Stremio Addon with Key

This is an example for a Stremio addon that requires a key from the user.

Usage

• install and run:

npm install
npm start

• open http://127.0.0.1:7700/ in a browser

Objectives

• addon that uses the addon sdk (alternatively, there are also examples using Node.js and Express)
• addon will only be installable if it has a key provided by the user
• addon serves streams (public domain streams have been added as an example) only if the key provided by the user is valid

Use cases

• user authentication
• account specific requirements: rate limiting / tracking usage
• addon monetization: only monetize content that you are legally allowed to distribute the addon developer can use his own payment platform and distribute API keys for enabling addon use

Understanding the code

This is a simple example of using manifest.config with the addon sdk which will generate a configuration page for the users. If you would like to create a custom configuration page instead, there is more information about that here.

These docs presume that you already have an understanding of a basic addon using the addon sdk.

We hardcode some valid addon keys:

const keys = [
    '6Jw5MyQx',
    'T2TEPAbj',
    'KG9Cx2R2',
    'n2v9ZZms',
    'jhw3wEAY'
]

We add the behavior hints to the addon manifest:

    "behaviorHints": {
        "configurable": true,
        "configurationRequired": true
    },

link to docs

Then we state what user data we require in the addon manifest (an "addon key" in our case):

    "config": [
        {
            "key": "key",
            "title": "Addon Key",
            "type": "text",
            "required": true
        }
    ]

link to docs

Note: by using the addon sdk to generate configuration pages instead of creating a custom one, you are limited to only the simplest of form validation, in the example code above the value can only be validated against being a string and being a required value

Then we check if the user provided addon key is valid on resource request:

builder.defineStreamHandler(function(args) {
    // ensure key exists and is valid
    if ((args.config || {}).key && keys.includes(args.config.key)) {
        // serve response
        // ...
    } else {
        return Promise.reject(Error('Addon key missing or invalid.'))
    }
})

You can see the full example here.

How Stremio handles user data

The first things that you should know of are manifest.behaviorHints.configurable and manifest.behaviorHints.configurationRequired, see the behaviorHints docs.

An addon can state that it supports configuration with the manifest.behaviorHints.configurable property (this will add a configuration button next to the install button in the apps), an addon can also state that it is not installable without user data with manifest.behaviorHints.configurationRequired (this will remove the install button in the apps for the addon, and show only a configure button).

Pressing the "configure" button will take the user to the /configure URL path of your addon server, presuming that your addon manifest URL would be https://my.addon.com/manifest.json, the users will be sent to https://my.addon.com/configure, this is where a HTML configuration page should be available. In the example provided above, the HTML configuration page is generated by the addon sdk based on the manifest.config value.

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