4grayandClaude Fable 5.1
bc5a7fcbf9
* fix(playback): keep the saved Embedded MPV player when the mpv check is inconclusive On Linux native-view the support check runs `mpv --version` by bare name and waits for the login shell PATH first. Since #1784 that lookup is asynchronous with a 10 s budget; when it ran out, the check ran on the inherited PATH and answered a plain `supported: false`. The settings store took that as a verdict and persisted the default player over a saved Embedded MPV selection. The main process probed again once the shell answered, but nothing restored the setting. `EmbeddedMpvSupport` now carries `inconclusive`. The native service sets it on a missing mpv while its probe has only seen the inherited PATH; the IPC handler declares that state before probing and registers the re-probe before the check, so a throwing check cannot leave it stuck. Every other answer stays final. Consumers no longer settle on an inconclusive answer: the settings store keeps the saved player, and the command palette and the settings search probe again on their next use instead of caching it for the session. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com> * fix(playback): keep asking for Embedded MPV support while the answer is inconclusive Keeping the saved player on an inconclusive answer left a mounted player stuck on it: the session controller asked for support once, in its constructor, and the session effect never starts while unsupported, so the player did not recover after the login shell answered. The settings page held its one answer the same way. `watchEmbeddedMpvSupport()` asks again every 3 s until the answer is final or the surface is destroyed. The player controller and the settings page facade load support through it, so playback starts by itself and the Embedded MPV option appears without reopening the page. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com> * fix(settings): follow an inconclusive Embedded MPV answer to a final decision The settings store checked a saved Embedded MPV selection once. After an inconclusive answer it kept the selection and never looked again, so when mpv turned out to be really missing the player stayed on Embedded MPV instead of falling back to the default one. The store now follows the answer with `watchEmbeddedMpvSupport()` until it is final and only then decides. It acts on an answer only while Embedded MPV is still the saved player, so a player picked meanwhile, also while the first answer was pending, is never overwritten. The watch backs off from 3 s to 30 s between rechecks, so a login shell that never answers does not keep the app polling at the first rate, and it no longer schedules a recheck after its answer handler stopped it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com> * fix(settings): keep the settings search following an inconclusive Embedded MPV answer The settings page asks the search service for Embedded MPV support once, when its search facade is created. After an inconclusive answer the service only probed again on its next call, so with the page left open the Embedded MPV rows stayed unsearchable after the login shell answered, while the player option on the same page already updated. The service now follows the answer with `watchEmbeddedMpvSupport()` until it is final, which updates the open page and the command palette alike. A call made while the answer is still inconclusive restarts the watch, so it asks at once as before. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com> * fix(settings): follow Embedded MPV support for search only while the settings page is open The settings search service is provided in the root injector, so the watch it started on its first use had no owner: with a login shell that never answers it kept asking every 30 s until the app quit, long after the settings page or the command palette that needed the answer was closed. A failed recheck also ended the watch as if it were a final answer, hiding the Embedded MPV rows for the rest of the session. The service now separates the two uses. `ensureEmbeddedMpvSupportLoaded()` is a single request again, for the command palette. The settings page calls `followEmbeddedMpvSupport()` and ends it when the page is destroyed. Only a final answer is kept: after an inconclusive one or a failed request the next use asks again, for the palette's player commands too. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com> --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
IPTVnator - IPTV Player Application
🌐 Website | Telegram channel for discussions | Buy me a coffee | GitHub Sponsors
IPTVnator is a video player application that provides support for IPTV playlist playback (m3u, m3u8). The application allows users to import playlists using remote URLs or by uploading files from the local file system. Additionally, it supports EPG information in XMLTV format which can be provided via URL.
The application is a cross-platform, open-source project built with Electron and Angular.
⚠️ Note: IPTVnator does not provide any playlists or other digital content. The channels and pictures in the screenshots are for demonstration purposes only.
Important
Official sources only. IPTVnator is a free, open-source player — it never sells IPTV subscriptions, channels, or playlists. Websites offering "IPTVnator subscriptions/channels/premium/activated" builds are not affiliated with this project. Get the app only from the official website or GitHub Releases. See Beware of unofficial IPTVnator websites and IPTV services for details.
