Aperture - AI-Powered Recommendations for Emby

[drakke 0]

hello !!
Bug with Emby: toggling a source library in Admin → Settings → Configuration fails with HTTP 400 params/id must match format "uuid". The UI sends PATCH /api/settings/libraries/15528, i.e. the Emby library ID (provider_library_id), instead of the row UUID (library_config.id). Emby library IDs are numeric, so no Emby library can be enabled or disabled from the UI. Workaround: update library_config.is_enabled directly in the database.

[drakke 0]

hello !!
Feature request: allow generating separate recommendation libraries per source library (or per group of source libraries), e.g. “AI Picks – Series”, “AI Picks – Anime” and “AI Picks – Adult”, instead of one combined TV library per user. This would mirror how libraries are organized in Emby. Ideally each generated library would only draw from sources the user can access in Emby, since STRM files bypass Emby’s library permissions.

Edited Monday at 10:29 PM by drakke

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 0.7.11 dev build is available

A new development build is up on GHCR. Use the :dev tag to try it. If your Docker setup uses :latest, change the image to:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

Pull the image and recreate the Aperture app container with your existing database and mounts. Back up your database first. If you want to pin this exact build, use ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:0.7.11-dev.2.

What’s new

• Fewer repeat picks. Aperture now remembers what it suggested to each user. Movies and shows wait 180 days by default before they can come back, and returning titles can only fill a small share of the list. Admins can tune the movie and TV cooldowns separately.

• Separate TV picks for different Emby libraries. You can map sources to named outputs such as Series and Anime. Each group ranks picks from enabled sources the user can access in Emby. I also fixed the source-library toggle for numeric Emby IDs.

• Private Emby playlists are available as a preview. If you’ve run into duplicate Continue Watching entries with generated libraries, this is the mode I’d like feedback on. It references the original Emby items. I verified that playback reporting updated the original movie’s play count on Emby 4.10.2. I’d be interested to hear how it behaves on your client or with your Wrapped exporter.

• Clearer output and sync controls. You can turn media-server publishing off separately for movies and TV to remove the corresponding managed output. There’s also a new Import Media Server job that syncs users, the catalog, and watch history without spending AI tokens.

• More variety in movie picks. Ratings and recurring themes help shape the rankings, and the list can reserve a few spots for well-rated films outside your usual genres.

I upgraded my own Unraid instance from 0.7.10 and verified that admin settings, user settings, job schedules, and uploaded artwork carried over.

Thanks to everyone who reported the Emby issues. If you try this build, please include your Emby server version, client, and output mode when reporting what you see.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 0.7.11-dev.3 is available

If you’re already on 0.7.11-dev.2, this is a small follow-up with two changes:

• A short guide on your next sign-in. Admins see where to configure TV groups, publishing modes, recommendation cooldowns, and no-token imports. Regular users get a separate overview of fresher picks, more variety, and the Emby playlist preview. Each person can dismiss their own dialog, and Aperture remembers that choice.

• Updated documentation. The release notes and guides now explain how to configure the new features, what to expect from each Emby output mode, and how to upgrade. Read the updated release notes

Use the :dev tag to get this build. If you’re already on that tag, pull it again and recreate the Aperture app container. I tested the upgrade from dev.2 on my Unraid instance and verified that settings and uploaded artwork carried over.

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

[drakke 0]

hello !!

With local Ollama models (qwen2.5:7b), some explanation batches fail with Bad escaped character in JSON and fall back to the default text. The model wraps its output in ```json fences and sometimes emits invalid escapes such as \' in French text. Stripping code fences and tolerating these escapes before parsing would make local models much more reliable. Also, the “Why Aperture picked this for you” and “About this movie” labels are not translated when the AI language is set to French.

0.7.11-dev.3 (Emby 4.10.1, STRM mode): the container stays unhealthy. The image HEALTHCHECK calls http://localhost:3456/health, which resolves to ::1 inside the container, while the server only listens on IPv4, so wget gets “Connection refused”. Using 127.0.0.1 in the healthcheck (or listening on ::) fixes it.

Edited Wednesday at 01:32 AM by drakke

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 0.7.11-dev.4 is available

One change since dev.3: you can now pin a private Aperture-managed AI Picks playlist directly to Emby Home. In Aperture, go to AI Picks → Emby Home and choose Pin to Emby Home next to the playlist.

