Update 0.5.0

[cenodude]

CrossWatch – v0.5.0

Welcome at version 0.5.0...and as stated before, this release is all about Refactors, file moves, and code restructuring.
Not glamorous, but it stops the codebase from evolving into a dumpster fire.
There are so many things improved, fixed, and changed that I honestly lost track.

⚠️ Important

Because of the larger code changes, I strongly recommend doing a full cleanup:

• Go to Settings → Maintenance
• Run Delete Everything / Clean Everything
• Then re-open CrossWatch so it rebuilds fresh state/caches
• Remove any pairs with Jellyfin that included ratings! and Create them again.
• Optional: remove you config.json to start clean.

This avoids stale tracker data, cached metadata, and old snapshots getting in the way of the refactor.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Jellyfin ratings sync is disabled.
  • I tried, but Jellyfin (and Emby) ratings behavior is… special.
  • It wasn’t working reliably anyway, so it’s off until it’s properly understood and implemented.
• UI improvement added: M: Movies S: Shows in insight
• Overal UI improvements smaller probes, css changes etc etc...
• Watchlist changes:
  • Removed the movie/show overlay when in list view.
  • Added background for the overlay (same principle as the Playing card)
• Provider changes:
  • SIMKL Improved shadowing (more reliable diffing + fewer “phantom repeats”).
  • TRAKT changes:
    • Improved ID resolving (fewer mismatches, fewer “unresolved” surprises).
    • CW now better supports Free accounts with better handling when Trakt limits are reached.
      • Console now shows: “Trakt account limit reached”
      • Trakt probe now reports:
        • free-tier and VIP limits (watchlist + collections)
        • last limit-related error (so you can actually see what happened)
        • Analyzer will tell you when limits has reached.
  • MDBList Ratings handling improved (fewer retries/loops).
  • Jellyfin and Emby Watchlist pagination fixed.
• Added three more provider shell tools in /scripts for MDBList / Trakt / SIMKL.
• Analyzer changes:
  • Improved detection logic.
  • Finds more issues and is better at pointing out why something didn’t sync.
• Help function: in pair configuration i've added some help icons with mouse-over information.

From 0.5.x onward I’ll continue with some refactoring for javascript and CSS

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CrossWatch – v0.4.9

Plex tweaked their Discover API again...... which broke Watchlist pagination.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: Plex Watchlist sync now correctly loads all items again. Plex Discover was misreporting pagination, so only the first N items were synced;
  CrossWatch now works around this using container paging.

CrossWatch – v0.4.8

This will be the last functional update for a while. Next up: code cleanup, restructuring, and prep for v0.5.0.
In this build the Now Playing card has been completely refreshed. The old tooltip-style “Now Playing” view is gone.

The new Playing card:

• Shows a proper progress bar
• Needs real-time progress updates (which webhooks normally do not provide)

Real-time progress is supported for:

• Jellyfin Webhook (make sure Playback Progress is enabled in your Jellyfin webhook)
• Emby and Plex Watcher
  Other webhooks (Plex / Emby webhook) do not provide progression updates. That’s on them, not on me.
  The Playing card will still render and update when events come in, just without real-time progress.

Don’t like any of this?
You can disable the new Playing card under Settings → UI.

✨ Highlights

• New “Now Playing” card

  • Shows the current movie/show with backdrop, title, and progress bar.
  • Updates live from Plex, Emby and Jellyfin while you play, pause or stop.

• Emby Watcher: now includes real-time progress just like Plex

  • When you skip or fast-forward in Emby, the progress now updates much more accurately in the Now Playing card and on Trakt/SIMKL.

• Improved Trakt matching for Emby & Jellyfin

  • Better detection of the correct show + episode on Trakt, even with strange IDs.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Changed: Improved Jellyfin webhook to support real-time progress. Note: You need to enable Playback Progress in your webhook!
• Changed: Trakt ID lookups (movie/show/episode) are now cached, reducing Trakt API calls.
• Changed: Default scrobble guard behavior (pause debounce, autoplay protection) tuned for fewer accidental scrobbles.

CrossWatch – v0.4.7

Plex’s “Mark as watched” and its actual play history are two different signals.
Until now, CrossWatch played it safe and only trusted real play history, completely ignoring items that were just marked as watched.
Enough people ran into that limitation that it was time to fix it.
With this release, CrossWatch now understands both – real plays and “marked watched”.

If you prefer the old behavior, just turn off Marked Watched under Pair → Providers → Plex.

