Sponsor beta Oct 15 · Public with source code on Halloween Oct 31
rex Sponsor

Plex compatible · Owns no files · Sponsor beta Oct 15

Your debrid and Usenet library
in every Plex app.

rex is a media server that keeps nothing on disk. Your movies and shows stay with your debrid service or Usenet provider and Plex clients (official or compatible) see a normal server with posters and seasons and your watch history.

No scanning A new release shows up in your library the moment its source tells rex about it. rex never reads a file to find out what it is.

How fast it feels on a real library →
Become a sponsor How it is set up

The closed beta for sponsors opens October 15. The first public release and the source code land on Halloween October 31. After that the public release ships every 30 days on the last day of the month and runs 30 days behind the sponsor builds.

A movie library of public domain films with posters, shown by rex in the official web app

01 / What it does

The apps you know.
Nothing on your disk.

It looks like any other server.

Once you add it to your account it shows up in the apps next to your other servers. Movies and shows get posters and summaries and cast and seasons. Watched state and Continue Watching and playlists and collections and edits and Fix Match all work and survive a restart. Each file starts on the audio and subtitle languages your Plex account asks for.

Apps on your home network find it on their own when it runs on port 32400.

Many sources. One library.

Each source sends rex the files it has and keeps it up to date. zurg does this for you today and anything that can run ffprobe can do it too. A debrid account and a Usenet account each behind its own zurg end up in one Movies and one TV library.

The same film from two sources becomes one title with two versions.

It streams straight from the source.

When you press play rex reads the file from where it lives and hands it on. Nothing is downloaded first. Files play in their original quality. Delete a title in the app and it is deleted at its source too.

Give it FFmpeg and it also converts what a device cannot play. With a graphics chip a converted film starts in about 2 seconds even on a small Intel box.

02 / Screens

What you see
in the apps.

Real screenshots of rex in the official web app. The library is public domain films and open movies streamed from a plain web server. Nothing is touched up.

Recommended view of the Movies library with Recently Added and Top Movies in Comedy rows
Recommended rows like any server. Recently Added and genre rows fill in by themselves as titles arrive.
Movie page for Sintel with poster and summary and cast and the file details
Every title gets its page. Poster and summary and cast and the file it plays.
Season page for The Beverly Hillbillies season 1 with cast
Shows come in seasons. Each episode sits where its source placed it and On Deck knows where you stopped.
Night of the Living Dead playing in the web app player
Press play. The file streams straight from its source in its original quality.

03 / Speed

How it feels
on a real library.

0.53s
Library on screen
From a click on Library until the posters are drawn
0.32s
To open a title
A movie page or a show page with its seasons
0.38s
Search results
From typing a word until results show with posters

Measured on a rented server with four dedicated cores. The library was 930 movies and 44 shows on a Real-Debrid account fed by zurg. Each figure is the middle of seven runs of the official web app in Chrome on the same machine with a fresh browser every run. Your own times depend on your machine and your connection. rex used 269 MB of memory during the run.

04 / Limits

The things it will not do.

Movies and TV only.

Music and photo libraries stay empty. There is no Live TV and no DVR.

Away from home needs a Plex Pass.

As with any Plex server the account you watch with needs Plex Pass or a Remote Watch Pass to play outside your home. Converting video needs no pass.

Some converted video loses its subtitles.

A file that plays as it is keeps its subtitles. When rex converts one an image subtitle is burned into the picture and a subtitle you uploaded comes along. The Plex apps for Android and iOS keep a text subtitle too. Plex Web and other players lose it for now.

It needs a source that probes.

rex never opens a file to learn what is inside. A title appears once its source has sent those details. zurg does this and a big library takes a few hours the first time.

Outside your home needs your own address.

The web app only connects over HTTPS and rex has no relay. Sponsors get rex-direct with one port forward. Or give it a certificate for a hostname you own. Keep a Cloudflare tunnel out of the way because it makes every play start read the whole file.

05 / Access

Sponsors first.
Everyone 30 days later.

rex opens as a closed beta for sponsors on October 15 and reaches the public on October 31 along with its source code. The public release ships once every 30 days on the last day of the month. It carries the sponsor builds from 30 days before.

Closed betaSponsors · Oct 15
Every build the day it is made
Linux and macOS and Windows
The zurg nightly that feeds it
Get access

Sponsoring happens at gatekeeper. It covers rex and the zurg nightly. Link your GitHub account there and an invite to the rex repository arrives by email. GitHub sends 50 invites a day, so yours can take a few days in the first weeks.

PublicFree · Oct 31
A new release on the last day of each month
Builds 30 days behind sponsors
The source code
Free

06 / Setup

Up and running.

  1. Download the build for your machine and unpack it. There are builds for Linux and macOS and Windows. Linux needs Ubuntu 22.04 or newer.
  2. Start rex once with its LAN address and with your DMM API key if you sponsor. Nothing after this restarts it. The first start makes an empty Debrid Movies and Debrid TV library and names the server after the machine. rex never needs your Plex token or a TMDB key.
  3. Add it to a fresh Plex account made just for rex with a code from plex.tv/claim and share it with your own account. rex tells Plex its address the moment it is claimed. Do it before zurg sends anything so titles arrive with their posters. This step is optional and at your own risk.
  4. Add rex's address and your DMM API key to zurg and restart zurg. It needs a zurg nightly from October 17 or later. zurg asks DMM what each file is and sends rex its whole library and then every change. Only this machine and your home network and Tailscale can push to it.
  5. Outside your home the apps want an HTTPS address. With the DMM key from step 2 rex-direct already has one and needs a single port forward. Or start rex with a certificate for a hostname you own.
SETUP Linux · macOS · Windows 
# start it once (the DMM key is for sponsors and turns on rex-direct)
DMM_API_KEY=<your DMM API key> \
rex --catalog rex.db --announce-url http://<LAN IP>:32400

# claim it on a fresh Plex account with a code from plex.tv/claim
curl -X POST "http://127.0.0.1:32400/myplex/claim?token=claim-xxxx"

# zurg config.yml
rex_url: http://<rex host>:32400
dmm_api_key: <your DMM API key>

# outside your home forward port 32400 to rex