What are Stremio add-ons?

Stremio add-ons extend Stremio with content.

That means either adding items to Discover or providing sources to stream content from.

Unlike regular software plugins, Stremio addons do not run inside Stremio, but instead are accessed through HTTP over network. You can think of them as RSS on steroids. Multiple addons can be activated, providing you more content, without any installation / security risks.

stremio-addons

An Add-ons system that works like an RPC system, however it allows to use multiple Add-ons through one interface and it automatically selects which add-on to handle the call, depending the methods the Add-on provides (e.g. stream.get) and the priority of add-ons. You can also issue calls to all Add-ons and aggregate results (e.g. search metadata).

Stremio Add-ons are loaded through HTTP, so the Add-on has to have it's own server, provided by the Add-on provider. See "Creating a basic Add-on" for the reasons behind this approach.

Provides

• Add-on server library: what we use to initialize an HTTP server that provides a Stremio add-on.
• Add-on client library: a client library to use one or more Stremio add-ons

Using add-ons in Stremio

// pass your add-on's HTTP endpoint to --services argument to Stremio
// for example, if you're running an add-on locally at port 9008, do
/Applications/Stremio.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron . --services=http://localhost:9008

// Windows
%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\LNV\Stremio\Stremio.exe .. --services=http://localhost:9008

// this is the same for remote add-ons, for example --services=http://stremio-guidebox.herokuapp.com

Documentation

1. Creating a basic Add-on
2. Enabling Add-on in Stremio
3. Methods
4. Using Cinemeta

Client

var addons = require("stremio-addons");
var stremio = new addons.Client({ /* options; picker: function(addons) { return addons } */ });
// specify a picker function to filter / sort the addons we'll use
// timeout: specify a request timeout
// respTimeout: specify response timeout

stremio.setAuth(url, authKey); // Set the authentication for addons that require auth
// URL is the URL to the central authentication server - some addons only permit certain servers
// authKey is the authentication token (user session key) or an Add-on secret if we're authenticating from an Add-on Server

stremio.add(URLtoAddon, { priority: 0 }); // Priority is an integer, zero is the highest priority
// OR
stremio.add(URLtoAddon);
// Priority determines which Add-on to pick first for an action, if several addons provide the same thing (e.g. streaming movies)

stremio.meta.get(args,cb); /* OR */ stremio.call("meta.get", args, cb);

// Events / hooks
stremio.on("pick", function(params) { 
	// called when picking addons
	// params.addons - all addons; you can modify this. e.g. params.addons = params.addons.filter(...)
	// params.method - the method we're picking for
	
	// this can be used instead of picker
});

stremio.on("addon-ready", function(addon, url) {
	// addon is an internal object - single Addon
	// url is the URL to it
});

Server

var addons = require("stremio-addons");
new addons.Server({
	"meta.get": function(args, cb) {
		// this.user -> get info about the user
	},
}, { secret: "SOME SECRET - or leave undefined for test secret" });

For the methods you can implement, and their expected input and output, see methods.

Authentication

To authenticate when using Stremio Addons as a client, one must call

client.setAuth(/* CENTRAL SERVER or null for default */, /* USER SESSION TOKEN (authToken) OR ADDON SECRET */);

The authToken is a session ID we use for addon clients to identify the user. The Addon Server (implemented in server.js) is responsible for evaluating if we're getting requests from a logged-in users. That happens by asking the central server if that authToken is valid and belongs to a user.

The secret is a token, issued by a central server that we use to identify our Add-on server to the central server. We can also use our secret to identify ourselves to other Add-ons, if using them as a client - if our Add-on uses other Stremio add-ons under the hood (through the client library).

Usage in browser

browserify -r ./node_modules/stremio-addons/index.js:stremio-addons > stremio-addons.js

Or use the pre-built browser/stremio-addons.js with window.require("stremio-addons")

<script src="public/stremio-addons.js"></script>
<script>
var client = window.require("stremio-addons").Client();
/// ...
</script>