Unpin removes only the shelf Aperture added. The playlist stays available in Emby, and your other Home sections keep their settings and order. I tested both actions on my own Emby account and verified that all 14 existing sections, including my manually added pilot shelf, were preserved.

Use the :dev tag to get this update. If you’re already on it, pull the image again and recreate the Aperture app container.

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

[TheGru 167]

11 minutes ago, drakke said:

hello !!

With local Ollama models (qwen2.5:7b), some explanation batches fail with Bad escaped character in JSON and fall back to the default text. The model wraps its output in ```json fences and sometimes emits invalid escapes such as \' in French text. Stripping code fences and tolerating these escapes before parsing would make local models much more reliable. Also, the “Why Aperture picked this for you” and “About this movie” labels are not translated when the AI language is set to French.

Aperture 0.7.11-dev.5 is available

Two changes since dev.4:

• Tonight is now in the Aperture sidebar for Emby users. It brings together your Continue Watching list and up to three saved AI Picks. Open in Emby takes you to the original movie, episode, or series. Opening Tonight uses no AI tokens. I tested it on my Unraid and verified that all seven links resolved to their original Emby items and that my Emby Home layout stayed intact.

• Fixed local Ollama explanations and French headings. Thanks, @drakke, for the report. Movie and TV explanation batches now handle fenced JSON with escapes like \' in French text. The explanation and overview headings in generated libraries now follow the recipient’s AI language. Run recommendation generation to retry explanations that fell back, then run library sync to update the descriptions in Emby.

Use the :dev tag to get this update. If you’re already on it, pull the image again and recreate the Aperture app container.

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 0.7.11-dev.7 is available

Here’s everything added since dev.5, covering dev.6 and dev.7.

“Not tonight” on the Tonight screen

You can now dismiss a pick for 12 hours and immediately get a replacement from your saved recommendations, when another eligible pick is available.

This uses no AI tokens and leaves your taste profile and ratings alone. It’s a way to say “something else tonight” without teaching Aperture that you dislike the title.

Faster browsing and background jobs

There’s been a substantial pass through database queries and recommendation processing.

• Recommendation generation reuses shared preferences and fetches embeddings in batches.

• Watched-title filtering avoids repeatedly scanning the same history while still catching duplicate library copies.

• Browsing with viewer-count filters is faster.

• TV taste-diversity calculations avoid loading the same show’s embedding for every watched episode.

• All-user watch-history sync shares catalog mappings across accounts while keeping each person’s history, favorites, progress, and exclusions separate.

• Automatic genre and franchise updates run in batches, protect manual preferences, and handle resets atomically.

Recommendation fixes

• Completed plays and explicit favorites consistently inform your taste profile. Partial viewing remains a separate exclusion signal.

• Movie-history queries correctly separate movies from TV episodes.

• Scoring weights now apply diversity once and correctly normalize custom weights.

• TV recommendations honor your saved Exclude or Penalize dislike setting, including when watched recommendations are enabled.

• Custom interests use compatible embedding models, and TV candidates are sorted correctly before interest scoring.

The documentation now explains the actual controls and their effects. Existing profile refresh intervals and locks still apply, so history-input corrections take effect when profiles next rebuild.

All 28 tests passed, along with live checks on my Unraid/Emby setup. Settings, uploaded artwork, and Emby Home sections were checked through the update.

You need the :dev Docker tag to get these changes.

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

AMD64 and ARM64 images are available. You can also pin this build with :0.7.11-dev.7.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture v0.7.11-dev.9 is available

This is a focused fix for Studio light mode. The title-details dialog used by Gap Analysis and other TMDb views was mixing dark text with dark translucent panels, making descriptions and cast information difficult to read.

The dialog now uses readable light panels, a softer artwork overlay, and matching chips and hover states. All existing actions remain available: Trailer, Request, TMDb/IMDb links, and cast/director navigation.

Verified on Unraid in Studio light, Studio dark, and Classic. No settings changes or database migration are required.

Use the :dev Docker tag to get this update:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

The stable :latest tag does not include it yet.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture v0.7.11-dev.10 is available — faster Discover

This update focuses on Discover’s loading speed and reducing unnecessary API calls:

• Suggestions appear sooner. Saved picks display without waiting for Seerr availability and request badges.