Features
Playlists & sources
- M3U / M3U8 playlists from local files or remote URLs 📂, with automatic updates on startup
- Xtream Codes (XC) and Stalker / Ministra (STB) portal support
- Custom "User-Agent" header per playlist
Playback
- Built-in HTML5 player (HLS.js or Video.js) with a resizable, resumable inline view
- Optional unified IPTVnator controls for HTML5, Video.js, and ArtPlayer, enabled in Settings → Playback (experimental)
- External players — MPV, VLC, and IINA on macOS (
mpv.app/VLC.appbundle paths supported) (desktop) - Embedded MPV — native mpv rendered inside the app window on macOS, Windows & Linux 🖥️ (experimental · desktop)
- Dedicated radio player for
radio="true"streams 📻
Live TV & EPG
- EPG / XMLTV TV guide with a live timeline ribbon and multi-channel grid (desktop)
- TV archive / catch-up / timeshift (desktop)
- Group-based channel list, channel-number selection, and search 🔍
Movies & series (VOD)
- Redesigned two-state detail pages (browse ↔ watch) with season tabs and resume positions
- Download manager for offline movies & episodes ⬇️ (desktop)
- "Recently added" feeds and category grids with sorting & pagination
Discovery & metadata
- Global search across live TV, movies, and series (desktop)
- TMDB enrichment (opt-in, requires your own TMDB API key) — plots, cast & crew, trailers, ratings, artwork, a "Similar" rail, clickable actor pages, and a trending dashboard rail (trending rail: desktop)
- Dashboard with recently watched & continue-watching
Organization
- Per-playlist and global favorites, aggregated across all playlists ⭐
- Recently viewed / watch history
- Command palette (
Ctrl/Cmd+K) that also finds and opens individual settings - Settings search from the header search box on the Settings page
Platform
- Cross-platform desktop (Electron) and installable PWA
- Desktop auto-updater and mobile remote control (desktop)
- Docker self-hosting for the PWA + web backend
- 19 languages (translation files), light & dark themes, and keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts
Press ? or Shift+/ in the workspace to open the in-app shortcuts list.
| Area | Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Global | Ctrl/Cmd+K |
Open command palette |
| Global | Ctrl/Cmd+F |
Open global search (desktop); on Settings, search settings |
| Global | Ctrl/Cmd+R |
Open recently viewed in the desktop app |
| Global | Enter in workspace search |
Submit the search; on Settings, open the best match |
| Global | F11 |
Toggle app window fullscreen in the desktop app |
| Navigation | Ctrl/Cmd+B |
Toggle the live sidebar |
| Navigation | 0-9 |
Select an M3U channel by number |
| Playback | Space / K |
Play or pause playback |
| Playback | F |
Toggle player fullscreen |
| Playback | ArrowLeft / ArrowRight |
Seek VOD playback by 5 seconds |
| Playback | ArrowUp / ArrowDown |
Adjust volume by 5% |
| Playback | M |
Mute audio |
| Dialogs and lists | ArrowUp / ArrowDown |
Move command palette selection |
| Dialogs and lists | Enter |
Run the selected command or open a focused item |
| Dialogs and lists | Escape |
Close dialogs and dismiss overlays |
The desktop app can also open at its last size, maximized, or fullscreen on
every launch (Settings → General → "Window on startup"), and iptvnator --fullscreen forces a single fullscreen launch for TV or HTPC autostart
scripts without changing that setting.
Screenshots:
| Dashboard with recently watched content | Live channels with inline player and EPG |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Add playlist dialog for M3U, Xtream, and Stalker | Live category channel list |
 |
 |
| Global search across live TV, movies, and series | Manage visible live categories |
 |
 |
| Movie category grid with sorting and pagination | Recently added movies and series |
 |
 |
| VOD details with playback and download actions | Download manager |
 |
 |
| Multi-channel EPG grid | External MPV player support |
 |
 |
| Radio playback with dedicated audio player | Light theme |
 |
 |
| Application settings | |
 |
Note: First version of the application which was developed as a PWA is available in an extra git branch.
