❱ Plex Assistant

Installation ｜ Configuration ｜ IFTTT Setup ｜ Commands ｜ Translations

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Plex Assistant is a Home Assistant component to allow Google Assistant to cast Plex media to Google cast devices with a bit of help from IFTTT.

Example: "Hey Google, tell Plex to play The Walking Dead on the Downstairs TV."

You can use the component's service without IFTTT as well to call the commands however you'd like. Visit the services tab in HA's Developer Tools to test it out.

Support Development

• ☕  Buy me a coffee
• ❤️  Sponsor me on GitHub
• ⌨️  Help with translation, development, or documentation

Author's note

This is just a side project made to fill the absence of native Google Assistant support in Plex and because the Phlex/FlexTV projects aren't in working order at the moment (is it just me?). It has only been tested on my setup with first generation Chromecasts.

This project is not a priority as Plex could add Google Assistant support or FlexTV may become viable again at any time. That being said, I will be adding features and fixing issues until that time. As always, I both welcome and greatly appreciate pull requests.

Thank you for understanding.

Installation

Install by using one of the methods below:

• Install with HACS: Search integrations for "Plex Assistant", select and hit install. Add the configuration (see below) to your configuration.yaml file.

• Install Manually: Install this component by copying all of these files to /custom_components/plex_assistant/. Add the configuration (see below) to your configuration.yaml file.

Configuration

Add config to your configuration.yaml file.

Key	Default	Necessity	Description
url		Required	The full url to your Plex instance including port.
token		Required	Your Plex token. How to find your Plex token.
default_cast		Optional	The name of the cast device to use if none is specified.
language	'en'	Optional	Language code. Currently only 'en' (english) is supported.
tts_errors	true	Optional	Will speak errors on the selected cast device. For example: when the specified media wasn't found.

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Sample Config

plex_assistant:
  url: 'http://192.168.1.3:32400'
  token: 'tH1s1Sy0uRT0k3n'
  default_cast: 'Downstairs TV'
  language: 'en'
  tts_errors: true

You must restart after installation and configuration, you may want to add IFTTT config below before doing so.

IFTTT Setup

If you haven't set up IFTTT with HA yet, go to "Configuration" in your sidebar and then "Integrations", add a new integration and search for IFTTT. Click on configure, then follow the instructions on the screen.

This will provide you with a webhook URL to use in your IFTTT applet. Make sure to copy this, leave the window open, or save it in some way for later use.

• Go to ifttt.com and login or create an account
• Click "Explore" in the top right, then hit the plus sign to make your own applet from scratch
• Press the plus sign next to "If". Search for and select "Google Assistant"
• Select "Say phrase with text ingredient"

Now you can select how you want to trigger this service, you can select up to 3 ways to invoke it. I use things like tell plex to $ or have plex $. The dollar sign will be the phrase sent to this component. This component expects to hear something starting with "play" followed by at least a show/movie name, "ondeck", or similar (see more about commands below). You can also set a response from the Google Assistant if you'd like. Hit "Create Trigger" to continue.

• Press the plus sign next to "Then"
• Search for and select "Webhooks", then select "Make a web request"
• In the URL field enter the webhook URL HA provided you earlier
• Select method "Post" and content type "application/json"
• Then copy and paste the code below into the body field

{ "action": "call_service", "service": "plex_assistant.command", "command": " {{TextField}}" }

Finally, add the following automation to your Home Assistant configuration.yaml:

automation:
  - alias: Plex Assistant Automation
    trigger:
    - event_data:
        action: call_service
      event_type: ifttt_webhook_received
      platform: event
    condition:
      condition: template
      value_template: "{{ trigger.event.data.service == 'plex_assistant.command' }}"
    action:
    - data_template:
        command: "{{ trigger.event.data.command }}"
      service_template: '{{ trigger.event.data.service }}'

Either refresh your automations or restart after adding the automation.

Commands

Fuzzy Matching

A show or movie's title and the Chromecast device used in your phrase are processed using a fuzzy search. Meaning it will select the closest match using your Plex media titles and available cast device names. "play walk in deed on the dawn tee" would become "Play The Walking Dead on the Downstairs TV.". This even works for partial matches. play Pets 2 will match The Secret Life of Pets 2.

You can say things like:

• "play the latest episode of Breaking Bad on the Living Room TV"
• "play unwatched breaking bad"
• "play Breaking Bad"
• "play Pets 2 on the Kitchen Chromecast"
• "play ondeck"
• "play ondeck movies"
• "play season 1 episode 3 of The Simpsons"
• "play first season second episode of Taskmaster on the Theater System"

I've tried to take into account many different ways that commands could be phrased. If you find a phrase that isn't working and you feel should be implemented, please make an issue.

Music isn't built in yet, only shows and movies at the moment.

Cast Device

If no cast device is specified the default_cast device set in config is used. A cast device will only be found if at the end of the command and when preceeded with the phrase "on the". Example: "play friends ON THE downstairs tv"

Translation

You can contribute to the translation/localization of this component by using the translation guide.