• Less background work. Movies and TV suggestions load when you open their section.

• Smarter Seerr checks. Repeated lookups share a short cache, with timeouts so an unavailable Seerr doesn’t hold up saved suggestions.

• Faster browsing rows. Visible genre and streaming rows can load two at a time, with obsolete requests cancelled when you switch sections.

• Quieter job monitoring. Background checks slow down while idle and pause when the tab is hidden. Running jobs keep live progress.

• Safer caching. Saved suggestions are kept separate by user and filters, then checked against current permissions and library contents before display.

No new settings to configure, and existing admin settings, user preferences, themes and Emby Home layouts are preserved.

You need the :dev tag to get this release:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

[TheGru 167]

Aperture dev.11 is available — faster loading across the UI, plus two correctness fixes.

Changes since dev.10:

• Recommendations, Top Picks and Watch History load the selected tab instead of fetching hidden movie and TV lists. Repeated Top Picks chart reads reuse cached data while checking your local library again.

• Browse no longer repeatedly reloads page one or replaces results loaded through scrolling. Saved sorting is applied before loading, and hidden tabs stay idle.

• Movie and TV details appear as soon as the title loads. Similar titles, statistics and insights fill in separately.

• Watched status is now accurate for older movies. Previously, a title could appear unwatched if it fell outside the first 100 watch-history entries.

• Watching caches are separated by account and checked against the server before display, preventing another account’s cached list from appearing.

• Playlists load five preview items per visible card instead of downloading every item. Full playlists remain available when opened, editor data loads on demand, and counts reflect the current media-server total.

• My Requests shows saved requests immediately, then adds live Seerr status badges.

• Less background traffic and a smaller initial download: shared preference reads, quieter idle job monitoring, and on-demand loading for pages, the assistant and translations.

Existing settings, Classic/Studio themes, and Emby Home sections are preserved. No new settings or database migrations are required.

You need the :dev Docker tag to get this release:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

Pull the updated image and recreate/restart the container. :latest remains the stable release.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture dev.12 is available — this update focuses on faster Upcoming Episodes.

Changes since dev.11:

• The Watching list loads first. Your followed series and locally known episodes appear immediately, while TMDb forecasts fill in progressively.

• Available episodes stay visible while the remaining lookups finish, with a progress indicator showing ongoing work.

• Fewer repeated lookups. Forecasts share a 30-minute cache, including confirmed “no upcoming episode” results. Requests run with bounded concurrency and proper rate pacing.

• Less background traffic. Forecast work starts only on Dashboard or Shows You Watch. Leaving those views cancels pending browser requests.

• Better failure handling. Slow or failed lookups preserve known episodes and offer a read-only Refresh action.

• Cleaner results. Past dates are excluded, while ended shows remain eligible for checks because their synced status can be stale.

In testing, the full episode lookup dropped from roughly 13 seconds to 5 seconds cold, then 6 ms cached, returning the same upcoming episodes.

No new settings or database migrations. Existing preferences, favorites and Emby Home sections are preserved.

You need the :dev Docker tag to get this release:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

Pull the updated image and recreate the container. :latest remains the stable release.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture dev.13 is available — LAN and reverse-proxy access fixes

You can now access Aperture directly over your local network while continuing to use your public reverse-proxy address.

Changes since dev.12:

• Fixed CORS errors that could leave the LAN page blank or prevent JavaScript assets from loading.
• Fixed login cookies for direct HTTP access through a separate LAN IP or hostname. Public HTTPS sessions retain Secure cookies.
• Untrusted browser origins now receive a proper 403 response instead of an internal server error.

Keep APP_BASE_URL pointing to your public URL. No settings changes or database migrations are needed. Sign in separately at the LAN and public addresses; both use the same account and saved preferences.

You need the :dev Docker tag to receive this update:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:dev

Pull the updated image and recreate your container with its existing configuration. :latest remains the stable release.

[drakke 0]

Feedback on 0.7.11-dev.12 — Emby 4.10.2.0 (same on 4.10.1.0), web client, STRM output, two TV groups.

