Agent not showing up in list

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1

I’m running 1.42.2.10156 and, simply put, new Agents aren’t showing up in the Agent list any longer.

I’ve tested with an agent I just coded, and youtube-agent; neither get listed. Note that scanners (both the scanner I coded and Absolute Series Scanner) are showing up.

Trying to review logs, I’ve seen nothing regarding failures on enum, etc.

Did something change regarding Agents?

add the scanner

cd /volume1/docker/plex/config/Library/Application\ Support/Plex\ Media\ Server/Scanners/Series
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ZeroQI/Absolute-Series-Scanner/refs/heads/master/Scanners/Series/Absolute%20Series%20Scanner.py

add the Agent plugin

cd /volume1/docker/plex/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins
wget https://github.com/ZeroQI/YouTube-Agent.bundle/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
7z x master.zip
rm -rf master.zip
mv YouTube-Agent.bundle-master YouTube-Agent.bundle

configure the youtube API key

vim “/volume1/docker/plex/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/YouTube-Agent.bundle/Contents/DefaultPrefs.json”
vim “/volume1/docker/plex/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-in Support/Preferences/com.plexapp.agents.youtube.xml”

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<PluginPreferences>
    <YouTube-Agent_youtube_api_key>key</YouTube-Agent_youtube_api_key>
</PluginPreferences>

chown 1026:100 -R “/volume1/docker/plex/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/”
chmod -r 775 "/volume1/docker/plex/config/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Plug-ins/

I assume this is not due to something in the code.

Any advice would be great, I’d very much rather use my own scanner and agent, but I need to prove out the core functionality first.

Thanks!

UPDATE:

My hopes and dreams have been dashed against the rocks. But, the good thing is that none of this is needed…

Here are my quick notes:

setup a pinchflat series and the plex library

  • DO NOT RELY ON ANY COMPLEX AGENTS AND SERIES SCANNERS passed v1.41 (October 2024), just use the Plex Series scanner with the correct pinchflat settings for metadata as follows
  1. in pinchflat, you want to setup a media profile with the following settings:

  • Output path template: /youtubekids/{{ source_custom_name }} [{{ channel_id }}]/{{ source_custom_name }} - {{ season_episode_from_date }} - {{ title }} [{{ id }}].{{ ext }}

  • Embed Subtitles: checked

  • Embed Thumbnail: checked

  • Embed Metadata: checked

  • Download Series Images: checked

  1. Add the plex library

  • Add the library

  • Scanner: Plex TV Series

  • Agent: Plex Series

  • Use Season Titles: checked

  • Use original titles: checked

  • Use local assets: checked

  • Prefer local metadata: checked

2

Python-based custom agents belong to the group of “legacy” agents.
In preparation of their eventual removal, they are now no longer shown by default.
There is a new checkbox in Settings - [server] - Library to re-enable them for the time being.
(you might need to update the server to 1.43.x for this to actually show up. use the hosted web app.)

Instructions about future custom agents are slated to be published shortly(ish).

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3

@OttoKerner

A couple of things that might be worth shoving to the product management team.

Unless I completely missed it, there is no UI notice about this feature and nothing clearly indicated in the logs. I (no joke) spent 6 hours trying to fix this perceived problem. Another amazing thing is that I use SportsScanner, which apparently is still listed as a scanner and agent even though it is legacy, and it still works without issue. This just added to the massive confusion until I gave in and figured it might be a bug, butwhy.gif.

One of my primary use cases is to lock my six year old son to specific set of media so he doesn’t get Elsa Gated, and I spent this amount motivated by getting Travel Kids’ episodes metadata rendered in a way that he can look up episodes by name.

My suggestion is that: 1) you update the UI is a warning (both in Library Advanced screen as well as on the Agents (Legacy) screen,) 2) you log an error in the log files if new agents are detected in the Plug-Ins directory, 3) you provide a link to documentation that explains how to temporary re-enable them, 4) you actually provide a solution before you begin phasing out a feature that’s destined to be supported in some way in the future.

I know you all are trying to make money, so it probably makes sense for even plex pass lifetime holders (like me) to pay you either annual (let’s call it $10USD) or one-time free (let’s call it $30USD) to register an app ID. Then you collect cash while allowing the process. Additionally, you should have a market where you perform analysis of code to guarantee safety (extra points if you provide provenance data and SBOMs).

But, dominantly, please warn users as early as possible of the issue so I don’t waste my Sunday trying to allow my son to easily find the Mexico episode of Travel Kids.

Thanks!

4

Just want to note that there should be nothing preventing you from using legacy Python agents/scanners currently that I’m aware of, you mentioned some errors in the logs but you didn’t provide the logs so I’m not sure exactly if those errors are related.

However, as mentioned, you really should not be using any of these on new libraries going forward as they have been deprecated for years and are going to be removed in the very near future. Most of these legacy plug-ins are not maintained any more by their original creators so it’s just not a reliable path forward.

We’ll be announcing updates on the agent system very soon.

5

Will the new system have agents/functionality to pull YouTube metadata based on video ID etc?

6

That’s up to the developer of the provider.

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