MDBList

MDBList is useful when you already have a curated list or want to build a list using criteria such as IMDb ratings or critics’ scores. Blockbusterr fetches its members, applies your assigned rules, and delivers accepted titles to Radarr, Sonarr, or Jellyseerr / Seerr.

You do not need Trakt credentials for Blockbusterr’s MDBList integration. It connects directly to MDBList using an API key. TMDB and Simkl remain useful alternatives for native trending/popular discovery.

Before creating a job

Start Blockbusterr with BLOCKBUSTERR_DRY_RUN=true before creating a custom job; see the quickstart for how to set this environment variable and recreate your container with its existing data mount. Custom jobs are created enabled; a schedule may otherwise deliver titles before you review them. Keep dry run on until you have checked the source, rules, and destination. See Jobs for scheduling and delivery limits.

Connect MDBList

1. Create an MDBList account and get a free API key from Preferences.
2. Open Settings → Connections → MDBList in Blockbusterr.
3. Enter the key, select Test connection, then Save changes.
4. Open Jobs → New job → Custom Job.
5. Choose List or Watchlist, MDBList, and either movies or shows.
6. Enter the list fields below and select Check source.
7. Assign an appropriate rule set, save the job, and review its preview while dry run remains enabled.
8. Review delivery caps and the destination before turning dry run off. That change allows all enabled jobs to deliver, not only this list job.

Enter the list correctly

A slug is the readable name at the end of a list URL. For the example https://mdblist.com/lists/alex/weekend-movies/, the owner is alex and the slug is weekend-movies. This example demonstrates the format, not a real recommended list.

Source	List kind	Owner or member	List ID or slug
A user’s public list	Public list	Username, such as alex	Slug, such as weekend-movies
A numeric list ID	Public list	Leave empty	Numeric ID
An official MDBList list	Public list	Leave empty	Official slug
Your MDBList watchlist	Personal watchlist	Leave empty	Leave empty

Do not paste the complete URL into List ID or slug. Your watchlist belongs to the account that issued the API key; it does not use a separate OAuth connection. A mixed-media list needs separate movie and show jobs to deliver both kinds.

Check source verifies access and shows a sample. It does not mean the entire list will pass your rules or fit the delivery cap.

Put rating and genre criteria in the right place

The current MDBList list adapter imports title, year, IDs, and available language/country. It does not import ratings, vote counts, genres, runtime, or critic-review counts into Blockbusterr’s ordinary candidate fields. Configuring a TMDB API key does not automatically fill those fields for MDBList list jobs.

This means copying a rule set with minimum rating 7, minimum votes 100, or a required genre onto an MDBList job can reject its entries even though those titles satisfy the criteria on MDBList.

For a list already filtered on MDBList:

1. Set the IMDb, critics’ score, genre, or other selection criteria on the MDBList side.
2. Create a dedicated Blockbusterr rule set for this list rather than weakening your default movie rules.
3. Set rating and minimum-vote requirements to 0, leave required genres empty, and remove runtime or other requirements that depend on metadata the list does not provide.
4. Retain checks that make sense for the supplied data and your intended policy. Review language/country restrictions too, since their presence varies.
5. Preview and inspect rejection reasons. Do not enable delivery until the results match what you intended.

A generic 8.7 rating does not represent critics agreeing about a film. If your goal is acclaim from a small group of critics, use an upstream critics-score filter or a curator whose selection you trust. IMDb user votes, critic counts, and percentage-positive critic scores are different measures.

Example: three separate movie tastes

Keep these as separate jobs so each can have its own source, rules, schedule, and cap:

Goal	Practical source	Where to filter
Current popular movies	Native TMDB Trending/Popular	Blockbusterr rating rules; this is popularity, not box-office revenue
Critically acclaimed independent films	An MDBList you configure or a trusted curator’s list	MDBList criteria or the curator’s selection; do not claim low vote count proves a film is independent
Science-fiction movies	Native TMDB Science-Fiction Discovery recipe, or a dedicated MDBList	Genre/rating rules in Blockbusterr for TMDB; upstream for MDBList

MDBList supports imported external lists, including sources such as IMDb and Letterboxd. Consult its list types to distinguish imported, dynamic, and static lists. A manually copied static list does not automatically gain its source’s future updates.

Free limits and refresh behavior

As checked in September 2026, MDBList’s free plan includes 4 dynamic lists, 4 static lists, 1 external list, 10,000 items per list, and 1,000 API requests per day. Newly created free lists may take 30 minutes to populate. See the current plan table because service limits can change.

Blockbusterr fetches lists when checking, previewing, or running them; pagination can require multiple requests. A successful connection test does not grant unlimited API access.

Free MDBList lists can stop updating after 120 days without account activity. The provider documents that direct Radarr list use counts as activity; do not assume Blockbusterr API reads do. Log in periodically or check MDBList’s current policy.

Removing an item from a source list never deletes media Blockbusterr already delivered. A job follows additions; it is not a mirror that removes your library’s other titles.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
Source check fails	Verify API key, public access, owner, and slug/ID separately.
New list is empty	Wait for MDBList to populate it and open the list on MDBList itself.
Every candidate fails rating/votes/genre	Use a dedicated rule set appropriate to the adapter’s missing metadata, as described above.
API returns a rate-limit error	Reduce preview frequency, list sizes, or job cadence; inspect the account’s API usage.
Source stopped changing	Check the upstream list’s refresh and free-account activity status.
A show fails delivery	Check that the entry has a resolvable identity for the selected delivery target.

For direct experimental Letterboxd access, see Letterboxd.