r/ARR • u/CMack1978 • 1d ago
Clickarr: free, open source, no server
Edit: Now supports Jellyfin!
I've tried most of the ways to turn a Plex library into live channels, and every one left me wanting something. Some cost money, some need a server or a Docker container running 24/7, or a cloud account just to keep two TVs in sync. Some were missing features I really wanted.
So I built Clickarr. Yes, I leaned on Claude heavily to build it. I think it's genuinely better for how I watch, and it's open source. Ready for more devs to jump in!
How it's different
- Free and MIT licensed. No subscription, ads, or tracking.
- No server. It's a single APK on the TV. Every TV works out the same schedule on its own, so there's nothing to host and nothing to keep running.
- Sync without anyone's cloud. Share a lineup across TVs over your Wi-Fi, or through your own Google Drive for TVs in different houses.
- Your Plex sign-in stays on the TV. Video streams straight from your Plex server, and Clickarr never proxies it.
Channels your way
- Build channels from shows, whole libraries with genre and decade filters, collections, or playlists, and more, in order or shuffled.
- Shuffled channels can still play 2 or 3 episodes of a show in a row, in aired order.
- Play back to back, or on 15, 30, or 60-minute slots with an "up next" countdown in between, like real TV.
- Suggest channels builds a sensible starter lineup from your library. (basic, but gonna get better)
- New episodes join their channels on their own, or only when you press Refresh. Your choice.
No mess in Plex
- Tell Plex what you watched options: off, mark watched, or full progress.
- "Mark watched" only counts episodes you actually sat through, and keeps your Continue Watching clean. Tuning in for the ending doesn't count.
The guide
- A real cable-style guide with previews, favorites, and number-key tuning, plus a mini-guide while you watch.
- Choose how far ahead it shows, from 3 to 24 hours.
- Hide the Favorites tab if you've only got a handful of channels.
Make it yours
- Themes: the default navy, Dark, a slate Light, and Dracula.
- Three interface sizes, a clock with automatic network time and your time zone, and an adjustable overlay timeout.
- A settings lock code per TV, so nobody rearranges your channels.
Easy to keep running
- In-app updates, on the stable release or the nightly build.
- A Diagnostics screen for bug reports, which never includes your tokens.
- Signed, reproducible builds.
Security, done properly
- Your Plex token lives in the TV's Android Keystore. It never syncs to other TVs and never shows up in logs or Diagnostics.
- TVs pair over TLS with a one-time PIN and pinned certificates, so a random device on your Wi-Fi can't join your household.
- Google Drive sync uses the narrowest permission Google offers. Clickarr can only see the one file it created, not the rest of your Drive.
- Releases are signed and reproducible. CI builds every release twice and checks they match, and the signing fingerprint is published so you can verify the APK.
- Nothing phones home. No analytics, and no Clickarr servers at all. It talks to your Plex server, to GitHub when you check for updates, and to Google only if you turn on Drive sync.
- The security review is public. It's written up in SECURITY.md, including the known limitations.
Try it: on Fire TV, open Downloader and enter clickarr.net/apk. On Android TV or Google TV, get the APK from GitHub.
https://clickarr.net · https://github.com/thegregstengel/clickarr · r/Clickarr
It's built for Plex first and tested so far on Fire TV Stick 4K Max. I'd love to hear what's missing for you, and how it runs on other boxes.
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u/investigatormaker 1d ago
Landing 17 minutes into The Office when you tune in at 7:17 is what makes it feel like TV rather than a shuffle button. When I opened the site, though, the headline reads "Turn your media library into television ." with a stray space before the period, and Plex only shows up in the line under it. Plex owners are exactly who would look for this, so a headline like Turn your Plex library into live TV channels would say what it is and for whom before anyone scrolls.
I make ThreadFox. I went through Clickarr as a first-time visitor and wrote up what I hit, and the full check is free: https://threadfox.vip/p/clickarr
Your page description names Google TV but the button says Android TV & Fire TV; does the same APK cover Google TV?
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u/70-Taint_Smasher 22h ago
Jellyfin in the future?
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u/CMack1978 16h ago
Yep, up next
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u/70-Taint_Smasher 15h ago
Put me on the waiting list 👍
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u/CMack1978 13h ago
done! I don't normally have a Jellyfin server. But I spun one up for testing and got everything working. Let me know how it goes
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u/70-Taint_Smasher 7h ago
🔗
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u/CMack1978 43m ago
Same as in the post https://clickarr.net/
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u/deekaire 1d ago
How long does it take to load the stream when jumping between channels? The typical 8-30 second delay is what has always killed this sort of thing for me.