Media Servers

Settings → Servers has three sections: Connections, Plex accounts and Poster source. Only the owner can change anything in them. Adding your first server is covered in Connect a Server.

Connections

Connections lists every server Tracearr monitors. Drag a row by its handle to change the order.

Changing the URL or API key

Click the pencil next to a server’s name to open Edit Server. For Jellyfin and Emby it has Server URL, Public address and API Key alongside the name and color.

The API Key field is always empty when the dialog opens, and leaving it empty keeps the saved key. If you deleted or regenerated the key on the media server, Tracearr keeps sending the old one and the server rejects it, so paste the new key in and click Update. The live connection to the server switches to the new key within 30 seconds.

Before a new URL or key is saved, Tracearr checks that the key has administrator access at that URL. It then asks the server that answers for its ID and compares that with the ID it saved for this server. The two have to match, so you can move a server to a new IP, port or reverse proxy, but you can’t point an existing entry at a different Jellyfin or Emby install. To monitor another server, add it with Add Server.

A refused change shows a Failed to update server message with the reason:

Message	What it means
That address or API key reaches a different server. A server can only be pointed at itself.	The server at the new URL, or the one the new key belongs to, has a different ID from the one saved for this entry.
Could not read which server answers at that address.	The key passed the admin check but Tracearr didn’t get a server ID back.
Tracearr has no record of which server this is and cannot reach it with the saved address and key, so it cannot confirm the change points at the same server.	No ID was ever saved for this server, and the old URL and key no longer reach it to read one. Tracearr saves the ID on startup and on every sync, so this only happens to a server it hasn’t been able to reach since. Re-adding it with the same URL still works.
Jellyfin rejected this API key (it may be invalid or expired).	The key is wrong or was deleted. Emby says the same with its own name.

Plex servers have no API Key field. Plex signs in through plex.tv, and its Server URL is picked from the connections Plex reports. When a Plex token stops working, reauthorize the account under Plex accounts.

Re-adding a server with the same URL

Add Server with the same server type and the same Server URL doesn’t create a second Jellyfin or Emby server. It updates the existing one: the new API key and Server Name are saved, and so is the Public address if you filled it in. The color, sessions and history stay, since it is still the same server in Tracearr. Users and libraries sync straight after, and the live connection picks up the new key within 30 seconds.

The URL has to match the one shown under the server’s name character for character. http://192.168.1.100:8096/ does not match a saved http://192.168.1.100:8096, and neither does https against http or a hostname against an IP. Each of those adds a second server instead.

This route only checks that the key has administrator access at that URL. It doesn’t compare server IDs, so use Edit Server when you can.

Marking a server historical

A server you have retired, or one you are only testing, can stay in Tracearr without being contacted. Open the row’s menu (the three dots next to Sync) and click Mark as historical. Tracearr asks once, then stops polling the server, drops its live connection, cancels its library and user syncs, stops checking it for updates, and ends any stream that was playing on it. Nothing is deleted: its sessions, watch history, users and libraries stay on every page, and posters already cached keep showing. A poster that was never cached shows the placeholder instead of being fetched.

A historical server is listed last, grayed, with a Historical badge, and it leaves the unreachable banner, the connection status list and Dashboard → Server Resources, whether one server or all servers are selected. It stays selectable in the server picker and in page filters so you can read its history. Those lists put it last and mark it Historical; this covers the server picker, the Users and Automations server filters and the library catalog filter.

Click Resume in the same menu to bring it back. The next poll decides whether it is up; a server that is really gone goes through the normal “server down” path after the usual threshold. Marking a historical server again, or resuming a live one, changes nothing.

While a server is historical:

Edit Server keeps the name, color and public address editable but disables the URL and API Key fields with “Resume first to change the address or API key.” Changing either through the API is refused with “Resume this server to change its address or key”. For a historical Plex server the dialog doesn’t look up connections from plex.tv.
Sync is disabled, and syncing it from the API answers “Resume this server to sync it”. Imports from Tautulli, Jellystat or Playback Reporting into it are refused with “Resume this server to import into it”. Resume first, import, then mark it historical again if you want.
Add Server for a Plex server that is already listed, historical or not, is refused with “This server is already connected” (or “A server with this URL is already connected”), so resume the existing entry instead. For Jellyfin and Emby, the same URL is refused with “Resume this server to change its address or key” instead of updating the entry as described under Re-adding a server with the same URL. Resume the existing entry first.
Automations scoped to it stay as they are, but triggers that need the server live (stream, server and update events) do not fire; the builder says so under the server picker. Inactive for skips its accounts.

