, and pull in widgets from your favorite companion apps like Tautulli and Seerr (with more to come).

Web Dashboard​

The dashboard is your central hub for managing everything homescreen-hero has to offer. It features a fully customizable drag-and-drop layout where you can arrange widgets, view rotation status, and get a quick overview of your Plex server, all at a glance. Choose from two theme options (Default Blue or Plex Orange, which switches to a sidebar layout) and customize the dashboard to match your style.

Automated Collection Rotation​

The core feature that started it all. Schedule collection rotations on your Plex homescreen to keep things fresh for all your users. Organize collections into groups with min/max picks and weights, and configure how groups are ordered and how collections are selected within each group:

  • Group Order - Control how groups are processed: display order, weighted (by priority), or random
  • Collection Selection - Each group picks collections using random or LRU (least recently used) selection

All settings respect gap rules to prevent the same collections from appearing too frequently.

Smart Groups​

Don't want to manually maintain collection lists? Smart groups automatically populate their pool based on filter rules. Filter by label, source, library, name, item count, or sort title. Add a new Trakt list that syncs into Plex, and if it matches your smart group's rules, it gets picked up on the next rotation automatically.

Per-User Targeting​

Control which Plex users see specific collections on their homescreen. Assign target users to any group, and only those users will see that group's collections after a rotation. Great for tailoring the experience per household member.

note

Per-user targeting requires Plex Media Server 1.43.1+, which is currently only available on the PMS Beta channel (requires Plex Pass).

3rd Party Integrations​

Don't feel like going through the hassle of creating your own collections? Why not use lists from all these awesome sites that are specifically made for creating and sharing lists? Just grab the link from your site of choice, paste it in homescreen-hero, and boom! Collection created. Currently integrated:

  • Trakt - Import public lists and watchlists (requires API key)
  • MDBList - Pull in community-curated lists (requires API key)
  • TMDb - Sync from any public TMDb list (requires API key)
  • Letterboxd - Scrape public lists from Letterboxd (no API key required)
  • AniList - Sync anime collections from user lists and curated browse lists (no API key required)
  • MyAnimeList - Sync anime lists including seasonal anime (requires API key)

Synced lists automatically create and update Plex collections, keeping your library in lockstep with external sources. Missing items are tracked and can be automatically requested through Seerr.

Authentication​

Protect your dashboard with password-based login, Plex OAuth, or both. Plex server owners get admin access automatically, and you can manage user roles and approvals from the settings page.

note

The User role currently serves as a placeholder for upcoming non-admin features. Right now, only admin users have access to the dashboard. User-facing tools are planned for a future release.

Widget System​

Extend your dashboard with widgets from popular self-hosted apps and your Plex server:

  • Tautulli - Streaming activity, watch history, analytics graphs, and collection performance
  • Seerr - View/approve recent requests, quick-search widget for requesting content from the dashboard
  • Library Composition - Genre and resolution breakdowns for your Plex libraries
  • Recently Added - Latest additions to your Plex library
  • Active Collections - Collections currently featured on your homescreen
  • Recent Rotations - History of past rotations

More widget integrations are on the way. Widgets are drag-and-drop, so you can arrange your dashboard exactly how you want it.

Tools & Utilities​

Built-in utilities for managing your Plex server:

  • Collection Import/Export - Share collections with other homescreen-hero users via JSON files or compact share codes
  • Date Added Editor - Fix the "Date Added" timestamp on movies and shows that were redownloaded
  • Watch History Cleaner - Mark TV shows as unwatched to fix issues with Plex's "Continue Watching" row
  • Unwatched Report - Find content collecting dust in your library (requires Tautulli). Export to CSV.
  • Copy Watch History - Sync watched/unwatched status between Plex Home users
  • Clear User Targeting - Remove all per-user targeting labels and reset sharing filters

More tools are in development and will be added based on what's most requested by users.

Next Steps​