• Library cleanup fails with HTTP 500 on Emby 4.10.x. Aperture calls DELETE /Library/VirtualFolders?name=<library name>&refreshLibrary=true. On Emby 4.10 this resolves the library by Id: the stack trace ends in LibraryManager.RemoveVirtualFolder(Int64 id) and throws “Object reference not set to an instance of an object.” when only name is given. Stale libraries (after changing the name template or enabling TV groups) are never removed, and the job reports a failure for every affected user. Passing the library Id (ItemId from /Library/VirtualFolders) should fix it.
• Feature request: a {{group}} tag in the library name template. The group name is appended after the template (“… – Animes”), so with a long template both libraries look identical in Emby’s tiles. Also, {{type}} renders “TV Series” in English although the preview shows “Séries TV”.
• The healthcheck still calls localhost in dev.12; it only works when overridden with 127.0.0.1.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 0.8.0-dev.7.3 is available

This catches up on all 13 development releases since 0.7.11-dev.13. The biggest change is Encore. You can now go from “what should I watch tonight?” to a saved viewing plan or a private Emby playlist in the same conversation.

Encore has a new workspace

• Pick up where you left off. Encore restores saved conversations and their results, so follow-up questions retain context. You can stop a response, retry a failed one, and browse while a response continues.
• Search by mood and practical constraints. Ask for an unwatched sci-fi film under 90 minutes, find more work by a director, or check what’s coming up for shows you follow. Results distinguish titles you can play from external discoveries, regional streaming listings, and release forecasts. Library searches respect your current Emby or Jellyfin access.
• Give Encore preferences you can edit. Save lasting tastes, spoiler preferences, or temporary constraints. The Memory tab lets you inspect, correct, expire, or forget them. Lasting preferences can feed into your Aperture Taste Profile.
• Make a plan that fits your evening. Give Encore your viewing windows and time zone. It checks availability, runtimes, playback progress, and episode order. You can edit and save the plan, export an .ics calendar file, and see why a title didn’t fit.
• Build private Emby playlists and pin them to Home. Encore previews the exact titles and changes before you approve them. Managed updates preserve manual playlist edits, and Home actions target the row Aperture manages. Playlist and Home writes require Emby support. Consultation and watch planning also work with Jellyfin.
• Schedule a playlist refresh if you want one. Recurring rules start paused. You can enable daily or weekly updates, run them on demand, and see what changed. Rules recheck access each time and pause if they fail or find no eligible titles. Editing a rule requires enabling it again.

Try asking, “I have 90 minutes tonight. Find three unwatched options in my library and make a plan for the best one.” Encore guide

Connect Aperture to Claude or Codex

Open Encore → Connections to create a named MCP connection with permissions you choose, an expiry date, and a revoke button. Clients can connect over Streamable HTTP or use the standalone Node 22+ bridge attached to the release. Both use the same account-scoped media tools as Encore, and write permissions can be granted separately. The release includes the bridge and its SHA-256 checksum. MCP setup guide

Mobile, Discover, and People

• Aperture opens into Encore on phones. The floating dock puts Encore between Discover, Library, Watching, and You. History and workbench tools open in sheets. Drafts and responses survive in-app navigation, the composer adjusts to the keyboard, and supported browsers can launch Aperture from the home screen.
• Mobile cards and Library layout are easier to use. Encore result cards align with the composer, carousels fit two full cards on a phone, and paging controls sit above the posters. Library filters scroll with the page. People has properly sized loading placeholders and an in-page Retry action. Stalled artwork requests time out so they can release browser connections for other requests.
• Discover shows results sooner. Genre cards can appear before Seerr badges finish. Streaming rows reuse cached or available artwork and can show cached charts while refreshing. Shared lookups and cancellation reduce repeat work when you switch sections.
• People pages reuse recent results and load portraits as needed. Pagination rechecks library access, and actor portraits load from TMDb. Mobile guide

Chat and API fixes

A malformed playlist tool schema could make OpenAI reject the entire Encore chat request even when the connection test passed. That schema is fixed, and CI now checks the tool catalog across nine provider adapters. Chat, workbench, and MCP use the same tool input validation. Aperture also added 56 Zod request body contracts and now requires a validation policy for every API operation that changes data. This catches malformed settings and preference batches before saving and fixes franchise and genre deletion. Schema coverage

Update

Use the :dev Docker tag or pin this build to ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:0.8.0-dev.7.3. Back up your database, pull the image, and recreate the Aperture app container with its existing database and mounts. If you’re coming from 0.7.11-dev.13, let migrations 0120 through 0123 apply during startup or run them through your usual migration process. Release CI passed, and AMD64 and ARM64 images are available. Release and downloads · Full changelog

If you try the new build, I’d especially like feedback on Encore follow-up questions, mobile navigation, and Emby playlist or Home actions. For bug reports, please include your Aperture build, media server version, and client.

