Plexee Library Exporter

A command-line tool that connects to a Plex Media Server and exports library titles to CSV, text, or HTML files.

Why Did I Make This?

Have you or your users ever wanted a quick, easy and organized way of seeing what's in each of your libraries without firing up Plex? I sure have so I looked around and was surprised to find there wasn't really anything out there that did it, so I decided to create something myself and Plexee Library Exporter (PLE) was born!

It first started out as simple manual way to export libraries into a text file which served the purpose. Soon I realized I could do quite a bit more including full automation, csv and html exports with a cool retro terminal theme and more!

Oh, and yes this is 100% Vibe Coded trash! I had a great time creating it and wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise.

I hope you find it as useful as I do :)

Features

• Interactive Manual or Automated mode: chosen on first run and saved in config.json
• Cron-friendly Automated runs: no prompts after setup; reuse saved libraries, format, and filenames
• Multiple Export Formats: CSV, plain text, or modern HTML with sortable columns
• Multi-library export: Pick one library, several (e.g. 1,3,5 or 1-3), or all
• Audiobook Support: Special handling for audiobook libraries (Artist → Album structure)
• Persistent Configuration: Remembers your server settings, last-used libraries, and per-library filenames
• Connection Debugging: Detailed connection status and error reporting
• HTML Theme: Terminal-style green-on-black aesthetic with sortable tables
• IMDb ratings: Optional OMDb lookups for movie and TV show libraries, cached locally

Installation

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python3 ple.py

On first run, you'll be prompted for:

• Run mode: Interactive Manual or Automated
• Plex server hostname/IP
• TCP port (default: 32400)
• Plex API token
• Which libraries to export, format, and filenames

Re-run setup (mode and export settings) at any time:

python3 ple.py --setup

Run Modes

Interactive Manual

Prompts for libraries, format, and filenames on every run. Last values are offered as defaults.

Automated (cron)

After the first interactive setup, later runs use saved settings and never prompt. If credentials fail or setup was never completed, the process exits with an error instead of hanging.

Example crontab (daily at 2:00 AM):

0 2 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/ple.py >> /path/to/plexee.log 2>&1

Use the same working directory you used during setup (or absolute paths in library_filenames) so exports land where you expect.

Selecting Libraries

When prompted, you can:

• Enter a single number (e.g. 2)
• Enter comma-separated numbers (e.g. 1,3,5)
• Enter a range (e.g. 1-3) or mix them (1,3-5)
• Enter all to export every library

When exporting multiple libraries, you'll be prompted for a separate filename for each library. The exporter remembers each library's last filename for convenient re-runs.

Note: The correct file extension (.csv, .txt, or .html) is automatically added based on your chosen format, so just enter the base filename (e.g., movies becomes movies.csv).

Export Formats

• CSV: Includes Title, Author (for audiobook libraries), IMDb Rating (movies and TV shows, when enabled), and Date Added
• Text: One title per line (audiobooks: "Title by Author"; movies and TV shows with ratings: "Title (7.5)")
• HTML: Sortable table with terminal theme, defaults to newest items first; IMDb Rating column for movies and TV shows when enabled. Titles with an IMDb id link to https://www.imdb.com/title/{id}/

HTML Index Page

When exporting in HTML format, the exporter automatically creates an index.html page with button-style links to each library's HTML file. The index page uses the same green-on-black terminal aesthetic as the individual library pages.

On first HTML export, you'll be prompted to specify the location for index.html. This location is saved to your configuration and reused on future runs. You can:

• Use the default index.html (in the current directory)
• Specify a subdirectory like exports/index.html
• Use an absolute path like /var/www/html/index.html

This makes it easy to:

• Navigate between multiple library exports
• Create a central hub for all your exported libraries
• Share a single entry point to all your library data
• Place the index in a web-accessible directory for easy sharing

Simply open the generated index.html in your browser to access links to all your exported libraries.

IMDb Ratings (movie and TV show libraries)

When you export a movie or TV show library, the exporter can look up IMDb ratings via OMDb.

1. Get a free API key at https://www.omdbapi.com/apikey.aspx (1,000 requests/day on the free tier).
2. When prompted, paste the key (or press Enter to skip). Type skip later to disable ratings.
3. The key is stored in config.json as omdb_api_key. Automated runs reuse it without prompting.

Lookups prefer the IMDb id already stored on the Plex item (imdb://tt…). If that is missing, the exporter falls back to a title + year search (OMDb type movie or series). Ratings are cached in omdb_cache.json next to the script so later runs only fetch new titles.

In HTML exports, a title that has an IMDb id is a link to that title on IMDb. Titles without an id stay plain text.

Photos and audiobooks are not rated this way.

Diagnostic Tool

Use plex_diagnostic.py for troubleshooting connection issues:

python3 plex_diagnostic.py

Screenshots