Plex Session Monitoring

Automatically searches for upcoming episodes and seasons by monitoring what users are currently watching. When someone nears the end of a season, Pulsarr proactively downloads the next content.

Quick Setup

1. Navigate to Utilities → Plex Session Monitoring
2. Toggle Enable to turn on monitoring
3. Configure settings (SSE connects automatically; polling serves as fallback)
4. Set episode threshold (default: 2 episodes remaining)
5. Optionally filter to specific users
6. Click Save Changes

How It Works

1. Monitors active Plex sessions in real time via Plex SSE (Server-Sent Events), with polling as a fallback
2. Calculates remaining episodes in the current season
3. Triggers searches when users reach a threshold (e.g., 2 episodes remaining)
4. Handles next seasons automatically or via rolling monitoring

A live SSE connection status badge appears in the page header, showing whether real-time monitoring is active or if the system has fallen back to polling.

Rolling Monitoring

Progressive downloading strategy that starts minimal and expands based on viewing activity, with automatic cleanup when shows are abandoned:

• Pilot Rolling: Start with pilot only → expand to full season when watched → add seasons progressively
• First Season Rolling: Start with Season 1 → add Season 2 when nearing completion → continue expanding
• All Season Pilot Rolling: Download the pilot of every season upfront → each season expands to full when its pilot is watched
• Auto-cleanup: Automatically reverts shows to original monitoring states when nobody is watching
• Best for: Testing user interest and managing storage efficiently

Example: Pilot Rolling Flow

With a threshold of 2 episodes remaining:

1. User adds Breaking Bad to their Plex watchlist → Pulsarr sends to Sonarr with Pilot Rolling → only S01E01 downloads
2. User starts watching S01E01 → Pulsarr detects the session and searches for the full Season 1
3. User reaches S01E05 (2 episodes remaining in a 7-episode season) → Pulsarr requests Season 2 from Sonarr
4. User reaches S02E11 → Pulsarr requests Season 3, and so on through the series
5. User stops watching mid-Season 3 → after the inactivity period (default: 7 days), auto-cleanup reverts the show to its original monitoring state

First Season Rolling works the same way but starts with the full Season 1 instead of just the pilot. Useful when you want users to have a full season available upfront.

Example: All Season Pilot Rolling Flow

1. User adds The Office to their Plex watchlist → Pulsarr sends to Sonarr with All Season Pilot Rolling → the pilot episode of every season downloads (S01E01, S02E01, S03E01, etc.)
2. User starts watching S01E01 → Pulsarr detects the session and searches for the full Season 1
3. User finishes Season 1 and starts watching S02E01 (already downloaded) → Pulsarr expands Season 2 to full monitoring
4. User skips ahead to S05E01 → Pulsarr expands Season 5 to full monitoring (seasons don't need to be watched in order)
5. User stops watching → after the inactivity period (default: 7 days), auto-cleanup reverts the show to its original state, keeping pilots but removing expanded episodes

Unlike Pilot Rolling and First Season Rolling, this type does not auto-expand to the next season based on the remaining episodes threshold. Instead, each season expands individually when its pre-downloaded pilot is watched.

Configuration

Monitoring Configuration

Setting	Description
Polling Interval (minutes)	Fallback polling frequency when SSE is unavailable (1-1440, default: 15)
Remaining Episodes Threshold	Trigger searches when this many episodes remain in a season (1-10, default: 2)

Filtering Options

Setting	Description
Filter Users	Multi-select of Plex users to monitor. Leave empty to monitor all users

Rolling Monitoring Reset Settings

Setting	Description
Enable Automatic Reset	Reset abandoned shows to their original monitoring state after inactivity period
Enable Progressive Cleanup	Remove previous seasons as users advance to the next, only if no other users are watching those seasons
Inactivity Reset Days	Days without watch activity before a show is considered inactive (1-365, default: 7)
Auto Reset Check Interval (hours)	How often to check for inactive shows and perform resets (1-168, default: 24)

Rolling Monitoring Status

The status section shows your rolling monitored content split into two views:

View	Description
Active Shows	Currently monitored shows with user tracking. Shows which users are watching, monitoring type (Pilot/First Season/All Season Pilot), current season, and last activity
Inactive Shows	Shows not watched within the inactivity period. Can be bulk reset to reclaim storage

Per-Show Actions

Action	Description
Reset	Reverts show to original monitoring state (pilot-only or first-season-only) and deletes excess files
Delete	Removes show from rolling monitoring, keeps current content in Sonarr

Global Actions

Action	Description
Check Sessions	Manually trigger a session check without waiting for the next poll
Manage Rolling	Opens the rolling management sheet for bulk enrollment and monitoring type changes
Reset All Inactive	Bulk reset all inactive shows (with confirmation)

warning

Resetting shows deletes excess episode files and loses all user viewing progress for that show.

Setup in Sonarr

Rolling monitoring options appear in:

• Sonarr Instance Settings: Set default rolling behavior for all content
• Content Router Rules: Apply rolling monitoring to specific content based on conditions

tip

Rolling monitoring options only appear when Session Monitoring is enabled.

Best Practices

• Start with conservative thresholds (2-3 episodes remaining)
• Use user filtering to monitor specific groups
• Enable progressive cleanup to manage storage efficiently
• Adjust polling intervals based on viewing patterns

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
SSE not connected	Pulsarr auto-discovers your server via Plex.tv. If discovery fails, manually set the URL in Plex → Configuration → Server Connection using the Find Server button
Sessions not detected	Verify Plex connection; check polling interval; ensure users watching content
Searches not triggering	Verify series exists in Sonarr with metadata; check threshold config; review logs
Rolling monitoring issues	Ensure feature enabled; confirm content added with rolling options; check Sonarr modifications

API Reference

See the Session Monitoring API documentation for detailed endpoint information.

Attribution

Inspired by prefetcharr by p-hueber.