Edited Thursday at 09:04 AM by TheGru

[TheGru 167]

Aperture v0.8.0-dev.8.1 — Better Encore search and compact mobile results

This update fixes two issues reported after 0.8.0-dev.8.

Encore is more forgiving when you search by title. Searching for “housemaid,” “housemaids,” or even “housemaidsv” can now find The Housemaid if it’s in your library. Encore checks both display and original titles, ranks close title matches ahead of synopsis matches, and respects filters like release year. Title matching works without an embedding provider. When you remember a plot, theme, or mood, Encore can use semantic search.

A single result takes up less room on your phone. When Encore finds one movie or series, the card fills the chat width and puts the poster beside the title, rating, and Play button. Multiple results still scroll horizontally.

To update, pull ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:0.8.0-dev.8.1 or refresh your :dev image and recreate the app container. Both AMD64 and ARM64 images are available, and no database migration is required. Release notes and downloads

If Encore still misses something in your library, please share what you typed and the title you expected.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture v0.8.0-dev.8.2 — Synopsis and media actions in Encore

Encore’s movie and TV results now show a two-line synopsis when one is available. On mobile, a single result puts the poster, synopsis, and action buttons side by side so you can see more of the chat without scrolling.

You can play a title, open its details, rate a movie or series, and add or remove a series from your Watching list. For movies in your Emby library, the playlist button lets you start a private playlist and review it before approving. Carousel cards keep secondary actions in a menu.

The buttons also work on saved cards that have media links. Rerun an older search to get the synopsis.

To update, pull ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:0.8.0-dev.8.2 or refresh your :dev image, then recreate the app container. AMD64 and ARM64 images are available. No database migration is required. Release notes and downloads

[TheGru 167]

Aperture v0.8.0-dev.8.3 — Live model lists and easier release lookups

OpenAI’s model picker now pulls from the API. Aperture uses your configured key to show the models available to your account. To switch models, choose one from the list and save it.

Encore can discover models from OpenAI-compatible servers like oMLX. Go to Admin → Settings → AI & LLM → Chat Assistant, select OpenAI-Compatible, and enter a server URL Aperture can reach, along with an API key if your server requires one. Click Refresh models, pick a model, then Test and Save. The chat test checks that the model can stream a valid tool call. Embedding models use the existing dimension setup.

Release lookups need less back-and-forth. “US, next few weeks” now checks from today through 14 days ahead in your timezone. The cards show the dates covered and start with five results you can expand. The general regional TV calendar covers seven days. Movie releases and episodes for shows you follow can use the longer window.

To update, pull ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:0.8.0-dev.8.3 or refresh your :dev image, then recreate the app container. AMD64 and ARM64 images are available. No database migration is required. Release notes and downloads

[TheGru 167]

Aperture v0.8.0-dev.8.4 — Encore tool cards on mobile

Encore’s tool cards now take up less space on phones. Movie and TV details put the poster beside the title and ratings, with a short synopsis and quick actions for playback, rating, and creating an Emby playlist or adding a series to Watching.

Release calendars, upcoming episodes, filmographies, and library stats are easier to scan. Longer lists expand inline, and watch plans, playlist approvals, and curation keep their controls visible while previews are collapsed.

Available on :dev and :0.8.0-dev.8.4. No database migration is required. GitHub release

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 1.0.0 is out for Emby

Aperture 1.0.0 is now available on ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:latest. If you’re coming from 0.7.10, the last stable release in the 0.7 series, this update brings a rebuilt Encore, a new mobile layout and Home Screen icon, fresher AI Picks, more ways to publish recommendations to Emby, and faster browsing. GitHub release

