Trakt

Overview

Trakt serves as a centralized platform for individuals to track their television shows and movies. Founded in 2010, the service allows users to automatically log what they watch, maintain watchlists, and organize their media libraries. This tracking can occur through various integrated applications, including media centers, streaming services, and mobile apps. The core functionality revolves around providing a comprehensive history of media consumption, which then fuels personalized recommendations and social sharing features. For instance, users can mark episodes as watched, add movies to a collection, or rate content they've seen, contributing to a detailed personal viewing profile.

The Trakt API is designed for developers seeking to incorporate media tracking capabilities into their own applications. It offers a RESTful interface with OAuth 2.0 for authentication, enabling secure access to user data and allowing third-party applications to interact with Trakt's ecosystem. This makes Trakt a suitable choice for developers building custom media players, content discovery tools, statistical analysis applications for personal viewing habits, or social platforms centered around media consumption. Common use cases include syncing watched states between different platforms, retrieving user watchlists for display in a custom UI, or posting friend activity to a bespoke social feed. The API's extensibility supports integrations with various media software, from Kodi to Plex, enhancing the user experience across diverse entertainment systems.

Beyond individual tracking, Trakt facilitates media discovery by leveraging its extensive database of TV shows and movies, often updated with real-time progress by its user base. It provides trending lists, popular content, and personalized recommendations based on a user's viewing history and ratings. The social aspect allows users to connect with friends, share their viewing progress, and discover what others are watching, fostering a community around shared media interests. The API exposes these discovery and social features, enabling developers to build applications that surface popular content or display a user's friends' recent activities directly within their own interfaces. The comprehensive Trakt API documentation provides examples and specifications for these various endpoints.

Key features

• Automatic Media Tracking: Logs watched TV shows and movies, including progress through seasons and episodes, often syncing with media players.
• Watchlist Management: Users can create and manage lists of shows and movies they intend to watch, keeping track of upcoming content.
• Personalized Recommendations: Provides suggestions for new content based on a user's viewing history, ratings, and genre preferences.
• Activity Feed & Social Sharing: Displays a feed of recent viewing activity from friends and allows users to share their own progress on social media.
• Collections & Ratings: Users can build a personal collection of owned media and rate content, contributing to overall statistical data.
• Statistics & Progress Tracking: Offers detailed statistics on viewing habits, including total watched time, most-watched genres, and progress through ongoing series.
• API for Developers: A RESTful API allowing third-party applications to integrate tracking, discovery, and social features using OAuth 2.0 authentication.

Pricing

Trakt offers a free tier with basic access and advertisements. For users seeking an ad-free experience and additional features, Trakt provides a VIP membership. The VIP tiers unlock advanced statistics, calendar synchronization, custom lists, and other premium functionalities.

For detailed pricing information and current promotions, users should refer to the official Trakt VIP membership page.

Common integrations

Trakt is designed to integrate with a variety of media playback software and services, allowing for automatic tracking of content. Its API facilitates connections with:

• Media Centers: Integrates with popular media center software like Kodi, Plex, and Emby to automatically scrobble (track) watched content.
• Streaming Services: Some third-party applications provide direct links for tracking content watched on platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+.
• Mobile Apps: Numerous mobile applications utilize the Trakt API to offer on-the-go tracking, viewing history, and discovery features.
• Calendar Applications: VIP members can export their watchlists and upcoming episodes to popular calendar applications via iCal feeds for scheduling.
• Custom Applications: Developers use the Trakt OAuth 2.0 authentication flow to build bespoke applications and tools that require media tracking capabilities.

Alternatives

• TV Time: A mobile-focused app specializing in TV show tracking, offering episode progress, cast information, and community discussions.
• Letterboxd: Primarily focused on movie tracking, reviews, and social sharing, allowing users to log films, write reviews, and create lists.
• MyAnimeList: A dedicated platform for tracking anime and manga, providing extensive databases, community forums, and progress management for these specific media types.

Getting started

To begin using the Trakt API, you first need to register your application and obtain client credentials. Authentication is handled via OAuth 2.0. The following example demonstrates a basic API call using curl to fetch trending movies, assuming you have an access token.

# Replace with your actual client ID and access token
CLIENT_ID="YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
ACCESS_TOKEN="YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

curl -X GET \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "trakt-api-version: 2" \
  -H "trakt-api-key: $CLIENT_ID" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  "https://api.trakt.tv/movies/trending?limit=5"

This command requests the top 5 trending movies. The trakt-api-version header specifies the API version, and trakt-api-key identifies your application. The Authorization header carries your OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token, which grants access to user-specific data or general API endpoints depending on the scope. For a full guide on obtaining credentials and making authenticated requests, consult the Trakt getting started guide.

For more complex interactions, such as authenticating users or posting watch history, developers would typically implement an OAuth 2.0 flow involving authorization codes and token exchanges. Client libraries or SDKs, if available for your chosen language, can simplify this process. Without a dedicated SDK, developers need to manage the HTTP requests and JSON parsing directly. The Trakt API reference documentation provides detailed descriptions of all available endpoints and expected responses.