MOD_PLEX WIKI page has been updated. https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/mod_PLEX

✨ Highlights

• Plex “Marked Watched” support
  • In Pair → Providers → Plex you’ll now see a new toggle next to Fallback GUID called Marked Watched default is enabled.
  • When this is enabled, CrossWatch will also look at Plex’s library “watched” state, not just the play history.
  • That means:
    • If you marked items as watched in Plex (without real play history), CrossWatch can now pick those up and sync them out.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Stricter timestamps (no fake dates)

  • For both real history and “marked watched” entries, CrossWatch now only uses items that have a real timestamp from Plex.
  • If Plex doesn’t give a timestamp, that item is simply ignored for history sync.
  • We no longer invent “watched_at = now”

• Important: “Marked Watched” is one-way (adds only, no remove)

  • Enabling Marked Watched makes CrossWatch treat things as watched:
    • If Plex says an item is watched (history or marked watched), CrossWatch will sync that as watched.
  • But there is no unwatch sync:
    • If you unmark something as watched in Plex, CrossWatch will not go and remove/undo that play. That's just too risky.
    • This is deliberate. Plex doesn’t emit a clean event, and trying to guess removals is a great way to wipe people’s history by accident.

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CrossWatch – v0.4.6

Sorry....Previously, a small CSS blending issue caused the Editor layout to break if you opened the Watchlist first. This has now been fixed.
I didn’t want to keep you waiting, so here’s the second update for today.

✨ Highlights

• Metadata search for CW Editor
  • New compact, neon-style “Search metadata” popup that shows small posters for each result.
  • Picking a result now automatically fills TMDb, IMDb, and Trakt IDs where available.
  • The Key column is filled for you in the format imdb:tt1234567 when an IMDb ID is known.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: Opening Watchlist before the Editor could mess up the Editor layout.
  • The Editor now keeps its layout intact when switching between pages, no refresh needed.
• Improved: Trakt connection is more reliable.
  • Expired Trakt logins are refreshed automatically more often, reducing “Trakt disconnected” errors.

CrossWatch – v0.4.5

CrossWatch v0.4.5 makes it much easier to inspect, clean up, and repair your tracker data when something looks off.
This release introduces the CrossWatch Tracker Editor, so you can browse, filter, and edit Watchlist / History / Ratings in a structured table instead of digging through raw files.
Read more: https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/Editor

I’m parking feature work for a bit and focusing on bug fixes only, my ass needs a little break.

✨ Highlights

• CrossWatch Tracker Editor
  • Dedicated editor for CW tracker Watchlist / History / Ratings with search, paging, and inline editing.
  • Backup and Restore

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: Items from Trakt sometimes showed up as “Untitled” in the tracker/analyzer

  • Episode history and ratings from Trakt now correctly display their show/episode titles.

• Changed: Maintenance tools modal (Settings → Maintenance → Maintenance Tools)

  • Added Remove metadata cache to wipe cached posters and metadata.
  • Added Clean Everything button that runs all maintenance actions in one go.

• Added: CW Tracker Editor

  • Edit tracker data for Watchlist, History, and Ratings in a single table.
  • Global search bar, paging controls, and column sorting for Key, Type, Title, and Extra.
  • Per-type filter chips to quickly show only Movies, Shows, or Episodes.
  • Side panel with live stats: total rows, visible rows, and counts for movies/shows/episodes.
  • Backup and restore: The editor also includes simple import/export tools to move tracker data around or create backups.

• Changed: Snapshot naming handling

  • Snapshot dropdowns now show friendly labels like 2025-11-28 - 11:43 instead of raw filenames.
  • Snapshot picker inside Insights only lists the 10 most recent snapshots per feature to avoid huge lists.
  • “Latest” snapshot is always available as a quick option.

• Improved: Watchlist

  • Only providers that actually synced for the list are shown.
  • The CrossWatch provider label is shortened to “CW” in List Insight for a cleaner layout.
  • Limits the amount of rows and/or posters to 50 at a time.

CrossWatch – v0.4.4

Small version bump, big changes.
A mistake is easily made, one bad sync, one wrong setting, and things can get messy fast.
This release is all about the new CrossWatch Tracker A built-in snapshot provider that stores your Watchlist, History and Ratings locally and lets you restore them into your other services.
Future CW versions will push this further with an editor and more advanced tools, giving you even more control over your data.

✨ Highlights

• CrossWatch Tracker (internal snapshot provider) - experimental, meaning: expect bugs.
  • New provider card: CROSSWATCH
  • Can be used like any other provider in a pair:
    • As target → backup/snapshot from providers into CrossWatch.
    • As source → restore from CrossWatch back into those providers.
• Automatic snapshots
  • When CrossWatch is used as a target, it can automatically create snapshots of its data before changes are applied.
  • Snapshots are timestamped JSON files per feature.
  • You control:
    • Retention (days) – how long old snapshots are kept.
    • Max snapshots per feature – hard cap per feature.
    • Auto snapshot on/off – decide if a backup/snapshot is taken before each update.
• Quick snapshot switching from the dashboard
  • In Dashboard → Insights, click the CrossWatch tile while on Watchlist, Ratings or History.
  • A small picker opens where you can:
    • Switch to any available snapshot for that feature.
    • Or go back to Latest with one click.