Encore helps you find and plan what to watch

• Find something that fits. Ask for an unwatched sci-fi movie under 90 minutes, a director’s filmography, or a title you only half remember. Title search handles small typos and missing leading articles, and close title matches come ahead of synopsis matches. Title lookup works without embeddings. Searching by mood, plot, or theme uses your configured embedding model.
• Pick up where you left off. Encore restores saved conversations and their context. You can rename or delete a conversation, stop a response, and retry a failure. Suggested follow-ups fill an editable draft.
• Act on results in chat. Movie and series cards show a synopsis when available. You can open details, play a library title, rate it, or add or remove a series from Watching. Start an Emby playlist from a movie card and review the proposed playlist before approving it.
• See what’s coming up. Ask about upcoming movies, the next episode of a show you follow, or where a title is offered in your region. Encore shows the dates it checked and distinguishes titles in your library from external finds and release forecasts.
• Search the public web when you choose. The globe beside the composer enables web search for the current conversation when your configured OpenAI Responses model supports it. It starts off, adds clickable sources to the reply, and uses your configured provider’s billing.

Memory, watch plans, and collections

• Memory lets you inspect, correct, expire, or forget what Encore remembers. Lasting preferences can feed into your Taste Profile. Temporary context, such as having less time to watch this month, can expire separately.
• Watch Plans turn movies and episodes into a schedule. Give Encore your viewing windows and timezone, and it checks runtimes, episode order, playback progress, and room for breaks. Edit and recheck the plan, save it, or export an .ics calendar copy.
• Collections let you review and approve changes to private Emby playlists and, where supported, their Home rows. Encore shows the proposed titles and records the result of each action.
• Recurring Curation can refresh an Aperture-managed Emby playlist daily or weekly. Rules start paused and run after you enable them. You can edit, pause, run now, and see what changed. Manual additions and removals are respected. If access fails or nothing qualifies, the rule pauses and shows why.

Encore guide

Mobile navigation, Play Iris, and Studio appearance

On phones, Aperture opens into Encore. The floating dock puts Discover, Library, Encore, Watching, and You within reach. You brings together settings, appearance, Dashboard, and other pages available to your account. You can browse while Encore answers and return to the conversation from the dock. The composer stays above the keyboard, and the dock moves out of the way while you type.

Encore cards make better use of phone screens. A single result gets a wider card, carousels fit two complete recommendations, and longer synopses, credits, plans, and collection previews expand inline. Playback, approval, and calendar controls are easier to reach.

Use your browser’s Add to Home Screen or Install app option to launch Aperture directly into Encore in standalone mode. The shortcut uses the new Play Iris logo, a three-blade shutter with a play triangle in the opening. You’ll also see it in the app, browser tab, and missing-poster artwork. Mobile app guide

Open Avatar → Appearance to try Studio in Light, Dark, or Follow device mode. Classic is the default until you pick a theme, and your saved choice follows your account across devices. Studio light also improves readability in external title details, including Gap Analysis. Appearance guide

Fresher AI Picks and a new Tonight page

• Fewer repeats. Aperture remembers titles it picked for you, including ones you didn’t play. Movies and shows default to a 180-day cooldown before they can return. Admins can set separate movie and TV cooldowns, and each list limits how many returning titles it includes.
• More room to explore. Movie ranking can use recurring themes from TMDb and MDBList metadata. When enough eligible titles are available, up to one fifth of a movie list can come from well-rated films outside your most-watched genres.
• Picks follow your preferences more closely. Movie and TV generation apply ratings, watched settings, dislikes, and diversity more consistently. If you choose Exclude for disliked titles, they stay out of the candidate list even when rewatches are enabled. Completed plays and favorites contribute to your taste profile.
• Tonight puts unfinished titles and fresh picks together. Resume up to four in-progress movies or episodes and see up to three eligible saved AI Picks. Open a title directly in Emby, or choose Not tonight to hide a pick for 12 hours and bring in the next eligible suggestion. Opening Tonight or snoozing a pick uses no AI tokens.

AI Picks and Tonight guide

More control over what Aperture publishes to Emby

Under Admin → Settings → AI Recommendations → Output, choose a publishing mode separately for movies and TV. You can use a generated STRM or symlink library, try the private Emby playlist preview, or choose Off to remove the managed output from Emby while keeping picks available in Aperture.

Private playlists reference original Emby items, so playback can update the original title’s watch state. Each recipient needs to sign into Aperture with Emby before publication. Aperture checks who can see managed playlists and verifies the recipient’s source access before publishing generated library items.

