LibraryGlossary
Look up a product term in Tuvima Library in a minute. These are the terms used throughout the documentation. User-facing terms are preferred; internal code names appear only when they help connect the docs to the repository.
A
Also in this world
The row under a Series that lists its supplementary, collected-content and broader-context members: novellas, short fiction and companion works Wikidata ties to the same Series without putting them in the main sequence. They are never numbered with the Series or counted in “x of y”.
Artwork Outcome
Whether artwork is present, missing after an explicit artwork pass, or still pending.
Auto-filing rule
A rule a person makes that files new documents for them: when a document’s words, file name, folder, source or file kind match, it adds tags, sets the correspondent, type or a custom field, and can file the document straight away. Rules run in order, never replace something a person set, belong to the person who made them (a household administrator can also make them for the Shared Library) and use plain words with no patterns. See How documents are filed.
B
Browse Readiness Gate
The older name for the rule that controls whether an item appears in Home, Read, Watch, Listen, Collections, or Search. It is replaced by Ready.
C
Canonical Value
The resolved metadata value for a field. Provider claims use the Priority Cascade; supported presentation fields can also have durable editor overrides.
Claim
A single metadata value from a specific source with confidence and provenance. Claims are append-only so earlier source data can be audited later.
Collection
A grouping of media with explicit purpose and access. Automatic Collections connect trusted broader relationships; custom collections may belong to a profile or be published by an administrator. A Collection should not duplicate a single lane-level shelf. For example, a book series belongs in Read and in the cross-lane Shelves index; a wider world that connects novels and films can appear in Automatic.
Combined file
One video file that holds several episodes of a show, such as Show S01E01E02.mkv. It stays one file: it is never split, and playing, resuming and watching it act on the file. Its covered episodes are recorded separately, and the organiser names it with the episode run (for example s01e01-e02). A whole miniseries in one film file becomes a combined file when it is moved to TV.
Correspondent
The person or organisation a document came from or is about, such as a bank or a clinic. Correspondents are one list for the whole server. A person only sees the correspondents used on documents they can open, plus ones they added themselves.
Custom field
A field a person defines for their documents, such as “Policy number” or “Amount due”. Its kind is text, number, date, money (an amount with a currency code), yes/no, or one of a list of choices. Custom fields are one list for the whole server; each document stores its own value. Searching finds text values.
D
Dashboard
The Blazor Server web UI (MediaEngine.Web) used to browse, search, read, play, configure, and review the library.
Detail Page
The page for a work, collection, book, movie, TV show, episode, person, or other supported entity. Detail pages are the normal place to inspect an item and launch inline corrections.
Devices
The Settings → Personal → Security → Devices page. It lists the phones and TVs paired to this server (sign one out, or choose whose photos a phone backs up) and the signed-in browsers, each with a type icon and a Sign out. A member sees their own, a household administrator also their household’s, and a server administrator everyone’s, with Household and Profile filters for administrators.
Document type
What kind of document it is, such as an invoice, letter or contract. Document types are one list for the whole server, shown to each person on the same terms as correspondents.
E
Edition
A specific release or format of a work, such as one ebook edition, one audiobook release, or one film cut.
Empty Trash
The one action that permanently deletes personal files in View. It empties the whole Trash of a person’s own Personal Space: the files of every item in it leave the disk, their thumbnails go, and the items leave every Manual Gallery. It runs only on a computer, after the person confirms a summary of exactly what will go, and it cannot be undone. Items in a read-only folder, items waiting to be added to the Shared Library, and items whose files cannot be removed safely stay in Trash. See Use your Personal Space in View.
Engine
The backend application (MediaEngine.Api) that runs ingestion, enrichment, storage, background jobs, Local AI, and the API used by the Dashboard.
Enrichment
Follow-up metadata work after basic identity is known, such as artwork, people, relationships, descriptions, summaries, and universe graph data.
Excluded file
A media file that stayed on disk when its title was deleted from the library: a file in a Read-only folder, the original of a merged file, or a file that could not be removed. Scans skip it so the title does not come back. Settings > Libraries > Excluded files lists it, and Add back scans it again. See Manage library settings and operations.
Extra protection
The Extra protection row under Settings → Security, which opens one sheet for optional sign-in protection: passkeys, two-step codes, linked sign-ins (when an external provider is set up) and recovery codes. The row appears once the account has a password and shows Off, Passkey added, Two-step codes on, or both.
