Import IMDb lists to TMDB

Import and sync IMDb lists to TMDB

Setup

1. Make sure you have Node.js v18+ installed. You can use Bun.js too.

2. Download this repo.

3. Open a terminal inside import-imdb-lists-to-tmdb folder and run npm install.

4. Create a TMDB API application.

5. Generate your WRITE access token

   1. Copy the API Read Access Token from step 4 and paste it into the input here
   2. Click "Get Request Token"
   3. Click "Approve Token" (this will open a new tab where you will click Approve)
   4. Click "Get Access Token"

6. Rename the file .env.example to .env and replace the placeholders with your api key from your TMDB API application and WRITE access token generated in step 5.

Configuration

To Import/Sync your IMDb lists to TMDB, all you have to do is configure the config.json file and follow the usage instruction.

Configuration for Importing

If you want to import to a new TMDB list, Open the config.json file and specify the IMDb list's ID in the imdbId field or if you have the list as a CSV, then just put the file name in the imdbId field with .csv extension. Set the tmdbId field to null to create a new TMDB list, and provide a name for the new list in the name field.

{
    "name": "Watched Movies",
    "imdbId": "ls540766631", // or "my-list.csv"
    "tmdbId": null, // when ID is null it will be imported
    "sortField": null,
    "isReverse": false
}

Configuration for Syncing

If you already have a TMDB list that's just out of sync, follow the same procedure. However, instead of assigning null to the tmdbId field, assign the TMDB list's ID to the tmdbId field.

{
    "name": "Watched Movies",
    "imdbId": "ls540766631",
    "tmdbId": "8282880", // when ID is not null it will be synced
    "sortField": null,
    "isReverse": false
}

Configuration for private IMDb lists

If your list is private, you can't simply put the IMDb list's ID in the imdbId field due to permission issues. You can overcome this with these two methods:

Manual method

Just export the private IMDb lists as CSV and put them inside imdb-csv folder and specify the file name in imdbId with .csv extension.

{
    "name": "Watched Movies",
    "imdbId": "Watched Movies.csv", // exported csv file name
    "tmdbId": "8282880",
    "sortField": null,
    "isReverse": false
}

Automated method

Make sure you are logged in to IMDb on chrome. Then go to chrome://version, copy your Profile Path and paste it next to CHROME_USER_DATA_PATH in .env file. So this script can access your IMDb account.

// It should look like this
CHROME_USER_DATA_PATH=C:/Users/username/AppData/Local/Google/Chrome/User Data

sortField and isReverse in config.json

You can sort the IMDb list and then import it to TMDB by specifying a valid field name in the sortField.

valid field names are:

Position | Created | Modified | Title | Title Type | IMDb Rating | Runtime (mins) | Year | Num Votes | Release Date | Directors | Your Rating | Date Rated

Note: numbers fields are sorted in descending order and strings are sorted in ascending order. You can reverse them by making isReverse as true.

Usage

Run this command inside import-imdb-lists-to-tmdb folder to import/sync your lists specified in config.json.

npm run sync

To force sync your list (clears all titles inside your TMDB list and imports them freshly)

npm run force-sync