Rules
Rules decide which discovered titles a job may deliver. Every job references exactly one rule set, and every rule set applies to either movies or shows.
The v2 model
Section titled “The v2 model”- Default Movies and Default Shows are built-in rule sets created automatically.
- Create additional rule sets for different audiences, libraries, or discovery strategies.
- Assign the same rule set to several jobs when they should follow the same policy.
- Use Make job-specific copy in the job editor when one job needs independent rules.
- Title exceptions are universal allow/block decisions and take precedence over normal rule evaluation.
Changes to a shared rule set affect every assigned job. The Rules page shows its media type, revision, and assignment count before you save it.
Evaluation order
Section titled “Evaluation order”Blockbusterr evaluates a candidate in this order:
- Universal title block
- Universal title allow
- Regional content-rating rules
- Block rules
- Allow overrides
- Required matches and boundaries such as year, runtime, rating, and votes
A universally blocked title is always rejected, while a universally allowed title bypasses the selected rule set. Within a rule set, content-rating and block rules win over allow overrides. Otherwise, the title must satisfy every configured requirement and boundary.
Rule groups
Section titled “Rule groups”Required matches
Section titled “Required matches”Country and language lists narrow accepted content to those values. Required genre, keyword, and network lists express positive requirements. An empty list means that dimension is unrestricted.
Block rules
Section titled “Block rules”Block countries, languages, genres, keywords, networks, or provider IDs. Keyword checks are case-insensitive partial-title matches; provider IDs are exact matches.
Allow overrides
Section titled “Allow overrides”Allow overrides admit a title that matches a configured country, language, genre, keyword, network, or minimum rating after it clears block rules. Use them sparingly: a matching override bypasses required matches and boundaries.
Content ratings
Section titled “Content ratings”Choose a two-letter country, then add allowed or blocked certifications for that region. Movie certifications and TV content ratings are enriched through TMDB only when a rule set uses this feature. If TMDB has multiple ratings for the selected country, any blocked match rejects the title.
Choose an explicit unknown-rating policy. Allow preserves v1 behavior when regional metadata is missing; Reject fails closed and is recommended for family-focused rules. Preview and Activity identify the country, value, TMDB source, and unknown-rating decision.
Boundaries
Section titled “Boundaries”Set minimum or maximum year and runtime plus minimum rating and vote counts. Leave a boundary empty or set it to 0 to disable it.
Assign rules to a job
Section titled “Assign rules to a job”- Open Jobs and select a job.
- Choose a compatible rule set under Rules.
- Save the job.
- Use Preview to inspect accepted, rejected, skipped, and requested outcomes before enabling it.
Only rule sets matching the job’s media type can be assigned. Blockbusterr rejects mismatched or missing assignments instead of silently using another policy.
Make one job independent
Section titled “Make one job independent”Open the job, choose its current shared rule set, and select Make job-specific copy. Blockbusterr duplicates the effective rules, names the copy after the job, assigns it immediately, and leaves the original unchanged.
This is the v2 replacement for embedded per-job filters: the result is still isolated to one job, but it remains visible, reusable, and auditable on the Rules page.
Title exceptions
Section titled “Title exceptions”Use the Title exceptions tab to manage universal movie TMDB IDs and show TVDB IDs:
- Always allow bypasses normal rule evaluation.
- Always block rejects the title before scoring or delivery.
Activity Entries can add rejected titles to these lists. Review exceptions periodically because they affect every job of that media type.
YAML compatibility
Section titled “YAML compatibility”The UI is recommended. Existing filters.movies, filters.shows, and embedded custom job filters are migrated into deterministic rule sets at startup. New configurations are stored under rule_sets, and jobs reference them through rule_set_id.
Legacy fields remain readable for upgrade compatibility; avoid editing both models manually.
Preview before enabling
Section titled “Preview before enabling”Preview uses the same assigned rules as manual and scheduled runs without delivering content. After a live run, use Activity Entries for per-title reasons and Job Runs for aggregate flow and outcome distribution.