Collections

Collections let you group movies and shows into browsable lists. They appear as rows on the home page and can be shared with all users on your server.

Collection types

Type	Description
Manual	You pick the items. Drag to reorder, batch add/remove.
Auto	Define rules and Dubby keeps the collection up to date automatically.
Smart	Describe what you want in plain language and AI builds the rules for you.
Built-in	System collections (recently added, continue watching) that always exist.

Creating a collection

Manual collection

1. Click Create Collection and choose Manual
2. Give it a name and optional description
3. Add items from any media detail page using the Add to Collection button, or batch-add from the collection editor
4. Drag items to reorder

Manual collections are best for curated lists — “Date Night Movies”, “Holiday Classics”, etc.

Auto collection

1. Click Create Collection and choose Auto
2. Build rules using the visual rule builder
3. Choose a match mode: All rules match (AND) or Any rule matches (OR)
4. Choose the media scope: movies, shows, or both
5. Preview the match count before saving

Auto collections stay current — when new media is added to your library that matches the rules, it appears in the collection automatically.

Available rules

Metadata:

Rule	Operators
Genre	is, is not, any of
Year	is, before, after, between
Rating	at least, at most, between
Runtime	at least, at most, between (in minutes)
Content rating	is, is not, any of
Language	is
Origin country	is
Keywords	has any, has all
Studio	is, any of
Network	is (TV shows only)

People:

Rule	Operators
Person	cast, crew, or any role match

Technical:

Rule	Options
Resolution	4K, 1080p, 720p, SD
Video codec	H.264, HEVC, VP9, AV1, etc.
Audio codec	AAC, AC3, DTS, etc.

AI enrichment (when AI enrichment is enabled):

Rule	Match type
Mood	contains text
Theme	contains text
Tags	contains text
Content warnings	contains text

Time-based:

Rule	Options
Added date	within last X days/weeks/months

Smart collection

Note

Smart collections require a license with AI inference credits.

1. Click Create Collection and choose Smart
2. Type a natural language description — e.g., “tense psychological thrillers from the last decade” or “feel-good family movies”
3. Click Generate Rules — AI interprets your description and builds a set of auto-collection rules
4. Review the generated rules and preview the match count
5. Edit any rules if needed, then save

The result is an auto collection with AI-generated rules that stays up to date as your library grows.

Managing collections

Home page rows

Collections appear as horizontal rows on the home page with mosaic artwork (a composite of item posters). The order is based on creation date, with built-in collections appearing first.

Editing

From the collection detail view:

• Rename or update the description
• Add/remove items (manual collections)
• Edit rules (auto and smart collections)
• Refresh an auto collection to re-evaluate rules immediately
• Toggle visibility — public (all users) or private (only you)

Batch operations

Manual collections support batch add — select multiple items from search results or a library view and add them to a collection at once.

Deleting

Deleting a collection removes the collection and its item associations. The underlying media items are not affected.

API

# List collections
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" http://localhost:3000/v1/collections

# Create a manual collection
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Date Night", "type": "manual"}' \
  http://localhost:3000/v1/collections

# Add an item
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"mediaType": "movie", "mediaId": "item-id"}' \
  http://localhost:3000/v1/collections/{id}/items

# Preview auto-collection rules before creating
curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"rules": [...], "matchMode": "all", "mediaScope": "movies"}' \
  http://localhost:3000/v1/collections/preview-rules

See the REST API reference for the full endpoint list.