Cliparr uses provider sources to discover active playback sessions, load playable streams, and attach useful metadata to exported clips.
Plex
Connect your Plex account, choose a server, and clip from active playback sessions.
Use a Plex account that owns the server you want to connect. Plex's active-session API requires administrator access, so shared library access alone is not enough to discover playback sessions.
Jellyfin
Connect your Jellyfin server with your account and clip from your active sessions. Administrator accounts can access sessions across the server.
On Jellyfin 10.11 or newer, a regular account connects its own playback sessions across devices; an administrator account connects active sessions across the server. Older Jellyfin versions require administrator access for live session updates.
Provider-backed clips can include media-server metadata in the exported file, such as title, show, season, episode, artwork, rating, and timing details when the source provides them.
Connected sources are shared across the Cliparr instance. Connecting a regular Jellyfin account limits that source’s sessions; it does not hide other connected sources. See Access control before sharing an instance.
Multiple sources
You can add more than one source, then disable or reconnect sources from source management. Cliparr shows available sessions from enabled sources and surfaces source-specific errors without blocking the rest of the dashboard.
Automatic session updates
The dashboard subscribes to Plex and Jellyfin playback notifications. Starting, pausing, or stopping playback updates the dashboard automatically, without periodic session polling or a manual refresh. Cliparr loads an initial snapshot and resynchronizes after reconnecting.
The first connection may take longer while Cliparr finds a reachable server, opens the notification stream, and prepares playback metadata. Subsequent updates use the established connection.
If a connection drops, Cliparr keeps the last sessions visible, marks live updates as disconnected, and retries the connection automatically. Retry connection is available for failures. Expired credentials require reconnecting the source in Sources.
Live updates allow up to eight dashboard connections per browser session and 128 across a Cliparr server. Additional connections receive HTTP 429 and retry automatically; close unused dashboard tabs to free a connection.
Reverse proxies must allow WebSocket connections between Cliparr and Jellyfin, and unbuffered server-sent events between Plex and Cliparr and between Cliparr and your browser. Persistent connections exchange keepalive messages; these do not poll for sessions. See Reverse proxies for deployment requirements.