Admins can group TV source libraries into separately named recommendation outputs and choose where the group name appears in the title. On supported Emby setups, recipients can pin a managed playlist from AI Picks → Emby Home. Unpinning removes the Aperture-managed shelf and preserves the playlist. Publishing and Emby Home guide

The Import Media Server job lets admins refresh users, catalog, and watch history without generating AI recommendations or publishing picks. Recommendation explanations also handle more responses from local models such as Qwen, and generated library description headings use the recipient’s configured AI language. Jobs guide

Faster browsing and fewer loading stalls

• Discover and My Requests show saved titles before Seerr availability and request badges finish loading. Genre and streaming rows appear progressively, and cached streaming charts can display while Aperture refreshes them.
• Browse and People scroll more reliably. Browse fixes a bug that could replace appended results with page one. People portraits load as they come into view, and slow artwork requests time out so other images can load.
• Title details become usable as soon as the movie or series loads. Similar titles, stats, and insights fill in afterward. Aperture also fixes movies being marked unwatched when the play was more than 100 history entries ago.
• Upcoming Episodes shows your followed series and known episodes first, then fills in forecasts. A failed refresh keeps known episodes visible and offers a retry.
• Recommendations, Top Picks, and Watch History load the tab you’re viewing. Playlist previews fetch less artwork, and Watching checks the active account before displaying cached results.

Discovery improvements · Page loading improvements · Upcoming Episodes

AI setup, external clients, and access fixes

• Model pickers can fetch the models available to your OpenAI key. For local OpenAI-compatible servers such as oMLX, Refresh models lists what the server exposes. The chat connection test now checks that the model can stream a tool call. This release also fixes an issue where an OpenAI connection test could pass while Encore failed at the start of a chat.
• Claude, Codex, and other MCP clients can connect through Encore → Connections. Create a named credential, choose what it can access, and set an expiration or revoke it later. The release includes a standalone bridge and checksum for local stdio clients. MCP setup
• Settings and playlist edits give clearer validation errors. An invalid entry in a batch of preferences is caught before any of the batch is saved. Franchise and genre deletion also work by name.
• LAN and reverse-proxy access work on the same installation with APP_BASE_URL set to the public URL. Sign in separately at the LAN and public addresses to use the same account and saved settings from both. LAN and reverse-proxy guide

Updating from 0.7

Back up PostgreSQL and your uploaded artwork. Use your existing database, mounts, and Compose configuration. If you use a custom Compose filename, include your usual -f option.

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

The supplied production Compose files apply migrations 0115–0123 at startup when upgrading from 0.7.10. These backfill recommendation suggestion history, migrate existing Encore messages, and add storage for the new features. After startup, confirm Aperture reports 1.0.0, then check Encore and your configured Emby outputs.

The image is available for Linux amd64 and arm64. Use ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:1.0.0 to pin this release. Release and downloads · Full comparison with 0.7.10

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 1.0.1-dev.1 — Encore response styles

There’s a new Aperture dev build for Emby users. You can now choose how much time Encore spends on your next reply.

• Quick for title lookups and simple questions.
• Standard for everyday recommendations and conversations.
• Expanded for detailed comparisons and watch plans with several constraints.

Admins can set the default in Settings → AI / LLM. Anyone using Encore can choose a different style for a single reply. Supported models use their native reasoning controls, and older or local models adjust response depth and tool use.

The AI cost estimator now compares the three styles using published OpenAI rates and recent token usage from your installation when available. It accounts for cached-input discounts and includes reasoning tokens in the output cost.

In a small benchmark, Standard and Expanded both solved the hardest watch-planning task on Luna, Terra, and Sol. Standard finished sooner on all three. On the two simpler tasks, Quick passed every check across the five models tested.

Try it with Docker :dev or pin :1.0.1-dev.1. Stable :latest still serves 1.0.0. The supplied Compose configurations apply the two database migrations at startup.

Release notes and downloads

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 1.0.1-dev.2 is available

This development release improves everyday search, gives new users a way to get recommendations sooner, and makes Emby sync and database restores more reliable.

