How add-ons work
Every problem with Stremio eventually comes back to this page. Ten minutes here saves hours later.
An add-on is a web service
Stremio does not download code. When you install an add-on, you are saving a manifest URL — a link to a JSON file that describes a service running somewhere else.
{
"id": "com.example.addon",
"version": "1.0.0",
"name": "Example",
"resources": ["catalog", "meta", "stream"],
"types": ["movie", "series"],
"idPrefixes": ["tt"]
}When you open a title, Stremio calls that service over HTTPS and displays the answer. This is why:
- An add-on can break without Stremio updating.
- Your debrid credentials live on the add-on's server when you use a public instance.
- "Install" is really "remember this URL".
The four resource types
| Resource | Job | Example |
|---|---|---|
catalog | Browsable lists on the Board/Discover pages | Trending, Netflix, IMDb Top 250 |
meta | Titles, posters, descriptions, episodes | Cinemeta, AIOMetadata, TMDB |
stream | Playable sources for a title | AIOStreams, Comet, Torrentio |
subtitles | Subtitle tracks | OpenSubtitles, SubDL |
A single add-on can provide several resources. AIOStreams is stream only; AIOMetadata is meta + catalog.
Public instance vs self-hosted
Most add-ons are open-source services that someone runs for the public.
- Public instance — zero setup, but shared rate limits, and your debrid token is stored on someone else's server.
- Self-hosted — your own container, your own limits, your credentials stay with you. Requires Docker and a small server.
If you use a public instance with a debrid account, prefer an instance run by a known operator, and remember that you can revoke the debrid API token at any time.
Why more add-ons is slower
Stremio asks every stream add-on for every title, in parallel. Each add-on then queries its upstream sources. With six stream add-ons you get:
- a longer wait before the list appears,
- duplicate results,
- more chance that one add-on times out and delays the rest.
Two stream add-ons is plenty. One aggregator (AIOStreams) plus one fallback (Comet) covers almost everything.
A sane stack
- Streams: AIOStreams
- Fallback: Comet — optional
- Metadata: AIOMetadata or the built-in Cinemeta
- Subtitles: OpenSubtitles (built in)
- Extras: Trakt for history, RPDB for poster ratings
Order matters
Add-ons are queried in the order they appear in your list. The Addon Manager lets you drag them without reinstalling. Put the fastest, most reliable source first.
Reading a manifest URL
- It ends in
manifest.json. - It is HTTPS. Stremio will refuse plain HTTP in most clients.
- A configured add-on has a long, unreadable path — that path encodes your settings (and sometimes your debrid token). Treat it like a password.
- If you change settings on the configure page, you get a new URL and must reinstall. The old one keeps working with the old settings.