Self-hosted PWA
The Docker setup builds the Angular PWA and the monorepo web backend into one
image. The backend handles remote M3U parsing plus Xtream and Stalker proxy
requests under /api, so a separate 4gray/iptvnator-backend container is not
required for the default self-hosted flow.
docker compose -f docker/docker-compose.yml up --build -d
The application is available at http://localhost:4333. See
docker/docker-compose.yml for the ready-to-run
compose file and docker/README.md for environment
variables, reverse proxy notes, PWA limitations, and build details.
The self-hosted image runs the browser PWA rather than the Electron desktop app: EPG/XMLTV panels, Embedded MPV, managed MPV/VLC launching, the download manager, and Electron remote-control features are not available there. If browser playback fails, copy the stream URL and open it manually in an external player such as MPV, VLC, or IINA.
Download
Download the latest version of the application for macOS, Windows, and Linux from the release page.
Alternatively, you can install the application using one of the following package managers:
Nightly builds
Every merge into master is published as a prerelease in
4gray/iptvnator-nightly. The
desktop app can follow them: Settings → About → Update channel → Nightly
offers each new build through the built-in updater (macOS, Windows, and the
Linux AppImage). Nightly builds are untested snapshots — they may break, and
their database changes are permanent, so switching back to Stable keeps
the installed nightly until the next stable release is newer. Back up your
playlists first, and mention the version and commit shown in About when
reporting a bug from a nightly.
Homebrew
$ brew install iptvnator
Snap
$ sudo snap install iptvnator
Arch
Also available as an Arch PKG, iptvnator-bin, in the AUR (using your favourite AUR-helper, .e.g. yay)
$ yay -S iptvnator-bin
Gentoo
You can install IPTVnator from the gentoo-zh overlay
sudo eselect repository enable gentoo-zh
sudo emerge --sync gentoo-zh
sudo emerge iptvnator-bin
Linux Embedded MPV Support
Embedded MPV on Linux is experimental and currently supports x64 desktop
sessions where IPTVnator runs under X11 or Xwayland. Native Wayland embedding
is not supported yet. Linux package launchers request X11 with
--ozone-platform=x11, so Wayland desktops still need Xwayland available.
The Linux backend starts a system mpv executable with --wid, so mpv must
be installed and available on PATH. CI validates the Linux native addon and
standard packages on Ubuntu 22.04, with Flatpak packaging built on Ubuntu 24.04.
Expected user targets are Ubuntu/Debian .deb, Arch/Manjaro pacman, RPM
distributions, and AppImage on x64 systems with X11/Xwayland plus mpv
installed. Flatpak and Snap builds remain available, but embedded MPV is not
announced as supported there yet because those sandboxed formats do not expose
the host mpv executable to the embedded backend by default.
Troubleshooting
macOS: "App is damaged and can't be opened"
Older unsigned macOS builds may require removing the quarantine flag from the downloaded application:
xattr -c /Applications/IPTVnator.app
Alternatively, if the app is located in a different directory:
xattr -c ~/Downloads/IPTVnator.app
Linux: chrome-sandbox Issues
If you encounter the following error when launching IPTVnator:
The SUID sandbox helper binary was found, but is not configured correctly.
Rather than run without sandboxing I'm aborting now.
You need to make sure that chrome-sandbox is owned by root and has mode 4755.
Solution 1: Fix chrome-sandbox permissions (Recommended for .deb/.rpm installations)
Navigate to the IPTVnator installation directory and run:
sudo chown root:root chrome-sandbox
sudo chmod 4755 chrome-sandbox
Solution 2: Launch with --no-sandbox flag
Edit the desktop launcher file to add the --no-sandbox flag:
-
Find your desktop file location:
- Ubuntu/Debian:
~/.local/share/applications/iptvnator.desktop - System-wide:
/usr/share/applications/iptvnator.desktop
- Ubuntu/Debian:
-
Edit the file and modify the
Execline:Exec=iptvnator --no-sandbox %U -
Save the file and relaunch the application from your application menu.
Alternatively, you can launch IPTVnator from the terminal with the flag:
iptvnator --no-sandbox
GNU/Linux: Wayland startup failure
If IPTVnator exits on GNU/Linux with errors about failing to connect to Wayland or initialize the Ozone platform, force X11/XWayland instead:
iptvnator --ozone-platform=x11
This workaround is mainly for older or problematic Linux graphics stacks. The Snap package already includes this X11 override by default. For AppImage, direct binaries, and other Linux package formats, pass the flag manually when needed.
