| name | organize-collections |
| description | Create and curate Plex collections (franchises, director sets, themes) using the plex-collection-creator MCP tools. Use when a user wants to build, populate, or tidy collections in their Plex library via Claude Code. |
Organize Plex collections
Use the MCP server's tools to build accurate collections. Requires the MCP
server connected — see [[setup-mcp]].
Core workflow
- Pick the library:
list_libraries (or just pass movie / tv).
- Get the items:
list_items with the library. Each row is
ratingKey title (year) tmdb=<id>. The ratingKey is what the
collection tools take; the tmdb id is for matching against franchises/
filmographies.
- Decide groupings from the item list:
- Franchises — Alien, Harry Potter, MCU, etc.
- Directors — Nolan, Tarantino, Villeneuve (verify with
tmdb_director_filmography; see [[audit-library]]).
- Themes — A24, baseball movies, 90s thrillers.
- Create / populate:
create_or_update_collection(library, name, ratingKeys).
- It auto-creates the collection if missing, otherwise adds to it.
- It is idempotent and additive — re-running is safe, and an item keeps
its other collection memberships (a film can live in many collections).
- Verify:
list_collections for counts; get_collection(library, name)
to see members.
Adjusting membership
- Add more later:
add_to_collection(library, name, ratingKeys).
- Remove wrong entries:
remove_from_collection(library, name, ratingKeys).
- Delete a collection (media is untouched):
delete_collection(library, name).
Tips
- Map titles → ratingKeys via the
list_items output; prefer matching by tmdb
id when reconciling against TMDB results — it's unique.
- Batch all of a collection's ratingKeys into one
create_or_update_collection call rather than one-by-one.
- For TV, items may not carry tmdb ids; match by exact title from
list_items.
- After big changes, optionally
scan_library so Plex refreshes metadata.
Example
"Group my Alien movies."
list_items movie → collect the ratingKeys for Alien, Aliens, Alien³,
Resurrection, Prometheus, Covenant, Romulus.create_or_update_collection(movie, "Alien Franchise", [<those ratingKeys>]).get_collection(movie, "Alien Franchise") to confirm.
