# Meta: TMDb

Use this page to configure the TMDb metadata provider.

TMDb metadata improves matching.

### TMDb: Metadata vs Sync

CrossWatch uses TMDb in two different ways.

* **TMDb (Metadata)** (this page): improves matching. It does not read or write your TMDb account.
* **TMDb (Sync)**: syncs your TMDb **watchlist** and **ratings**.
  * Setup: [TMDb](/crosswatch/providers/authentication/auth-trackers/auth-tmdb.md)
  * Adapter behavior: [Adapter: TMDb](/crosswatch/providers/synchronization/adapter-tmdb.md)

{% hint style="warning" %}
These are separate configurations.

Metadata uses `tmdb.api_key`. Sync uses `tmdb_sync.*`.
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
CrossWatch currently supports **TMDb only** for metadata.
{% endhint %}

### Setup

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Create a TMDb API key

1. Create a TMDb account.
2. Request an API key here: <https://www.themoviedb.org/settings/api>
   {% endstep %}

{% step %}

### Add the key to CrossWatch

1. Open **Settings → Metadata → TMDb**.
2. Paste your API key.
3. Click **Save**.
   {% endstep %}
   {% endstepper %}

{% hint style="info" %}
This key is used for matching only.

If you want TMDb watchlist/ratings syncing, connect **TMDb (Sync)** instead: [TMDb](/crosswatch/providers/authentication/auth-trackers/auth-tmdb.md).
{% endhint %}

### Settings

<details>

<summary>Language / Locale</summary>

Controls the language used for titles, overviews, and other localized fields.

Pick a locale code from the list below.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Cache TTL (hours)</summary>

Controls how long CrossWatch caches posters and other TMDb payloads.

Higher TTL = fewer API calls.\
Lower TTL = fresher metadata.

</details>

### Supported locales

These locale codes control the language/region used for TMDb lookups.

<details>

<summary>Locale list</summary>

| Locale | Language           | Country/Region       |
| ------ | ------------------ | -------------------- |
| af-ZA  | Afrikaans          | South Africa         |
| ar-AE  | Arabic             | United Arab Emirates |
| ar-SA  | Arabic             | Saudi Arabia         |
| be-BY  | Belarusian         | Belarus              |
| bg-BG  | Bulgarian          | Bulgaria             |
| bn-BD  | Bengali            | Bangladesh           |
| ca-ES  | Catalan            | Spain                |
| ch-GU  | Chamorro           | Guam                 |
| cn-CN  | Chinese            | China                |
| cs-CZ  | Czech              | Czech Republic       |
| cy-GB  | Welsh              | United Kingdom       |
| da-DK  | Danish             | Denmark              |
| de-AT  | German             | Austria              |
| de-CH  | German             | Switzerland          |
| de-DE  | German             | Germany              |
| el-GR  | Greek              | Greece               |
| en-AU  | English            | Australia            |
| en-CA  | English            | Canada               |
| en-GB  | English            | United Kingdom       |
| en-IE  | English            | Ireland              |
| en-NZ  | English            | New Zealand          |
| en-US  | English            | United States        |
| eo-EO  | Esperanto          | —                    |
| es-ES  | Spanish            | Spain                |
| es-MX  | Spanish            | Mexico               |
| et-EE  | Estonian           | Estonia              |
| eu-ES  | Basque             | Spain                |
| fa-IR  | Persian            | Iran                 |
| fi-FI  | Finnish            | Finland              |
| fr-CA  | French             | Canada               |
| fr-FR  | French             | France               |
| ga-IE  | Irish              | Ireland              |
| gd-GB  | Scottish Gaelic    | United Kingdom       |
| gl-ES  | Galician           | Spain                |
| he-IL  | Hebrew             | Israel               |
| hi-IN  | Hindi              | India                |
| hr-HR  | Croatian           | Croatia              |
| hu-HU  | Hungarian          | Hungary              |
| id-ID  | Indonesian         | Indonesia            |
| it-IT  | Italian            | Italy                |
| ja-JP  | Japanese           | Japan                |
| ka-GE  | Georgian           | Georgia              |
| kk-KZ  | Kazakh             | Kazakhstan           |
| kn-IN  | Kannada            | India                |
| ko-KR  | Korean             | South Korea          |
| ky-KG  | Kyrgyz             | Kyrgyzstan           |
| lt-LT  | Lithuanian         | Lithuania            |
| lv-LV  | Latvian            | Latvia               |
| ml-IN  | Malayalam          | India                |
| mr-IN  | Marathi            | India                |
| ms-MY  | Malay              | Malaysia             |
| ms-SG  | Malay              | Singapore            |
| nb-NO  | Norwegian Bokmål   | Norway               |
| nl-BE  | Dutch              | Belgium              |
| nl-NL  | Dutch              | Netherlands          |
| no-NO  | Norwegian          | Norway               |
| pa-IN  | Punjabi            | India                |
| pl-PL  | Polish             | Poland               |
| pt-BR  | Portuguese         | Brazil               |
| pt-PT  | Portuguese         | Portugal             |
| ro-RO  | Romanian           | Romania              |
| ru-RU  | Russian            | Russia               |
| si-LK  | Sinhala            | Sri Lanka            |
| sk-SK  | Slovak             | Slovakia             |
| sl-SI  | Slovenian          | Slovenia             |
| sq-AL  | Albanian           | Albania              |
| sr-RS  | Serbian            | Serbia               |
| sv-SE  | Swedish            | Sweden               |
| ta-IN  | Tamil              | India                |
| te-IN  | Telugu             | India                |
| th-TH  | Thai               | Thailand             |
| tl-PH  | Filipino (Tagalog) | Philippines          |
| tr-TR  | Turkish            | Turkey               |
| uk-UA  | Ukrainian          | Ukraine              |
| vi-VN  | Vietnamese         | Vietnam              |
| zh-CN  | Chinese            | China                |
| zh-HK  | Chinese            | Hong Kong            |
| zh-SG  | Chinese            | Singapore            |
| zh-TW  | Chinese            | Taiwan               |
| zu-ZA  | Zulu               | South Africa         |

</details>

### Troubleshooting

* **Wrong match**: prefer items with stable IDs (TMDb/IMDb). Fix the item in the Editor, then re-run.
* **Lots of missing matches**: add TMDb metadata and re-run. Missing metadata causes weak matching.
* **Rate limits**: increase cache TTL and avoid rapid re-runs.

<details>

<summary>Advanced: config keys used</summary>

Metadata:

* `tmdb.api_key`
* `metadata.locale`
* `metadata.ttl_hours`

TMDb (Sync):

* `tmdb_sync.api_key`
* `tmdb_sync.session_id`

</details>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

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Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://wiki.crosswatch.app/crosswatch/providers/metadata/meta-tmdb.md?ask=<question>
```

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The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.