Removing a server

Remove on a row deletes the server and everything Tracearr recorded for it: sessions, watch history, users and libraries. The dialog says so and it can’t be undone. Mark the server historical instead when you want to keep that history.

Server location

A play from your home network has a private IP, which no geolocation database can place, so Tracearr labels it Local Network and leaves it off the stream map. Giving the server a location puts those plays on the map at that spot. It’s optional, and nothing is looked up online: the location is whatever you set here.

In Edit Server, click Set location. Click the map to drop a pin, or type the Latitude and Longitude, then pick the Country and add a City and Region if you want them. Click Update to save. If the map can’t load, the coordinate fields still work.

If the server moved, click Add a move, pick the date it moved, and place the new spot. Local plays that started on or after that date use the new location, and earlier ones keep the old one. The date means midnight at the start of that day in your browser’s time zone. The first entry reads From the beginning and covers everything before the first move; without it, plays before the first move stay Local Network.

Saving starts Apply Server Locations in the background, which rewrites that server’s past local plays to match; new plays get the location as they start. While it runs, the section says “Past sessions are still being updated.” To undo it, remove every entry and save, and the job puts those plays back to Local Network.

Placed plays show on the stream map and everywhere else a location appears, with a Local badge, and the Network filter in History still lists them under Local. Automations keep treating them as local: Country never matches them, Active Session Distance and Travel Speed leave them out, and Is Local Network is unchanged.

Plex accounts

Plex servers reach Tracearr through the Plex account that owns them. Each row shows the account, how many servers are connected through it, and a Login Enabled badge on any account that can be used to sign in to Tracearr.

Linking another account

Click Link Plex Account, or Link Another Plex Account once one is linked, and sign in to plex.tv in the popup. An account linked this way can add servers but can’t be used to sign in to Tracearr. A Plex account that is already linked to a different Tracearr user is refused.

To add a server from it, go back to Connections, click Add Server and choose Plex. With more than one account linked, pick the account first. Servers that are already connected are left out of the list, and when none are left the dialog says All Servers Connected.

Reauthorizing an account

Changing your Plex password with “sign out of all devices” revokes every token Tracearr holds for that account, and its servers stop answering. Click the refresh button on the account row (Reauthorize this Plex account) and sign in to plex.tv again as the same account. Signing in as anyone else is refused with “That Plex sign-in was for a different account. Sign in as … to reauthorize it.”

The new token goes to the account and to every Plex server connected through it. A Plex server in Tracearr that had lost its account link is picked up too, as long as plex.tv lists it under this account. Servers keep their history. The message afterwards says how it went:

Message	What it means
2 servers reconnected	Every server accepted the new token.
Account token updated	The account has no servers connected, so only its token changed.
Token updated, but Living Room still refused it	Tracearr checked admin access on that server with the new token and it failed.
Token updated, but Living Room could not be re-linked	That Plex server has no account link in Tracearr and plex.tv didn’t list it under this account.

Unlinking an account

The unlink button stays disabled while a live server is connected through the account; its tooltip reads “Delete the live servers connected through this account, or mark them historical, first”. Historical servers no longer block it: unlinking leaves them in place without an account link, and reauthorizing the account later picks them up again by their machine identifier. Your only Login Enabled account can’t be unlinked while you have no Tracearr password either. Set a password first, or link another account that can sign in.

Poster source

When the same title is on more than one server, each copy has its own poster. Preferred Poster Source picks which one Tracearr shows on Media → Overview, Media → Browse and Media → Storage.

Automatic (most recent) shows the poster from the copy that was added most recently.
Picking a server shows that server’s copy. Titles that server doesn’t have fall back to the most recently added copy.

The setting saves as soon as you change it. It stays disabled until at least one server is connected.