Add an Item to a Playlist

Buy me a coffee

Each user on a Plex server can create their own playlists. A playlist can contain either videos, music, or photos, and can't be shared with other users. There are smart and non-smart playlists. This API command will add a single item to a non-smart playlist.

URL

PUT http://{ip_address}:32400/playlists/{playlist_id}&uri=server://{machine_id}/com.plexapp.plugins.library/{library_id}?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}

Parameters

Name	Description
ip_address	The IP address of the Plex Media server.
plex_token	The Plex user token.
playlist_id	The key associated with a playlist. This key can be found by calling the view playlists for a user API command and getting the value in the `ratingsKey` attribute.
machine_id	The ID associated with the Plex server. Can be found by calling the Server Identity command and getting the `machineIdentifier` attribute value.
library_id	The key associated with the library item to be added to the playlist. See below for information on this value.

Return Status

HTTP Code	Description
200	Success - The request was successful.
400	Bad request - A parameter is missing or the media item is not valid for the playlist.
401	Unauthorized - The Plex token provided is not valid.
404	Not found - The playlist ID is not valid.

Response

XML string value that provides details about the playlist for the item that was just added. An example of the XML return value is shown below:

    <MediaContainer size="1" leafCountAdded="1" leafCountRequested="1">
    <Playlist ratingKey="289273" key="/playlists/289273/items" guid="com.plexapp.agents.none://3d6e93e8-3217-4f29-ad50-bd389abca279" type="playlist" title="War Movies" summary="" smart="0" playlistType="video" composite="/playlists/289273/composite/1698191973" duration="12356000" leafCount="2" addedAt="1684802334" updatedAt="1698191973"></Playlist>
</MediaContainer>

The XML return provides information the playlist that contains the added item. The root is the MediaContainer element. This element contains a single attribute indicating that one playlist has been returned from the server.

MediaContainer Attributes
Attribute	Description
size	The number of playlists returned.
leafCountAdded	The number of items added to the playlist. If 0, then no items were added to the playlist.
leafCountRequested	The number of items requested to be added.

Within the MediaContainer there is one Playlist child element. The Playlist element contains information on the new playlist on the Plex server.

Playlist Attributes
Attribute	Description
ratingKey	A key associated with the playlist.
key	The relative URL of the items in the playlist. This URL returns information about the items in the playlist.
guid	The unique identifier comprised of the Plex agent and playlist identifier for the agent.
type	The type of media.
title	The title of the playlist.
summary	A description of the playlist. This can be changed by editing the playlist from within Plex after it has been created.
smart	1 - playlist is a smart playlist. 0 - playlist is not a smart playlist.
playlistType	video - playlist contains videos/movies. audio - playlist contains audio/music. photo - playlist contains photos.
composite	The URL of the image used to represent the playlist.
duration	The total duration, in milliseconds, of the number of items in the playlist. This value doesn't exist for photo playlists.
leafCount	Number of items in the playlist.
addedAt	The date and time, in Unix time, the playlist was added to the library.
updatedAt	The date and time in epoch time, the playlist was updated in the library.

Remarks

Library key parameter

The Library Key parameter value can be found if you access the Plex server from the Web app.

When you hover over any item - movie, TV show, music, photo, etc. there will be a key parameter in the URL. That key value is the value you will use for the Library Key parameter.

The value is easy to find in the URL of the item. It has the structure /library/metadata/{id}. You will use the entire value of the key parameter from the media item URL.

Examples

curl -X PUT http://{ip_address}:32400/playlists/{playlist_id}&uri=server://{machine_id}/com.plexapp.plugins.library/{library_id}?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}

import requests
plex_url = http://{ip_address}:32400/playlists/{playlist_id}&uri=server://{machine_id}/com.plexapp.plugins.library/{library_id}?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}
response = requests.put(plex_url)
print(response.text)

$response = Invoke-RestMethod 'http://{ip_address}:32400/playlists/{playlist_id}&uri=server://{machine_id}/com.plexapp.plugins.library/{library_id}?X-Plex-Token={plex_token}' -Method 'PUT'
Write-Output $response

Buy me a coffee