Read here for more information about the new CrossWatch Tracker. https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/mod_CROSSWATCH

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: In Dashboard → Insights, large provider numbers now auto-scale so big counts no longer get cut off in the tiles.
• Changed: Maintenance tools modal (Settings → Maintenance → Maintenance Tools)
  • All maintenance actions are now grouped in a single, compact dialog, with clear descriptions per action.
• Changed: The old “User Interface” section in Settings is now simply called Settings, and contains two groups: user interface and CrossWatch tracker.
• Changed: Insights; see which snapshot is active when using CrossWatch tracker.
  • In Dashboard → Insights, the CrossWatch tile shows:
    • For Latest (default) → a “Latest” label.
    • For a specific snapshot → the snapshot date (e.g. dd-month-yy).
    • Or use the snapshot switching in the dashboard.

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CrossWatch – v0.4.3

Small release with targeted UI polish and stability improvements.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: Jellyfin server availability is now actively probed, so the banner correctly switches to “down” when the server is unreachable.
• Fixed: Sync progress bar visuals have been tuned; progress flows smoother across phases and reliably reaches 100% when the task completes.
• Fixed: Dashboard lanes no longer flicker or reuse stale data; a no-op sync (0 changes) now correctly shows empty lanes.
• Changed: Dashboard spotlight items (Watchlist / Ratings / History) are now ordered newest-first instead of oldest-first.
• Changed: Each lane now includes a More chip that opens a modal with the last 25 items. Use the Analyzer for a full list.
• Changed: Probe caching is now more aggressive, reducing the number of outbound API calls.

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CrossWatch – v0.4.2

This release improves sync reliability between media servers (Plex, Emby, Jellyfin), especially for History and Ratings.
The Remove toggle is also back in the Pair config for History.

Warning: For both Ratings and History, DO NOT enable REMOVE unless you really know why. It only makes sense in rare mirroring setups between media servers.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: Emby History sync from Plex is now more reliable. CrossWatch preserves Plex external IDs and uses show-level IDs when episode IDs aren’t present, avoiding silent misses.
• Fixed: Jellyfin History sync received the same resolver upgrade (show-level ID fallback + looser series-title matching), preventing false “unresolved” items when the show exists.
• Fixed: Jellyfin Ratings sync is hardened. Key mismatches no longer cause repeated retries or stuck ratings.
• Fixed: MDBList Ratings sync: removing ratings (including season/episode ratings) now cleans up correctly, stopping repeated “unrate” attempts.
• Fixed: Sync output no longer logs each pair twice; duplicate run:pair messages were removed.
• Change: The History Remove toggle/button is available again in Pair config, so delete-sync can be enabled when needed. Read the wiki first: https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/Best-Practices
• Change: Cleanup helpers in /scripts/ were refactored into provider-specific tools: https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/Appendix---Script-folder
  • plex_cleanup.py
  • jellyfin_cleanup.py
  • emby_cleanup.py
    Smaller, more reliable, and they handle missing/unreachable servers without crashing. These are essentially my test scripts to clean up, back up, and restore Plex/Emby/Jellyfin states.
• Note: Script “backups” are API snapshots only (watchlist/history/ratings). They are not full server/database backups.

🧪 Sync adapters/modules updated

• MOD_JELLYFIN: updated from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1
• MOD_MDBList: updated from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1
• MOD_EMBY: updated from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1
• MOD_PLEX: updated from 2.0.0 to 2.0.1

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CrossWatch – v0.4.1

Emby Webhook has now been properly tested. The Watcher was already working, but the webhook path hadn’t been validated yet.
Based on real playback tests, a few fixes and tidy-ups landed in this release.

Jellyfin users: use the webhook
Plex and Emby users: you can use either the webhook or the watcher.
The watcher is recommended, it’s smarter and more reliable, but it does generate more network traffic to your Plex/Emby server.

For Emby and Jellyfin setup, check the Webhook guide on the wiki as it requires a specific configuation:
https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/Webhook

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Changed: Emby now uses its own dedicated webhook (based on the Jellyfin webhook), so Emby and Jellyfin scrobble independently.
• Fixed: Emby webhook no longer ignores Start events when guard_autoplay_seconds is set to 0.
• Fixed: Early Pause/Stop events from Emby no longer trigger Trakt errors; progress is clamped to Trakt’s minimum requirements.
• Changed: Webhook logging is now consistent across Jellyfin, Plex, and Emby. Debug noise stays in DEBUG, and successful actions are logged as INFO.

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CrossWatch – v0.4.0

Whoop! Whoop! Another day, another new CrossWatch release – but this time we’re doing a big jump from 0.3.9 → 0.4.0.
This is a big update and focuses on seeing what’s going on (Now Playing, clearer logs, visible schedules) and tightening control over what gets synced (server- and pair-level whitelists).

