Automatic Request Routing Based on Movie Metadata

[unknown0152]

Description

When managing libraries organized by genre, language, or content type across multiple root folders, users must manually select the destination Radarr/Sonarr server for every request. This creates friction in automated workflows and increases the chance of movies being placed in incorrect folders.

For example, I have separate folders for:

• Danish films (/media/Danske film)
• Classic films (/media/Gamle danske film)
• General English films (/media/Film)
• Animation, Comedy, Documentaries, etc.

Currently, users must remember to select the correct "destination server" dropdown when making requests. For large libraries with many categories, this becomes tedious and error-prone.

Desired Behavior

Implement automatic request routing based on movie/series metadata, similar to how Redirecterr (https://github.com/varthe/Redirecterr) works as middleware:

Admin Configuration:

• Define routing rules in Seerr settings based on TMDB metadata
• Example rules:
  • IF original_language == "da" → Route to "Radarr: Danske Film"
  • IF year < 1980 AND genre contains "Drama" → Route to "Radarr: Old Classics"
  • IF genre contains "Animation" → Route to "Radarr: Animation"
  • Default: Route to "Radarr: General Films"

User Experience:

• When a user requests a movie, Seerr automatically selects the appropriate destination server based on these rules
• No manual dropdown selection needed
• Admins can still manually override if needed

Fallback Behavior:

• If no rules match, default to the primary server
• Log routing decisions for debugging

This would extend Seerr's existing "Override Rules" functionality to include metadata-based conditions beyond just user/tag filters.

Alternatives Considered:

• Redirecterr middleware (works but requires separate Docker container and complexity)
• Manual selection (current behavior, but doesn't scale)
• Single root folder with post-processing scripts (requires file moves and extra I/O)

Related:
This was frequently requested in Overseerr (issues #704, #3615, #1881) but never implemented due to limited development resources.

Additional Context

No response

Search Existing Issues

• Yes, I have searched existing issues.

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow Seerr's Code of Conduct

[github-actions]

Possible duplicate detected

This issue may be a duplicate of the following (detected via semantic similarity + LLM review):

• [Feature Request] More granular user permissions pertaining to Advanced Requests #2393 (66% match) — [Feature Request] More granular user permissions pertaining to Advanced Requests
• [Feature Request] Option to request entire movie collection when requesting a movie #2199 (65% match) — [Feature Request] Option to request entire movie collection when requesting a movie
• Override Rules: Add instance support #1560 (65% match) — Override Rules: Add instance support

A maintainer will review this. If this is not a duplicate, no action is needed.

[unknown0152]

Additional Use Cases & Implementation Details

Performance Considerations:

• Routing decisions should be cached to avoid repeated TMDB API calls for the same movie
• Fallback to local metadata if TMDB is unreachable
• Rules should be evaluated in priority order (first match wins)

Advanced Filtering Examples:
Beyond my current setup, this feature would enable:

• Language-based routing: original_language == "da" → Danish library, "no" → Norwegian library
• Release year routing: year < 1970 → Classic films, year >= 2020 → New releases
• Genre combinations: genre contains "Horror" AND year < 1990 → Classic Horror folder
• Rating-based: vote_average >= 8.0 → Premium collection
• Runtime-based: runtime > 150 → Epic films folder
• User-based overrides: Specific users always route to certain servers regardless of metadata

UI/UX Suggestions:

• Rule testing interface: Enter a TMDB ID and see which rule/server would be matched
• Dry-run mode: Show routing decisions in logs before applying
• Rule priority reordering via drag-and-drop
• Import/export rules as JSON for backup/sharing

Integration with Existing Features:
Since Override Rules already exist for user/tag filtering, extending to support TMDB metadata fields would be the natural evolution:

• Add TMDB fields as available conditions: genre, original_language, year, vote_average, runtime, production_countries
• Keep existing user/tag conditions
• Allow combining conditions with AND/OR logic

Docker Labels for Organization:
For users with multiple Radarr containers, routing could also consider Docker labels or tags applied at the infrastructure level.

Why This Matters More Than Alternatives:

• Redirecterr: Requires separate container, additional webhook configuration, and doesn't integrate with Seerr UI
• Manual selection: Doesn't scale beyond 3-5 categories; users forget or choose wrong folder
• Post-processing scripts: Requires file moves, breaks hardlinks, extra disk I/O, and Plex rescan issues
• Single root folder: Loses organizational benefits at filesystem level, harder for direct file management outside Plex

[fallenbagel]

This is already possible with override rules??

[unknown0152]

wtf its are you sure ?

[unknown0152]

Oh nice, I wasn’t aware Override Rules could already do this fully.
My goal is to automatically send Danish/old/classic/etc. films into different root folders (and tags) without users picking a destination server.
If Override Rules can:
– Match on TMDB genre/language/year
– And set root folder + tags accordingly
then that solves my use case and I can collapse my multiple Radarr “folder” services back into one.
If they can also switch between different Radarr instances, even better – I didn’t see that in the docs, so a short example in the docs would be super helpful.

[fallenbagel]

If they can also switch between different Radarr instances, even better – I didn’t see that in the docs, so a short example in the docs would be super helpful.

This is in the works. There is a pr opened.

Also one thing to note is override rules currently only apply to users without advanced_request permission. There is a pr for that as well. Let me link. I will also close this issue as implemented

[fallenbagel]

Support advanced request users:
#2164

Instance switching support and a fully reworked rule system:
#2452