WatchState

This tool primary goal is to sync your backends users play state without relying on third party services, out of the box, this tool supports Jellyfin, Plex and Emby media servers.

Updates

2026-07-20

Media Health is now the central place to audit media record problems. It replaces the old separate parity, duplicate-reference, and file-integrity views with one report for backend metadata coverage, GUID conflicts, duplicate GUIDs, duplicate file references, structural metadata disagreement, path disagreement, weak matches, and optional local file checks. See the Media Health guide for details.

2026-05-25

Path matching is now available in v1.8.5+. It lets items match using a GUID source derived from the media path, which helps when your backends share the same media files but have unreliable or inconsistent external IDs. See the path matching guide for setup and backfill instructions.

Please refer to NEWS for the latest updates and changes.

Features

• Multi-users support via identities.
• Sync backends play state (many-to-many or one-way).
• Backup your backends play state into portable format.
• Receive webhook events from media backends.
• Find record issues with Media Health.
• Search your backend metadata.
• Sync your watch progress/play state via webhooks or scheduled tasks.

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Install

If you prefer video format AlienTech42 YouTube Channel had a video about installing WatchState using unraid at this link. Much appreciated.

PS: I don't know the channel owner, but I appreciate the effort. There is small mistake in the video regarding the webhook URL, please copy the URL directly from the backends page. And this tool does support multi-users.

First, start by creating a directory to store the data, to follow along with this setup, create directory called data at your working directory. Then proceed to use your preferred method to install the tool.

Via compose file.

create your compose.yaml next to the data directory, and add the following content to it.

services:
    watchstate:
        image: ghcr.io/arabcoders/watchstate:latest
        # To change the user/group id associated with the tool change the following line.
        user: "${UID:-1000}:${UID:-1000}"
        container_name: watchstate
        restart: unless-stopped
        ports:
            - "8080:8080" # The port which the watchstate will listen on.
        volumes:
            - ./data:/config:rw # mount ./data in current directory to container /config directory.

Next, to run the container, use the following command

mkdir -p ./data && docker compose up -d

Via docker command.

mkdir -p ./data && docker run -itd --name watchstate \
          --user "${UID:-1000}:${GID:-${UID:-1000}}"  \
          --restart unless-stopped -p 8080:8080 \
          -v ./data:/config:rw \
          ghcr.io/arabcoders/watchstate:latest

[!IMPORTANT] Match user: and --user to the owner of the data directory. The container runs rootless and exits if it cannot write to that directory.

Running the container as root is not recommended. If the container fails to start, try user: "0:0" or --user '0:0'. If that works, the problem is a permissions issue. See the FAQ for troubleshooting steps.

Unraid users

For Unraid users, install the Community Applications plugin and search for watchstate. It is preconfigured. To install it manually, add --user 99:100 to the Extra Parameters section in the advanced tab.

Set this before starting the container. If the container already created files with another user ID, run chown -R 99:100 /mnt/user/appdata/watchstate from a terminal.

Podman instead of docker

To use this container with podman, set user to 0:0 in compose.yaml. The container appears to run as root, but Podman maps it to the user who ran the command.

Management

After starting the container, you can access the WebUI by visiting http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

[!NOTE] On first access, you will be prompted to create a system user. This is a one-time operation.

If you want WatchState to match items using local media paths, see the path matching guide.

To add your backends, click the help button in the top-right corner and choose one-way or two-way sync. Follow the instructions in the selected guide.

Once you have added your backends and imported your data you should see something like

Supported import methods

Currently, the tool supports three methods to import data from backends.

• Scheduled Tasks.
  • A scheduled job that pulls data from backends.
• On demand.
  • Pull data from backends on demand. By running the import task manually.
• Webhooks.
  • Receive events from backends and update the database accordingly.

[!NOTE] Keep the import task enabled even when all your backends support webhooks. It can pick up missed events. See the webhook guide for backend limitations.

FAQ

Take look at this frequently asked questions page, or the guides for more in-depth guides on how to configure things.

Social channels

If you have questions or want to chat with other users, join the Discord server. This is a solo project, so replies may take some time. I’m based in the UTC+3 timezone.

Donate

I don’t accept donations. If you want to support the project, consider donating to a children’s charity such as Make-A-Wish.

Disclaimer

AI-based tools may have been used to assist with parts of this project. Regardless of how a change is produced, every change is reviewed and approved by the human maintainer before it is included.