• Search respects your Emby library access. Search, autocomplete, Similar titles, and graph exploration check what your account can see. Search handles titles like Mission: Impossible, shows title matches first, and can find results by meaning when semantic search is enabled.
• Encore gets exact title details faster. On one 18,318-item Emby catalog, checking a single title took 4 ms, compared with 5.2 seconds for a full catalog read.
• Get starter recommendations with little or no watch history. Rate a few favorites highly or add interests in Watcher Identity to give Aperture a starting point for movie and TV picks.
• Check for missing TV episodes. In Admin → Gap Analysis, pick an imported series to compare released episodes from TMDb with what Emby currently has. Manual Seerr requests also check for duplicates and reconcile uncertain submissions.
• Safer sync and recovery. Emby episode sync retries a failed page at the same offset with a smaller page size. Restore stops if a requested safety backup fails and rolls back if the restore itself fails.

Both AMD64 and ARM64 images passed startup checks against fresh databases. To try the release, pull ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:1.0.1-dev.2 or use the :dev tag.

If you try it, I’d especially like to hear how Search behaves on restricted Emby accounts and whether TV Gap Analysis matches what you see in your library.

Full release notes and MCP downloads

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 1.0.1-dev.3 — Smoother background updates for Emby

A new Aperture dev update is available, focused on reducing background work and helping Emby stay responsive.

While investigating Emby becoming unresponsive, I found that Aperture was making it recheck thousands of files that hadn’t changed. This update cuts down that unnecessary work.

What’s improved:

• Fewer unnecessary scans when your recommendations update.
• Unchanged files and artwork stay in place, instead of being rebuilt each time.
• Background updates are spread out, reducing how much Aperture asks Emby to do at once.
• Better handling of slow responses, so Aperture backs off when Emby is struggling.

Old recommendations are still cleaned up, and your Emby library permissions are still checked whenever recommendations are published.

If you’re running the dev version, update your Aperture container as usual.

View the release

If you try it, please let me know how Emby behaves after a few recommendation updates—especially if you have a large library or have experienced slowdowns over time.

[TheGru 167]

Aperture 1.0.1 is available on :latest

This brings the recent development updates into the stable release, with less background work for Emby, corrected job schedules, better search, and Encore response styles.

Less unnecessary work for Emby. While investigating Emby becoming unresponsive on my own server, I found that recommendation updates were causing it to recheck thousands of unchanged files. Aperture now keeps unchanged files and artwork in place and skips unnecessary library refreshes. Emby-heavy jobs take turns, reducing how much work Aperture asks the server to do at once.

Job cards now show the correct next run. The countdown uses the server’s active schedule, including minute offsets and timezone. Jobs waiting behind another Emby job show Queued. Turning a job on or off and saving its schedule also preserve its minute offset.

Choose how Encore answers. Quick suits simple questions and title lookups, Standard handles everyday recommendations, and Expanded gives detailed comparisons and watch plans more room. You can choose a style for one reply, and admins can set the default in AI Settings. The cost estimator also uses updated pricing and recent usage from your installation.

Better search and a starting point for new users. Search handles punctuation and alternate titles more reliably, displays title matches while semantic results load, and checks your current Emby library access. If you have little watch history, highly rated favorites and interests saved in Watcher Identity can help Aperture generate starter recommendations.

TV gap checks and safer requests. Admin → Gap Analysis can compare released TV episodes with what Emby has. Seerr requests check for duplicates and reconcile uncertain submissions. Library sync handles failed episode pages more carefully, and database restores stop if the requested safety backup fails.

Both AMD64 and ARM64 images passed their startup checks. A 23-minute live test also completed repeated movie and TV publishing alongside Emby browsing without failures. The unchanged repeat pass triggered no media probes or library refreshes.

To get the stable release, use:

ghcr.io/dgruhin-hrizn/aperture:latest

If you already use :latest, pull the updated image and recreate the Aperture app container. If you’ve been testing :dev, change the tag to :latest to return to the stable channel. On Unraid, change the Repository field to the image above.

Back up your database and uploaded artwork first, and keep your existing database and mounts. The supplied Compose configurations apply the required migrations at startup. Refresh the Aperture page after updating. You can also pin this release with :1.0.1.

Release notes and MCP downloads

I’d especially appreciate feedback after a few scheduled recommendation updates, particularly from anyone with a large library or who has experienced Emby becoming slow or unresponsive over time.

[horstepipe 434]

What would one roughly need to pay to any AI provider to make recommendation lists for around 20 Users?