F
Found as a TV title
A Needs Review reason for a Movies-library file whose only strong match is a TMDB miniseries or short TV title. Resolve it with Move to TV, Search again, or Keep as unmatched film. Move to TV attaches the file to every part TMDB lists (at most six, in one season), so a show of several parts becomes a combined file; only when the parts cannot be listed that clearly is it filed as a special, and the item’s History says why.
From merge
A Needs Review reason for a file that arrived in a managed folder through a folder merge but could not be named yet (it was not identified, was waiting in Review, or had no confirmed title). It waits in a folder called From merge inside the target until you confirm what it is.
H
Hidden library
A library an administrator unticked for one person in the Libraries list under an area on that person’s page. Everyone with the area sees every other library, including new ones, unless it is hidden from them; administrators always see everything. The Vault is never in the list.
Household
The people who live together and the sign-ins that open them. A household holds up to 8 people (profiles), and each sign-in opens only people from its own household. The first household is created when the owner finishes setup. Someone invited from outside starts a household of their own.
Hydration
The identity enrichment process after ingestion. Retail providers gather practical matches and bridge IDs; Wikidata resolution uses those IDs to find canonical identity when possible.
I
Inbox
Where a new document waits on the Documents page until it is filed. Each card shows what was suggested (date, correspondent, type, tags) and can be filed in one tap, changed first, or marked filed without changes. A document from before filing existed counts as filed.
L
Library Folder
A configured source folder that tells the Engine where to scan, what media types to expect, and how files should be handled.
Local AI
AI features that run on local model files through local runtimes. Local AI helps with classification, matching, summaries, vibe tags, intent parsing, and audio tasks, but it does not become the authority for factual metadata.
M
Media Asset
A single file on disk, such as one .epub, .mkv, .m4b, .flac, or .cbz.
Read-only
A folder handling mode. Tuvima only reads a Read-only folder: it never moves, renames, tags or deletes its files, so other apps that use the folder are not affected. It is the recommended choice for folders that already have files. Stored as management_mode: existing_library.
Convert to Managed
Switching a Read-only folder to Managed. Tuvima shows a preview, then runs a background organising job (progress, pause, resume, cancel) that moves and renames the files to the type’s standard layout. Sidecar files move with their media, every move is written to a downloadable log, and there is no automatic undo.
Import folder
One optional folder, the line under the table in Libraries, where new media is dropped. It holds one subfolder per media type, and each arrival is filed into that type’s New media folder. Files that cannot be matched go to Review with the badge “From the Import folder”. It is never a library folder.
Managed
A folder handling mode. Tuvima may move, rename and (when the type’s tag setting is on) tag files in a Managed folder, including the ones already there. Stored as management_mode: managed_by_tuvima.
New media goes here
The one managed folder per media type that receives new files. The first managed folder added becomes it; any other managed folder can be made the place for new media from its row menu. There is no priority order.
Media Lane
One of the main browse surfaces: Read, Watch, or Listen.
Media Type
The resolved category for a file: Books, Audiobooks, Movies, TV, Music, or Comics.
Merge
A one-time job that brings the files of one existing folder into a managed folder of the same kind of media, with the same naming, duplicate and tag rules as the rest of the library. Copy (the default) never changes the original folder; Move removes each original only after its copy has been checked byte for byte. The Import folder is the way to keep feeding files in over time.
Managed Artwork
Artwork copied into Tuvima Library’s managed .data/assets store and served back
through Engine media URLs. Provider image URLs are source inputs, not stable UI
display URLs.
Needs Review
The one place for items the Engine is not sure about: blocked, uncertain, low-confidence, or unresolved items that need a person to confirm them. It is pinned at the top of Settings → Library and Ingestion → Recently Added (opened from that page’s “View all”; it is not a menu row) and opens from the account menu. Only server administrators, and apps a server administrator has given review permission, can see and resolve it.
O
Own sign-in
An email sign-in that belongs to one person in a household and opens straight to them, without the profile picker. The person stays in the household. An own sign-in is never an administrator, and it follows the library and lane access of the household’s main sign-in, so later changes to the household reach the person. An administrator gives it from the person’s page under Settings → Profiles (the Sign-in row) and can remove it at any time; removing it keeps the person and everything they have saved.
