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First Run

After DaCollector starts, open the Web UI:

http://127.0.0.1:38111/webui

If you changed the port, replace 38111 with your configured value. Then follow the steps below.

Step 1 — Create the First Admin User

On a brand-new install, the setup wizard appears automatically. Enter a username and password for the first admin account. This account is stored in the local database; it is not linked to any external identity.

After setup is complete, sign in. The Web UI stores your API key in browser local storage and sends it with every request.

To add more users later, use Settings → Users or the /api/v3/User endpoints.

Step 2 — Add Managed Folders

Managed folders are the root directories DaCollector scans for media files.

  1. Go to Settings → Managed Folders.
  2. Add each root folder that contains your movies or TV files.
  3. Mark each folder as Watch Source if you want DaCollector to detect new files automatically.

After saving, DaCollector queues a scan. The import pipeline hashes files, queries release providers for episode mappings, and builds the local file-to-series index.

For Docker, the folder must be mounted into the container first:

volumes:
  - dacollector-data:/home/dacollector/.dacollector
  - "/mnt/media/movies:/media/movies:ro"
  - "/mnt/media/tv:/media/tv:ro"

Then add /media/movies and /media/tv as managed folders inside DaCollector.

Step 3 — Configure Metadata Providers

DaCollector uses TMDB and TVDB to build collection member lists. Configure each provider you intend to use.

TMDB

Go to Settings → TMDB and enter your TMDB API key. Without it, TMDB collection builders will fail.

Get a key at themoviedb.org/settings/api. The free v3 API key is sufficient.

TMDB_API_KEY: "your-tmdb-key"

TVDB

Go to Settings → TVDB and enter your TVDB API key and optional subscriber PIN. Without it, TVDB collection builders will fail.

Get a key at thetvdb.com/dashboard/account/apikeys.

TVDB_API_KEY: "your-tvdb-key"
TVDB_PIN: ""

Step 4 — Configure the Plex Target

DaCollector applies managed collection membership to Plex. You need a Plex token and the numeric library section key.

Find Your Plex Token

In Plex Web, open any media item, click the three-dot menu, and choose Get Info. The URL bar will contain X-Plex-Token=<value>. Copy that value.

Alternatively, sign into plex.tv and inspect the network tab for requests to plex.tv/users/sign_in.json — the token is in the response JSON.

Find the Library Section Key

Call the Plex API directly (replace the token):

http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/sections?X-Plex-Token=<your-token>

The key attribute on each <Directory> element is the section key.

Or use DaCollector's Plex library endpoint after setting the base URL and token:

GET /api/v3/PlexTarget/Library

Apply the Settings

Go to Settings → Plex and enter:

  • Base URL: http://127.0.0.1:32400 (or the LAN address when Plex runs on a different machine)
  • Token: the token you found above
  • Default Library Section Key: the numeric section key

Or use environment variables:

PLEX_TARGET_BASE_URL: "http://host.docker.internal:32400"
PLEX_TARGET_SECTION_KEY: "1"
PLEX_TARGET_TOKEN: "your-plex-token"

Test connectivity:

GET /api/v3/PlexTarget/Identity

A 200 response with server name and version confirms Plex is reachable.

Step 5 — Preview a Collection

  1. Open http://127.0.0.1:38111/webui/dacollector-collections.html.
  2. Click New Collection.
  3. Give the collection a name, for example MCU Movies.
  4. Add a rule — for example, builder tmdb_collection with option id=131296.
  5. Click Preview. DaCollector resolves the rule locally and shows which titles it would include.
  6. Review matched and missing items. Missing items appear when DaCollector cannot find a Plex library match for a provider ID.
  7. Click Dry Run to see what would be added to or removed from Plex without writing anything yet.
  8. When the dry run looks correct, click Apply to create or update the Plex collection.

See Collection Management for a full list of builder names and sync modes.

Step 6 — Review Duplicates

  1. Open http://127.0.0.1:38111/webui/dacollector-duplicates.html.
  2. Exact File Duplicates — shows DaCollector's cleanup plan for files in managed folders. Review keep and remove candidates, confirm a dry-run, then optionally confirm a delete.
  3. Plex Media Duplicates — enter a Plex library section key and click Load to see Plex library entries that appear to be duplicates based on provider IDs, title/year, and file hashes. This view is read-only; clean up in Plex after reviewing.

See Duplicate Management for the full workflow.

Health Check Endpoints

After signing in, poll these to confirm the server is fully running:

URL Purpose
/api/v3/DaCollectorStatus Provider, collection manager, and Plex readiness.
/api/v3/DaCollectorStatus/Providers Provider readiness without secrets.
/api/v3/DaCollectorStatus/Plex Plex target readiness without exposing the token.
/api/v3/CollectionBuilder Available collection builders.
/api/v3/ManagedCollection Saved collection definitions.
/api/v3/Duplicates/Exact/Summary Exact duplicate summary.

Server Data Locations

Platform Data path
Windows (installer) C:\ProgramData\DaCollector
Windows (custom) Set DACOLLECTOR_HOME before starting.
Docker /home/dacollector/.dacollector/DaCollector

The data path contains settings, SQLite databases, logs, provider cache, images, plugins, and Web UI data.

Change the Port

$env:DACOLLECTOR_PORT = "38112"
.\DaCollector.exe

Then open http://127.0.0.1:38112/webui.

Stop DaCollector

Close the tray app or stop the DaCollector.exe process. For Docker:

docker compose down

Wait for the process to exit before moving or backing up the SQLite database files.

Next Steps