# Accessing Entire Plex Library via API? **URL:** \ **Category:** Dev/API Corner\ **Tags:** other-dev\ **Created:** [February 21, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990 "2009-02-21T19:44:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sixones](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/sixones/32/329_2.png) [@sixones](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sixones)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/1 "2009-02-21T19:44:28Z")
Hello, This might not be possible but is there anyway to access the library from plex? Im creating a lightweight desktop application (cross-platform) that can view a media library and to simplify things (and centralise the library) i wanted to use plex’s already indexed library! Also how does plex store the library? If it’s using a sqlite database, xml or something similar it could be easily shared or i could write a patch for the plex code to include an xml / json api. Thanks in advance ---
**Author:** ![kent](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/kent/32/184_2.png) [@kent](https://forums.plex.tv/u/kent)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/2 "2009-02-21T19:56:43Z")
I think you can already extract most of this information: [http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=WebServerHTTP-…mation\_commands](http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=WebServerHTTP-API#Retrieving_information_commands) [http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=EventServer](http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=EventServer) ---
**Author:** ![sixones](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/sixones/32/329_2.png) [@sixones](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sixones)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 9:41pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/3 "2009-02-21T21:41:42Z")
i missed that, thanks. the only issue is it doesnt allow you to get the tv show listings or the movie listings with the data like plex displays it or am i missing something? ---
**Author:** ![jam](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jam/32/186050_2.png) [@jam](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jam)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/4 "2009-02-21T22:17:23Z")
The library is stored as an SQLite database, with the thumbnails & fanart using hashed file paths for naming. The only API for Plex is the HTTP API Kent posted a link to above. We don’t plan on adding any features to the library, including API access, as we believe it’s fundamentally broken & we can do a better job by rewriting it from scratch (open API & protocols will be one priority of the new system). Any current methods of accessing the library will not work with the new system. [More info here](http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?showtopic=2471) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![sixones](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/sixones/32/329_2.png) [@sixones](https://forums.plex.tv/u/sixones)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/5 "2009-02-21T22:29:44Z")
awesome, when is development planned for the new backend system or has it already started? ---
**Author:** ![atrus](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/atrus/32/31_2.png) [@atrus](https://forums.plex.tv/u/atrus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2009, 10:17am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/6 "2009-02-23T10:17:05Z")
> [@](#): > > awesome, when is development planned for the new backend system or has it already started? Well, if you read the post that Jam linked to you can see this: "Work on the replacement is progressing well, and we're excited about the added features and performance improvements the code so far is able to provide. We're not quite ready to discuss the specifics of the new system yet, but please be patient, we're sure you'll be very happy with it ;) " ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/accessing-entire-plex-library-via-api/990/7 "2019-12-20T20:22:25Z")
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