Outside address
The secure address (a Tailscale address or an HTTPS reverse-proxy hostname) that phone and TV apps use away from home, chosen in Settings → Network → Remote Access. It is optional: Tuvima is open from the start, so apps pair at home with the home address and need no setup. The app learns the outside address from the discovery answer (outside_address).
P
Priority Cascade
The rules that decide which metadata source wins. Supported personal-field locks win first, followed by configured field priorities, default Wikidata authority, and remaining confidence rules. Display-title and other supported presentation overrides use a separate editor mechanism.
Processor
Code that opens a file format and extracts embedded metadata, artwork, and technical facts.
Provider
An external metadata source such as Apple, TMDB, MusicBrainz, Comic Vine, or Wikidata. Historical bridge identifiers may remain in records even when their original provider is no longer active.
Q
QID
A Wikidata entity identifier such as Q190804. A QID is a strong identity anchor, but an item can still be usable without one if it passes the browse readiness gate.
QID Not Found
A controlled outcome where Retail matching succeeded but Wikidata could not resolve a trustworthy QID. The item keeps its available metadata and may still be visible if it is otherwise ready.
R
Ready
The single state that decides whether an item appears anywhere in the Library. A leaf Work is Ready when it is matched to a real title, placed in its show or album, has its artwork present or settled, is not in Needs Review and is not rejected. The Engine stores it as works.ready_at; it is sticky (a rematch does not clear it, a negative outcome does) and an item is announced as added only the first time it is Ready. Items that are not Ready appear only on the live ingestion page.
Readiness Label
A plain-English status summary such as Ready, Pending artwork, Needs review, or Engine unavailable.
Retail Stage
The provider stage that searches external catalogues for practical metadata such as covers, descriptions, ratings, and bridge IDs.
Review queue
The Engine’s internal store behind Needs Review. People see it as Needs Review.
S
Safety copy
A checked copy of the data store that the Engine writes before it runs the first pending upgrade step. The Engine keeps the two newest, in the safety-copies folder inside the backups folder, so a failed upgrade can be undone by restoring one. See Operations and recovery.
Saved view
A set of Documents filters a person keeps under a name: a Smart Gallery whose rule says “these are documents” and lists tags (all of them), correspondent, type, a document date range (fixed or relative, such as the last 30 days), the Inbox, custom field values and words inside the document. It shows at the top of the Documents filter rail and in Galleries, is always private to its owner (it cannot be shared and is never offered as a Collection source), and can be renamed or deleted from its menu. Deleting one never changes a document.
Series
A lane-level shelf, such as a book series in Read, a film series in Watch, or an album/audio series in Listen. Comics use volume/issue wording on user-facing surfaces even when the stored metadata field is still series. A Series is identified by its Wikidata Series plus its kind of media, so the Expanse novels, audiobooks and TV show are three Series.
Shelf
An immediate browse group inside a media lane. A single shelf does not automatically create a Collections tile.
Sequence Total
The expected count for the immediate shelf currently being shown, such as issue count for a comic volume, track count for an album, episode count for a season, or book count for an ordered book series.
Sequence Total Scope
The meaning of a sequence total: main sequence, extras included, standalone, collected edition, or broader franchise. UI counts should only use totals whose scope matches the displayed container.
Source Attribution
The provider/source name, source title, URL, license, retrieved timestamp, and modified/summarized status attached to text shown in the Dashboard.
Staging
The safe on-disk and database holding state between file discovery and final organization. Staging is not the same as browse visibility.
Suitable for limited profiles
A switch on a library folder. Unrated items from a ticked folder are shown to profiles with a rating limit, whatever their “allow unrated” setting says; rated items always follow each profile’s limit. Only a blank rating, NR, Not Rated or Unrated counts as unrated. Off by default, and not offered for a Vault folder.
T
Tag
A short label on a View photo, video or document, such as “Taxes” or “Holiday”. Tags are one list for the whole server, matched without regard to letter case. A person only sees the tags used on items they can open, plus ones they created; deleting a tag removes it from items and never removes an item.
Text recognition (OCR)
Reading the words in a picture of text. Tuvima Library uses it for scanned PDF pages and photos of paper in View, so those documents can be searched. It runs on your own computer with Tesseract, one file at a time, and never changes the original. English is included; other languages are an optional download, fetched only when you ask.