How to Build and Develop
Requirements:
- Node.js 22.22.3 or newer within 22.x, or 24.15.0 or newer within 24.x
- pnpm 10.33.0 (via Corepack)
The repository's .nvmrc pins the Node.js version used by CI. With nvm,
run nvm install and nvm use from the repository root to use the same version
for local development.
-
Clone this repository and install project dependencies:
$ nvm install $ nvm use $ corepack enable $ pnpm install -
Start the application:
$ pnpm run serve:backend
This will open the Electron app in a separate window, while the Angular dev server will run at http://localhost:4200.
The equivalent Nx command is:
$ nx serve electron-backend
To start Electron with an empty, isolated data directory instead of your normal
~/.iptvnator folder, set IPTVNATOR_E2E_DATA_DIR for that run:
$ rm -rf .tmp/iptvnator-empty && mkdir -p .tmp/iptvnator-empty
$ IPTVNATOR_E2E_DATA_DIR="$PWD/.tmp/iptvnator-empty" pnpm run serve:backend
This redirects the SQLite database, Electron user data, and local config under the given directory. Delete that directory whenever you want a fresh empty state.
If you need startup diagnostics for a white screen or a frozen route, you can also turn on opt-in Electron tracing. These logs are written to the Electron terminal output so they still help when the renderer DevTools never open:
$ IPTVNATOR_TRACE_STARTUP=1 pnpm run serve:backend
Nx equivalent:
$ IPTVNATOR_TRACE_STARTUP=1 nx serve electron-backend
Useful narrower flags:
IPTVNATOR_TRACE_IPC=1logs rendererwindow.electron.*calls reaching the Electron bridgeIPTVNATOR_TRACE_DB=1logs DB worker requests and request-scoped DB eventsIPTVNATOR_TRACE_SQL=1logs SQLite statements in both the main connection and DB worker connectionIPTVNATOR_TRACE_WINDOW=1logs BrowserWindow load, navigation, and unresponsive eventsIPTVNATOR_TRACE_RENDERER_CONSOLE=1mirrors renderer console messages into the Electron terminal output
Security-sensitive network compatibility flags are opt-in:
IPTVNATOR_ALLOW_PRIVATE_NETWORK_URLS=1permits strict EPG fetches from playlist metadata (x-tvg-url,url-tvg, ortvg-url) to resolve to localhost, LAN, or other private addresses. Directly configured Xtream/Stalker portals and private playlist servers remain supported without this flag. Prefer the in-app source-scoped “Allow source” action for a trusted EPG URL.IPTVNATOR_ALLOW_INSECURE_TLS=1disables certificate validation for remote playlist imports and refreshes for the whole Electron process. Prefer the in-app host-scoped trust action for a trusted provider with a self-signed or otherwise invalid certificate.
If the local Nx daemon gets into a bad state before rerunning Electron, reset it:
$ pnpm nx reset
To run only the Angular app without Electron, use:
$ pnpm run serve:frontend
To see how many bytes the built web app puts on the initial load path (the number the CI ratchet guards), build it and run the measurement:
$ pnpm nx build web
$ pnpm run perf:initial-bytes
The contract behind that number is in docs/architecture/performance-journeys.md.
To benchmark the "launch to usable", "open a source" and "start playback" journeys (fresh Electron processes on a seeded profile against the local Xtream mock, exact renderer counters plus wall-clock), run:
$ pnpm run perf:journeys
The journeys, their counters and the summary written under
dist/performance/journeys/ are described in
docs/architecture/performance-journeys.md.
Disclaimer
IPTVnator doesn't provide any playlists or other digital content.
Trademark
The name "IPTVnator" and the IPTVnator logo are unregistered trademarks of the project owner. The MIT license covers the source code only — it does not grant rights to the name or logo. Forks and redistributions (including app-store submissions) must use a different name and their own icon. See TRADEMARK.md for details.
Developer and agent documentation
Start with the task context map to find the authoritative contract and validation for your area. Common agent rules are in AGENTS.md; Claude Code imports that same file. Development and documentation-maintenance conventions live in the agent workflow.