Manage media requests

Silo is in active development before 1.0. These guides are updated frequently.

Requests let people ask for movies or series that your server doesn’t have. Approving a request records your decision; the request is fulfilled once the media is added to a library and matched.

Turn requests on

1. Open Admin > Requests > Settings.
2. Turn on Allow requests.
3. Under Approval, choose An admin approves to review each request, or Approve automatically.
4. Set Request limit and Limit window. Declined and failed requests don’t count toward the limit.
5. Choose Save.
6. Ask one user to submit a request, and look for it in Admin > Requests > Queue.

These are server-wide defaults. An access group can set its own approval rule and limit, and its members can’t request at all if Allow media requests is off for the group. To change the approval rule or limit for one account, open Admin > Users, select the account, open Access & limits, and choose Edit in the Requests section. To stop just that account from requesting, set Can request media to Custom and choose No. When someone can’t request a title, check the account’s Can request media, its access group, and the request limit.

Review a request

Review requests in the web app. The phone, tablet, and TV apps don’t have approval controls, even for admins.

1. Open Admin > Requests > Queue. Needs approval lists requests waiting for a decision.
2. Choose Approve, or Decline. When you decline, you can add a reason for the requester.
3. After adding the media, scan the library. Within a few minutes of Silo matching the new item, the request shows as available, and Silo notifies the requester and everyone who asked to be notified.

If it stays unfulfilled, compare the library match with the requested movie, series, or season. A title with a similar name may be a different item.

Requests from watchlists

To stop watchlist adds from creating requests, open Admin > Requests > Settings, turn off Request titles added to a watchlist, and choose Save. It’s on by default. People can still save titles the library doesn’t have to their watchlist.

While it’s on, adding such a title to a watchlist requests it for that person, or adds them to an open request for it. Request limits, approval, and routing apply as they do for any other request, and the queue marks these requests via watchlist. Each profile can also turn this off for itself in Settings > Requests.

Connect an acquisition service

External services are optional. Install the service’s plugin first. In Admin > Requests > Settings, under Servers, choose Add server, pick the plugin under Server type, and enter the service’s URL and API key. Some plugins don’t need one or both; the form marks those fields optional. Choose the destination and quality options, then save.

Test with one approved request, and look for it in both Silo and the external service.

Configure notifications if users should receive delivery updates.