Tools and requirements
The Settings page (Administration) that lists every helper tool the Library relies on, such as FFmpeg for video and audio and Tesseract for scanned documents, plus the local AI models. Each shows Ready, Missing or Optional, what it affects, how to fix it for your kind of install, how many files are waiting for it, and Check again. You can point the Library at a tool with Locate it, and on Windows runs from source it can fetch a checked copy with Install for me. First-run setup shows the same list when a required tool is missing.
U
Universe
A larger world or franchise that can connect multiple shelves. Tuvima uses universe-style relationships to decide when a broader Collection is useful.
Upgrade step
One numbered, forward-only change to the data store, such as adding a table or column. Each step runs once at Engine start and is recorded in the data store; a released step is never edited. See Changing the data store.
W
Waiting for media tools
The label on a video or audio file that arrived while FFmpeg was missing. The file is added and identified as usual; only reading its technical details waits. It finishes by itself once FFmpeg is found, with no restart or re-scan. See Tools and requirements.
Wikidata
The canonical identity and structured-fact authority used after provider bridge IDs make resolution precise enough.
Work
The underlying title independent of file, edition, or format.
Writeback
Writing Library’s metadata (tags, embedded artwork, and the profile name in View files) back into the files themselves. Changes are saved in Library at once; the files are written together on a schedule (every 60 minutes by default) or when an administrator presses Write now.
Kept in Library only
A file whose format cannot hold a field, or that Library must not change (a signed or encrypted file, a read-only file, anything in a Read-only folder). Its details live in Library’s data store only, and the file is never written. View folder rows show how many files are kept this way.
Personal and shared experiences
Public Address
The single HTTPS address people use to reach this server from outside the home, set once as remote.public_hostname under Settings → Network. Passkeys, linked sign-in callbacks and password-reset emails are all built from it.
Personal Space
The one personal-media space owned by an enabled profile. Multiple folder or device sources can feed it. View provides its Photos, Galleries, People, and Places experiences.
Household photo space
Everyone in a household can open (read only) each other’s Personal Space and send photos from it to the household’s Shared Library, listed under Household in the View scope picker. Other households’ spaces are invisible, including counts, thumbnails, search results, map pins and timeline.
Shared Library
Separate household-owned View storage containing accepted contributions. Each household has its own, and people only ever see their own household’s. Shared access does not grant access to every profile’s Personal Space. Household administrators review what people send to it; there is no separate curator role.
Household administrator
The person who looks after one household: adds and removes people, gives people their own sign-ins, sets PINs, and hands out libraries and features the household already has. They work from Settings → Profiles, and from Settings → Security → Devices for their own household’s devices and signed-in browsers. They never reach another household or the server’s settings, which stay with the server administrator.
Account
A sign-in, always identified by an email address. An account can open the profiles it has been granted. Someone who does not need their own sign-in is a profile in another account’s household, not an account.
Profile
The identity whose progress, bookmarks, reactions, preferences, and Personal Space you are using. An account can switch only among profiles it is permitted to access.
For Me
The active profile’s personal hub for Continue, My List, Favorites, and its own Collections, Playlists, and Galleries.
My List
Bookmarks for supported media, accessible collections, and library/shared playlists. Saved items remain separate from favorites and progress. Songs use Favorite or Add to Playlist.
Favorites
Items marked with a favorite reaction. A favorite is distinct from Like/Dislike ratings and My List bookmarks.
Continue
A shelf of supported in-progress media, based on the active profile’s reading or playback progress.
Gallery
A manual or rule-driven group of View media. Sharing follows profile access policy. Deleting a Gallery does not delete its media.
Discovery
A starting surface with selected shelves that help you find something to open. Full browse routes provide the complete filterable scope.
Operations
The administrator destination for current ingestion work, waits, outcomes, and recent batch history. The header activity indicator opens it for authorized system activity.
Plugin
An optional add-on that extends the Library. There are four kinds: Official plugins (compiled code that ships with the Library and runs inside the Engine with its trust), JSON-only plugins (a manifest the Library runs for them, no code), separate-program plugins (a program the Library starts and watches, talking through a local door), and sandboxed plugins (WebAssembly with strict limits). Nothing switches on until an administrator has approved what it can do.
Retired Terms
Removed all-in-one workspace
Old management concepts that should not be reintroduced. Current browse and correction flows use Home, Read, Watch, Listen, Collections, Search, detail pages, Needs Review, and Settings/Admin. The retired all-in-one management screen is gone: fixing one item happens in Editing Mode on its detail page, and items the Engine is unsure about go to Needs Review.