⚠️ IMPORTANT: this release can break existing setups until configs are refreshed.
Because 0.4.0 changes how config is read and how whitelisting works, it’s strongly recommended to:

1. Go to Settings and hit the big red Save config button once.
2. Open each Pair, click Save (even if you don’t change anything).
   This will rewrite and normalize config.json so everything lines up with the new behavior.

Most of my live testing for 0.4.0 was Plex/Emby/Jellyfin → SIMKL. I can’t realistically test every possible scenario in CrossWatch, so please keep that in mind.
The synchronization bar is still drunk sometimes. I've checked it but require some major changes thus will postpone that to v0.5.0 The sync progress bar still acts up sometimes. I’ve looked into it, but fixing it properly needs bigger changes, so I’m pushing that to v0.5.0.

✨ Highlights

• Now Playing bar

  • A strip at the bottom shows what you’re currently watching.
  • Hover to see title, year, episode info, and a live progress bar.
  • Completely pointless… which is exactly why it exists...why not?

• Library whitelisting (server-level & pair-level) - experimental

  • In provider settings you can define server-level whitelists for Plex / Jellyfin / Emby, limiting which libraries CrossWatch ever touches for history and ratings.
  • Each sync pair now has its own pair-level whitelist, so one pair can sync only Movies while another focuses on Kids or TV-Shows—all within the allowed server scope.
  • Updated Analyzer to be pair-level whitelisting aware.
  • In Settings → Insights, CrossWatch now shows a dedicated Whitelisting section.
  • IMPORTANT read the WIKI on how it exaclty works and their limitations: https://github.com/cenodude/CrossWatch/wiki/Libraries-whitelisting

• Improved scheduled syncs

  • Scheduled syncs now use the same path as the big Synchronize button.
  • Finished schedules show up in Dashboard → Insights (including Recent syncs), so you can actually see what ran and when.

• Improved Plex / Emby Watcher

  • Watcher now follows your main server settings more strictly. This means that it reads the Authentication Providers settings and cannot be changed in the Watcher anymore.
  • Detects your Plex / Jellyfin / Emby connection as soon as you open Settings → Scrobbler, so in best-case no full reload needed. Doesnt work? do a manual refresh.
  • When you choose Trakt, SIMKL, or Both as the sink, CrossWatch checks that those accounts are connected and tells you what’s missing (if any)

• Watchlist Preview toggle

  • In Settings → User Interface you can hide or show the Watchlist Preview on the main page. Default is enabled.

• Sync modules / adapters

  • mdblist adapter promoted to version 1.0.0 (stable).
  • Jellyfin adapter promoted to version 1.0.0 (stable but still can have some new issues) - had some major code changes
  • Emby adapter promoted to version 1.0.0 (stable but still can have some new issues) - had some major code changes
  • SIMKL adapter promoted to version 2.0.0 (stable and advanced)

• Clearer watcher/webhook activity logs by centralized logger

  • All automatic plays now use one clean, readable log style through the centralized logger.

🔧 Fixes & Changes

• Fixed: scheduled syncs running “invisibly” – they now refresh Insights and appear in Recent syncs just like manual runs.
• Fixed: Jellyfin and Emby server-level whitelisting. This wasnt correctly implemented as it was using folder ID's and not Library ID's. Fixed now.
• Fixed: Emby Watcher no longer disappears when server IDs are wrong.
• Fixed: Settings screen no longer cuts off the bottom buttons on smaller windows.
• Fixed: “Not connected to Plex” showing even when Plex was already configured in the scrobbler/ watcher section.
• Change: better settings hydrating, sometimes /api/config settings where not hydrated and needed UI refresh
• Change: Watcher Start button stays disabled until Plex/Emby and the selected sink (Trakt / SIMKL) are properly connected.
• Change: Webhook logs stay visible and consistent when debug logging is on.
• Change: Pair library selector now respects server-level whitelists and clearly shows which libraries are selected.
• Change: Fallback code removed from Plex module; be sure to configure your Plex settings correctly.
• Change: Added two additions to maintenance, reset currently playing and Restart CrossWatch (restart container)
• Change: Empty pairs (no features) are now properly skipped in the orchestrator. Also added a warning in the pair-config that no features are enabled...
• Change: Added a /scripts/ folder where I’ll stash utility scripts, like Emby/Jellyfin cleanup tools.
• Change: Added configuration status dots in Authentication Providers (green neon pulse when configured)

From 0.4.x onward I’ll be phasing out a lot of the “safety” fallback code that used to make CrossWatch less user-proof. That means it’s now extra important to actually read the WIKI before using CrossWatch, so your setup matches how the app is meant to be used.

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This discussion was created from the release Update 0.5.0.